Solar Solve Marine’s Chairman John Lightfoot and Sales Executive Paul Hopkins recently returned from a very successful booth at the New Orleans Workboat Show with more than 50 enquiries from existing customers and potential new ones.
Having been a supplier of anti glare, heat rejecting roller screens to the United States Army, Navy and Coast Guard as a navigation safety aid for more than 10 years, it was no surprise that most of the military visitors had some knowledge of the company and it’s products, although there were many who didn’t but were impressed with what they saw.
However the majority of people who stopped by the Solar Solve Marine booth were from the wider commercial marine industry and as expected almost totally based on the American continent and associated with just about every vessel type and size there is, in spite of it being a work boat show targeted at smaller vessels.
Visitors to the booth were impressed with the ease of installation, the various methods of operation and the overall benefits of the products on display. They all agreed that crew fatigue management and greenhouse gas emissions were very high up on the agenda of problems they strive to resolve and were impressed at how much the SOLASOLV screens can help in this regard.
Paul Hopkins commented “This year the American continent has been a target market and we have been receiving lots of enquiries from all parts of the Americas, including Canada and Brazil for all types of vessels; with sales to these areas already higher than last year. Since returning from New Orleans there has been a significant increase in enquiries which we are confident will result in more orders.”
John Lightfoot explains, “The last time we exhibited at this show was in 2004, before the Katrina tragedy and because we have enjoyed 3 record-breaking years since the recession began in 2008 it seemed obvious that part of the reason was due to the many exhibitions we attend and therefore we decided to re-visit the New Orleans Workboat Show. It was obviously a good decision”
