MTR How did you become involved in this field? Kutzleb I attribute all of my interest and involvement in the underwater industry to my father. He spent 23 years in the Navy, starting out in submarines in WWII and moving into diving, salvage, and submarine rescue later on in his Navy career. He stayed connected to the diving and salvage industry in his civilian career, specializing in locating and recovering objects lost in the ocean. The natural affinity I had towards this type of work was strengthened by a summer internship in 1968 with Ocean Systems Inc., and after college and a few years in construction I went to work for my father at Seaward Inc. in 1975. Right after joining Seaward I had the opportunity to go through the US Naval School of Diving and Salvage in Washington, DC, which was a great experience. However, most of the next 20 years of my working time was topside, conducting underwater search operations using side scan sonars, magnetometers, and precision navigation systems in water depths down to 17,000 ft. For recovery operations, we typically subcontracted for diving or ROV services, depending on the water depths. My experience in conducting deep ocean search and recovery missions gave me a wide range of experience with a variety of techniques and equipment used to accomplish work in the marine environment, including diving, ROVs, and manned submersibles.
One of five new UHD ROVs.
MTR Can you give me a brief synopsis of the Phoenix International's evolution? Kutzleb When Phoenix was started in late 1997, we were focused on a single customer -- the US Navy, and a single contract -- the US Navy's Diving Services contract. The primary work under this contract involved underwater welding repairs to US Navy vessels, which was a core strength of our initial staff. We had a small office in the Washington DC area for customer liaison, and our primary operations facility was in Morgan City, La. We soon realized that a "one-legged stool" was not a very stable business model, and that we needed to diversify in order to better serve the Navy as well as provide better opportunities for our employees. We built up our diving personnel staff and invested in the diving equipment required to operate offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. We solidified our Safety and QA departments, and hired sales and marketing personnel familiar with the oil and gas market and the customers. In spite of the long years of diving and underwater welding experience of our personnel, Phoenix was a new company in the Gulf and establishing ourselves as a viable marine services contractor was an uphill battle. We were in the process of adding Atmospheric Diving Systems (ADS), ROVs, and vessels to our service lines when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf. Consequently we were well positioned to respond to our
36 MTR
January 2008
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