VIKING shows its strength in numbers at SEATRADE 2013

VIKING reports shipowners are focusing on key numbers to help guide their passenger safety equipment and servicing decisions. And the company will be on hand at SEATRADE 2013 to talk about which numbers are most important and why.

Esbjerg, Denmark, 13 March 2013 – With the financial crisis far from over, leading marine and fire safety equipment manufacturer VIKING Life-saving Equipment A/S has observed its customers are focusing on the numbers when making decisions around which equipment or service agreements to purchase and whom to purchase them from.

“While it may not feel quite right to call passenger evacuation a ‘numbers game’, nevertheless, there’s an element of truth to it,” says Henrik Uhd Christensen, VIKING’s CEO. “In these times, shipowners are using the wisdom of the crowd, preferring safety in numbers in parameters such as capacity and redundancy for evacuation systems, the length of time suppliers have been working with a specific technology or product area and the variety of different types of equipment that can be effectively and serviced under a single agreement that ensures consistent quality.”

According to Mr Uhd Christensen, a shipowner’s ability to gain an overview of all the parameters involved in piecing together safety equipment decisions, combined with the degree of pricing transparency offered by the supplier, are key to arriving at the right safety equipment portfolio and a cost-effective servicing approach. VIKING addresses these needs with its highly successful Shipowner Agreements – fixed-price contracts that pull together a variety of equipment and services in a way that recognizes the diversity of a typical shipowner’s safety needs. Along with this type of agreement comes all the assistance decision-makers need to properly compare competitive offerings, taking the administrative headache out of what can be a complex task.

The world leader in capacity
When it comes to safety in numbers, VIKING’s impressive track record can prove difficult for its competitors to beat. For example, the company’s product offering boasts the industry’s widest range of passenger evacuation systems – having introduced the first such system in 1978. Thirty-five years later, over 1,000 VIKING systems are in operation, ranging from a mini-slide for evacuating up to 153 passengers in 30 minutes, right up to double-chute slide and liferaft systems capable of evacuating 908 passengers in the same time. In fact, it’s numbers like these that make VIKING the current leader in evacuation chute capacity.

Additionally, VIKING has some 270 certified service stations around the world, making it the most comprehensive and experienced network of any comparable supplier.

 

VIKING Life-Saving Equipment Group

Donghoon Kim