Skilled Labor Series: Maritime Shipping
*This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu. This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure.
Today is Zach Gallant, Head of Maritime Operations at Fleetzero.
Zach grew up in Maine and attended the Maine Maritime Academy after high school. He spent 15 years on board ships of all types and sizes. His career started on freighters carrying bulk cargo such as iron ore in the Great Lakes. Then Zach worked at Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, for over a decade. He recently transitioned to Fleetzero, a startup building a fleet of electric ships to help address and reduce the carbon emissions from the shipping industry, which accounts for about 3% of total global emissions.
As investors in Fleetzero via the MCJ Collective venture funds, we’ve also spoken to co-founders, Steven Hendersen and Mike Carter, in a previous Startup Series episode (listen here).
Get connected:
Yin’s Twitter / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective
*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.
Episode recorded on December 20, 2022.
In this episode, we cover:
[2:00] Zach's background and experience as a marine engineer
[7:42] A career working on the deck side of ships vs the engineering side
[11:13] Different types of maritime ships and propulsion systems
[15:33] Zach's firsthand experience witnessing the impacts of climate change
[18:41] The process of setting up an exploratory drill well
[24:33] Zach's decision to transition out of oil and gas into a climate tech maritime company
[27:51] Technological shifts in the maritime industry
[30:05] Shortage of maritime workers and how to encourage more people to get involved
[32:23] What keeps Zach optimistic
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Jason Jacobs (00:02):
Hello, everyone. This is Jason Jacobs.
Cody Simms (00:04):
And I'm Cody Simms.
Jason Jacobs (00:06):
And welcome to My Climate Journey. This show is a growing body of knowledge focused on climate change and potential solutions.
Cody Simms (00:16):
In this podcast, we traverse disciplines, industries, and opinions to better understand and make sense of the formidable problem of climate change and all the ways people like you and I can help.
Jason Jacobs (00:27):
We appreciate you tuning in, sharing this episode, and if you feel like it, leaving us a review to help more people find out about us so they can figure out where they fit in addressing the problem of climate change.
Yin Lu (00:41):
Hey, everyone. My guest today is Zach Gallant. Zach is the Head of Maritime Operations at Fleetzero. Zach grew up in Maine and after high school, he attended the Maine Maritime Academy. He spent 15 years on board ships of all types and sizes. He started out his career on freighters carrying bulk cargo of materials such as iron ore in the Great Lakes.
(00:59):
Then for over a decade, Zach worked at Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling contractor. He recently, as of two months ago, transitioned to Fleetzero, a startup building a fleet of electric ships to help address and reduce the carbon emissions from the shipping industry, which accounts for about 3% of total global emissions.
(01:18):
I probably asked more clarifying questions in this episode than I have on any other episode so far because the maritime industry is pretty foreign to me, and is also vast and complex. So suffice it to say, I learned a whole lot and I hope you do too. If you have follow-up questions, shortly after this episode airs, Zach will be doing and ask me anything, or AMA, in the MCJ Slack. All right, let's get to it. Zach, welcome to the show.
Zach Gallant (01:42):
Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Yin Lu (01:44):
All right, so we were connected through Steven Henderson and Mike Carter, the co-founders of Fleetzero where you work now, and we'll talk more about that later. But first, we want to get to know you a bit more. So tell us more about yourself, where you grew up, what you were interested in as a kid, and how you eventually arrived at working in the maritime industry.
Zach Gallant (02:02):
So, yeah, my name is Zach Gallant, currently work for Fleetzero. I grew up and currently reside in Maine. I grew up in a town called Wayne, Maine for the first 10 years of my life, the paper mill where my father worked shut down. So we moved to the coast of Maine, town called Belfast, where my father worked at another paper mill.
(02:20):
I went to high school in Belfast. While there, I learned about Maine Maritime Academy, which is a maritime academy in Maine. I chose to go there after high school and chose the path of a marine engineer. So basically when you go to a maritime academy, there's two paths you can take. One path is called the deck side where you work from third mate, second mate, chief mate, and then the captain. And then there's the engine side of a ship where you start as a third engineer, go to a second engineer, first engineer, and a chief engineer.
(02:54):
I decided to choose the engine side. I didn't really have a reason. There are some points in my career where I wish I had chosen the deck side, whether that be working on a sewage system while it's a nice sunny day and I'm stuck down there. But overall, it's been a pretty satisfying career.
(03:10):
After I graduated Maine Maritime, I headed up to the West Coast. I actually joined a maritime union called MEBA.
Yin Lu (03:16):
What does that stand for?
Zach Gallant (03:18):
Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, I believe. And you basically go and sit in an actual union hall. This was in Oakland, California, and you basically bid for jobs, and there was a job on the job board for a freighter on the Great Lakes. And that was my first job. I hopped on a plane to I think it was Detroit, if I remember right, hopped on a freighter there.
(03:41):
Worked there for probably maybe six months, eight months hopping around the Great Lakes. I enjoyed that. It was an old steam ship, so it had two big boilers and a steam turbine for propulsion. So I got some time on steam engines, which is becoming more and more rare.
(03:58):
After that, I went back to Long Beach, California to the other MEBA Hall that's in California, and got a job in San Diego on a research ship called the Marcus Langseth. We were basically mapping the ocean floor off the coast of Mexico. Did that for three and a half months or so. After that was done, I took a job at Transocean in 2008 and I had been there ever since, up until about a month and a half ago. Started as a third engineer in Singapore on a semi-submersible drilling vessel. We built that, sailed it over to the United States, Gulf of Mexico, and worked there for three or so years.
(04:40):
And then I moved on to a drill ship with the same company as a first engineer. I actually went from third to second engineer on the semi-submersible I was on. I then transferred to become a first engineer on a drill ship also in the Gulf of Mexico. I was there for a few years, which is actually where I met Mike Carter, who was one of the co-founders of Fleetzero.
(05:03):
And then from there, I was given the opportunity to go work as a chief engineer on a new build project in South Korea, building a new drill ship. So I was in the DSMV Shipyard in South Korea. That was 2014. I was there for a year or so and brought that ship over to the Gulf of Mexico to start operations, and actually ended up back in Korea for the third new build ship out of a series of four ships.
(05:28):
So the first and the third, I was on. And then once that was up, I went back to the first ship that I took out of South Korea and worked there for two more years. And then I was transferred back to the semi-submersible. I began my career on with Transocean down in Trinidad during COVID. So we had two-week quarantines, one-week quarantines before we would go to work. So that was tough. But I was there Trinidad, Columbia, and then finished up in Aruba before coming home, working with Fleetzero last month.
Yin Lu (06:01):
What percentage were you spending on land versus off? It just sounds like you've been all over the world.
Zach Gallant (06:10):
If you asked my wife, she'd say 80%, but I think the reality is probably 58% gone.
Yin Lu (06:19):
What does that schedule look like?
Zach Gallant (06:21):
So it depends on the company a lot. But most of the time as a mariner, if you're on deep sea oceangoing vessels, you're usually gone for let's say, 60 to 90 days at a time. And then you'll have usually equal time off. So 60 or 90 days off. In the energy industry on drilling rigs, it's usually a 21 and 21 rotation, or a 28 and 28 rotation.
(06:45):
So if you work in the United States, you'll fly down to Houston or New Orleans on your day off and then start work the next morning. Then you're on the vessel for that whole time and then you fly home when it's over. My whole last 14 years have been either 21 and 21 or 28 and 28.
Yin Lu (07:06):
What a new schedule to get used to now that you're no longer needing to do that 21/21.
Zach Gallant (07:11):
Yeah, that's been very, very good.
Yin Lu (07:12):
I'm sure your kids appreciate that.
Zach Gallant (07:14):
Yeah, it's definitely great when you're home, you're home and you could turn work off and totally dedicate yourself to your family and friends. But at the same time, leaving is always very difficult and it just gets harder as your kids get older.
Yin Lu (07:29):
How old are your kids now?
Zach Gallant (07:31):
My daughter is six and my son is four.
Yin Lu (07:33):
Are they wondering why you're home so much more these days?
Zach Gallant (07:36):
Yeah, it's been a learning curve for everybody, but I think we all enjoy it.
Yin Lu (07:40):
Yeah, for sure.
Zach Gallant (07:41):
I know I do.
Yin Lu (07:42):
That's awesome. Okay, I want to rewind back to the careerpathing for a mariner. So explain more the deck side. What does someone that is going to pursue a career on the deck side do versus the engineering?
Zach Gallant (07:55):
Okay, yeah, deck side, you're basically in charge of cargo operations. You're in charge of actually driving the boat. So transportation of the boat, safety equipment, firefighting equipment, life rafts, life boats, painting, wearing sunglasses and sipping pina coladas, stuff like that. It's the easier route. It's the easier route, but you get paid more in the long run because you can go to be a captain. So in all seriousness, they do all the top side stuff, if you picture a ship.
Yin Lu (08:25):
So we need to have someone who was on the deck side come onto the show next is what you're saying?
Zach Gallant (08:29):
Sure. Yeah. They'll have something for rebuttal against that. I know it, but yeah.
Yin Lu (08:33):
So on the engineering side, do you see the sun much?
Zach Gallant (08:37):
To be honest, no, not really. I'll take you on a typical deep sea merchant ship, and by that I mean an oil tanker or a freighter or cargo ship. So typically on a deep sea merchant ship, like a freighter or an oil tanker, container ship, you still have your third engineer, your second engineer, your first engineer, and your chief engineer.
(09:02):
Your third engineer would usually work the 12:00 to 4:00 AM watch and then the noon to 4:00 PM watch. The second engineer would work the 4:00 AM to 8:00 AM watch and the 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM watch. And then the first engineer would do the 8:00 AM to noon watch and then the 8:00 PM to midnight watch. We'd all work overtime in between those watches. So it's tough as far as sleep, because there's always periods of you getting a short nap, then you're working overtime, then you're right back on watch.
(09:36):
And the chief would just basically work whenever he's needed. He'd be doing a lot of stuff, a lot of office work, but that's how a typical merchant ship works. And it's the same on the deck side, same kind of schedule as far as your third mate, second mate, chief mate, and captain. They'd stand watches as well and the captain would oversee the whole operation.
(09:55):
Energy industry, it's a bit different. It's the same kind of thing where the deck side takes care of dynamic positioning and moving the vessel all life-saving equipment, firefighting systems, which is a lot more robust than you would see on a typical merchant ship. A lot more life rafts, lifeboats than you'd see on a merchant ship because there's more people.
(10:17):
And then the engine department would take care of all your hotel equipment, like your potable water, your drinking water, freshwater generation, because we make our own water offshore and on ships, the power plant, all the drivers that drive the power plant, all your auxiliaries to keep the power plant going. But instead of standing watch, you'd do a 12-hour shift. So you'd work from either 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM or 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM or sometimes noon to midnight, midnight to noon.
Yin Lu (10:46):
This is a good jumping off point for us to maybe get a zoom out of the different types of ships. You'd mentioned semi-submersible, you mentioned merchant ships, energy ships. In my cursory research I'm like, okay, there's dry cargo, there's liquid cargo, there's passenger ships, there's ships that build oil rigs, military ships. So can you give us a sense of different types of maritime vehicles there are, if you had to bucket the different types of propulsion systems, like what would they be?
Zach Gallant (11:13):
It would be diesel, which some call that Motors on your endorsement, on your license, it'll say Third Engineer, Motors. So let's say, there's diesels that drive, you have big slow-speed diesels that are directly coupled to a shaft and that shaft turns a prop.
(11:30):
There's also diesel engines that run a generator and those generators develop electricity. And electricity is what's used to spin the electric motor, which is directly coupled to a prop. That would be called diesel-electric, still considered Motors for your license purposes. So anything that is run by a diesel engine would fall under a motors endorsement. You have steam propulsion, which they use boilers. They either burn heavy fuel oil or diesel oil or now LNG as well to burn as your fossil fuel to develop steam in a boiler, and that steam is then put into a turbine.
(12:07):
That turbine that either spins the shaft or it can spin generators as well, similar to a diesel engine. And then there's gas turbines, which gas turbines usually will burn LNG, they can burn liquid fuel as well. Your waste heat can be used to make steam to power either a steam generator or another turbine. So when I graduated college, I had three endorsements on my license. I had unlimited horsepower motors, unlimited horsepower steam, and unlimited horsepower gas turbines and unlimited horsepower means you can work on any size vessel in the world, any horsepower vessel in the world.
Yin Lu (12:44):
In looking at the vessels that are in operations around the world, what percentage would you say have one propulsion system versus another?
Zach Gallant (12:53):
Ooh, I'm going to say it's diesel, mostly diesel or diesel-electric is what you're going to find nowadays. I know when I was on the Great Lakes, that's freshwater and the hull was in great shape because it lived its whole life in freshwater. And it was actually the Edmund Fitzgerald's sister ship, and that was powered by steam when I was there. But they had begun a process within that company of converting to diesel engines, and that has since been changed from a steam ship to a diesel ship. So I think you see a lot of that as well.
Yin Lu (13:26):
Help us understand the different types of vessels.
Zach Gallant (13:29):
Okay, so you have container ships, which you see off Long Beach, the big, big ships with the boxes on them. You'll have oil tankers or chemical tankers, they'll look the same. You'll have LNG tankers, LPG tankers. Those are the ships with the numerous spheres, three or four spheres in the top of the ship.
Yin Lu (13:48):
LNG is natural gas.
Zach Gallant (13:49):
Liquified natural gas. So yeah, it's natural gas that's cooled to a point where it can be liquified.
Yin Lu (13:56):
And these are vessels that are carrying LNG-
Zach Gallant (13:58):
Yes.
Yin Lu (13:59):
From point A to point B? Gotcha. And the spheres is the container shape that is necessary to hold that liquified natural gas?
Zach Gallant (14:06):
Yes.
Yin Lu (14:06):
Got it.
Zach Gallant (14:07):
At the temperature it needs to stay liquid. Freighters, you'll see freighters, they'll sometimes have a couple cranes on the deck and they have big, giant cargo hatches that are closed when they go out to sea and they open them up and offload them either through a conveyor system or ship cranes or shore-based cranes.
Yin Lu (14:25):
We're going to take a quick break so you can hear me talk more about the MCJ membership option. Hey, folks, Yin here, our partner at MCJ Collective. Want to take a quick minute to tell you about our MCJ membership community, which was born out of a collective thirst for peer-to-peer learning and doing that goes beyond just listening to the podcast.
(14:42):
We started in 2019, and have since then grown to 2,000 members globally. Each week, we're inspired by people who join with differing backgrounds and perspectives. And while those perspectives are different, what we all share in common is a deep curiosity to learn and bias to action around ways to accelerate solutions to climate change.
(14:59):
Some awesome initiatives have come out of the community. A number of founding teams have met, nonprofits have been established, a bunch of hiring has been done. Many early stage investments have been made as well as ongoing events and programming like monthly Women in Climate meetups, idea jam sessions for early stage founders, climate book club, art workshops, and more.
(15:19):
So whether you've been in climate for a while or just embarking on your journey, having a community to support you is important. If you want to learn more, head over to mcjcollective.com and click on the Members tab at the top. Thanks, and enjoy the rest of the show. All right, let's get back to the show.
(15:33):
All right, so I want to move on to talking about trends in the maritime industry as it relates to climate, given the nature of this podcast. I'm curious to hear if you've had any firsthand experience in feeling the impacts of climate change in the 15 years that you've been out at sea. So that's part one, and then part two is are you seeing any trends in the maritime industry in response to climate change from a technology side?
Zach Gallant (16:00):
Yeah, the first question, as far as firsthand experience, the biggest thing that I've noticed, and I think everyone has is you'll have a hurricane that will enter the Gulf of Mexico, and it'll enter as a Category 1 or something, or Category 2. And it seems lately that once that hurricane hits the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it just explodes and rapidly intensifies into a category four or even category five in the amount of time that doesn't seem to be normal.
(16:30):
The effects on that as far as how do you accurately predict that for ships and platforms, how do you plan evacuations, how do you plan rig moves and then people onshore too, how do you plan for something like that? Especially if it happens every couple years, I just can't imagine living down there and having to prepare for that every year. When you think there's a Category 1 coming and then 18 hours later, it's a strong Cat 3 or a Cat 4.
Yin Lu (16:54):
I'm curious, what happens in that scenario for you all on deck?
Zach Gallant (16:58):
Depends. If you're on a merchant ship, you just sail away from the hurricane. If you're on a foil platform, if you're on a fixed platform, a fixed platform means it stays where it is, you'll evacuate. If you're on a drilling ship or a semi-submersible drilling rig, then you have the ability to unlatch from the well that you're currently working on and self-propel yourself away from the hurricane, which is what you do. You make a decision days in advance and you start to unlatch from the well you're working on and then safely evacuate from the path.
Yin Lu (17:31):
I want to touch on the differences between the... So a merchant ship, I get. You're carrying cargo, you have the ability and the mobility to move and change routes, if needed. And then when you're on a semi-submersible, which is... What is a semi-submersible? Is it like part submarine, part ship?
Zach Gallant (17:51):
No. Well, kind of. I guess you have two pontoons and you have four columns. Think of what the Deepwater Horizon looked like. That was a semi-submersible. You have two pontoons in the water and you have four columns with a platform on top with your derrick. Most semi-submersibles in operations now have the ability to be self-propelled.
(18:10):
They can hold their location without being tied to the ocean floor. They usually have eight thrusters, so you have eight props and you either stay on location for months at a time while you develop the well or you have the ability to move in the event of a hurricane or you move to a new location where you're working.
(18:27):
The drill ships are basically the same, but they're just shaped in the hull of a ship, a standard ship, and you have probably six thrusters, can all do the same, can still transit as needed and also hold location when you're working on a well.
Yin Lu (18:41):
This is worth understanding more, so in your work at Transocean, you were working on drill ships pretty much, and you would sail from shore to some point where the company said, "Great, this is where we want to drill a rig?"
Zach Gallant (18:56):
We would work for company. So we'd take a day rate from the Chevron, Shell, BHP, and they would decide where we drill based on their geologists thinking there might be something. So you either do an exploratory well, which is something that you think is down there and you have to appraise or you can do a well where something's already established and you're trying to either get it going again or finish what was started.
Yin Lu (19:22):
Let's take the example of an exploratory well. So the geologists that work for the O&G companies say, "We think that there could be oil in this particular spot at the bottom of the ocean," and they deploy you all out, and then what happens? Take me through the step-by-step of how you drill a well, and what does success look like?
Zach Gallant (19:42):
You get on a location to where they think it is and you lay out what's called your beacon arrays, which are acoustics that allow you to stay over that well center using your... It's called a dynamic positioning system, which is all your thrusters using navigation equipment and GPS to keep you right over that well head, even with weather.
(20:01):
So your thrusters take all the information and keep you where you need to be. At that point, you'll start what's called open water work, which is you just basically make a hole in the ground and put in what's called casing. So think of a big solid tube that goes into the ground. You'll do a one or two strings of casing.
(20:22):
Once that's done, you cement that into place and then you come back to surface and then you run what's called a blowout preventer. The blowout preventer is a massive piece of equipment, which is basically a series of valves, redundant valves that are your last line of defense against a blowout. You install that on the conductor pipe that you had just ran in open water.
(20:45):
And at that point, you run this BOP into the ocean with what's called marine riser, and riser is the pipe which all other things go through. So you have ocean water on the outside of your riser and then you'll have your drilling fluid or your mud on the inside of the riser, and then your drill pipe too, your drill pipe and your casing or any tools that you're using to develop the well run within this casing and through the BOP.
(21:11):
So you have drilling mud, which is used to cool and lubricate the well bore as you're drilling. And that mud gets pushed through pumps on the ship down through the drill string, which is your drill pipe, and then out through the annulus between the drill pipe and the inner bore of your riser. So, nothing goes to sea. It's all down into the well, out the well through the riser, and back to the ship.
Yin Lu (21:36):
Sounds like a very complex artery of sorts.
Zach Gallant (21:39):
It's extremely complex.
Yin Lu (21:40):
Yeah, hmm.
Zach Gallant (21:40):
It's impressive.
Yin Lu (21:42):
How long would that operation take, what you just described?
Zach Gallant (21:46):
Open water work would take probably anywhere from seven to 11 days, and then running a BOP depending on your water depth could be 12 to 20 hours. And then you start your well campaign. The well campaign could be anywhere from a month to three months, three and a half months.
Yin Lu (22:04):
And a campaign would just to see what the production rate is?
Zach Gallant (22:09):
Well, it depends. If you're drilling, just usually you'll drill to where you think there's oil and then you'll run... It's called a wire line, where they can basically take core samples and see what's down there and if they're happy with it, then you either do a temporary abandonment of the well and then either you do what's called completions or another vessel will come over that specializes in completions if they want to develop it further and they will complete the well.
Yin Lu (22:36):
And with that process, taking anywhere from seven to 10 days and the campaign taking, did you say a couple of months?
Zach Gallant (22:44):
Yeah, you're usually on that location for at least a month, and then up to three and a half, four or five, sometimes six months.
Yin Lu (22:52):
How many people are part of the crew? Basically, how many people do you have to get along with for that extended period of time?
Zach Gallant (22:58):
Depends. Usually it's anywhere from 100 to 180, depending on which operation you're in.
Yin Lu (23:06):
And that's across the deck end engineering side, everybody?
Zach Gallant (23:09):
That's the engineering, there's the whole drilling team, there's a sub-sea team, there's your customer-
Yin Lu (23:16):
Okay, wow.
Zach Gallant (23:16):
... which is your Shell, your Chevron, they have their own teams out there as well. Sometimes there's geologists on board all the time, safety people, that's everybody.
Yin Lu (23:24):
When you're out of sea for such long periods of time, how do you keep entertained knowing that there might be internet, but the internet's probably not super great in terms of connectivity. I would want to just stream Netflix all the time.
Zach Gallant (23:39):
Yeah, you don't really have time. Most of the time, you're working half your day at least. Most times, more than half your day and you're own business and you're at work and you're not thinking of much else. But always a good gym on board. People bring good books or they'll have a whole hard drive full of movies and TV shows.
(23:55):
It's not hard to stay busy, but it is hard with the world around you. It feels like it's moving past you because you don't have the ability to watch a live show or talk to your family a lot of times on FaceTime with some of the internet out there. So that can be very difficult to try and stay connected. It's not hard for people that have done it for a long time, but trying to get younger people into the industry can be a challenge.
Yin Lu (24:23):
So I want to transition to talking a bit about your decision to transition out of working in the oil and gas industry and into working at a climate tech maritime company. So love to learn more about why you decided to switch your career after being chief engineer and spending 15 years at Transocean and where did climate change fall in that part of the decision making as opposed to other aspects like work-life balance and pay, et cetera?
Zach Gallant (24:52):
Yeah, so Mike Carter, one of our co-founders, I used to work with him probably 10 years ago on a drill ship, so we knew each other then. He went on to bigger and better things and we always stay in touch and he always had something going on that he'd want me to try and take a leap into.
(25:08):
And even asking me for a bit, and we would talk about it and once he first told me what he was working on and I thought he was crazy, but then as I got to learn it more and more and what they had put into this, I was like, "This is going to work."
Yin Lu (25:22):
Maybe for our listeners who don't know Fleetzero, there's a previous episode that you can listen to where Mike and Steven talk to Jason, but can you give us a short version of what Fleetzero does?
Zach Gallant (25:31):
Yeah, basically we're designing battery packs and our ultimate goal is to have a fully electric cargo ship, container ship where we use our batteries that are swappable and port. So we have fully charged batteries at the port we're going to, and we'll swap them out. So your 100% propulsion is fully electric.
Yin Lu (25:49):
Great. So you thought this was crazy?
Zach Gallant (25:51):
I did.
Yin Lu (25:53):
When you decided to join?
Zach Gallant (25:53):
Yeah, I didn't see how it could work. And then he started showing me the math and how it can work and I was very intrigued at that point. I didn't know where I would fit in as I didn't know much about the battery storage sector at the time, but this past October, I was in Houston with my wife on a business trip, and Mike was very insistent that we meet for dinner.
(26:12):
So I met with him and my wife, and he presented what I would be doing as well as what options I could have as the company grew. And after that dinner, I was sold, I was hooked, and most everything that is moved or made on the water today is at the request of somebody else. What I mean by that is a company will pay another company to move something or to extract something, and most companies realize the importance of reducing environmental footprint and expect that from whoever they choose to do business with.
(26:40):
So not only is emission reduction and energy efficiency good for the environment, it's also good for business. What makes Fleetzero so unique is that we'll be able to offer the service of moving cargo without a green premium. And that's huge and it'll allow countries to not get priced out of the global economy and it won't leave anyone behind.
(26:59):
It'll allow the middle class to not be passed up on additional costs of a green premium when times can be tough right now, and they may get tougher. So I was very intrigued by that, and I still am. And also the people that I get to work with every day, they are incredibly talented and it makes you want to work harder as you know that we're all working towards something that's pretty special and everyone's working towards the same goal, and utilizing technology that we have right now, but also preparing for what's coming.
Yin Lu (27:27):
What do you do now for your role as head of maritime operations?
Zach Gallant (27:31):
I just use my skillset of a long time as a mariner, on how we'll blend the worlds of battery technology into our future marine assets, and planning for ship-related projects and the growth of our company from a maritime spectrum and then stay tuned for some pretty exciting press releases from Fleetzero here in the coming months. So we're really excited for what's to come.
Yin Lu (27:51):
Nice. Aside from the technology you all are working on with battery management assistance, swappable batteries, are there any other big technological shifts that you've seen in the maritime industry that's getting you excited? So like, AI for route optimizations, maybe sensor technology? Tell us more about that, and also are there any areas in technology where you think the jury's still out?
Zach Gallant (28:13):
Yep. I would say it has to be the way industries that are driving inefficiencies out of their businesses. One development I see is using hybrid power, hybrid systems, which is right now it's marine diesel and batteries, or I've even seen ultra capacitors, where you're using basically what would be wasted energy and using that to charge capacitors and use that capacitance when needed.
(28:35):
But these systems can allow diesel engines to run at their most efficient range, or not needing more engines that you need for the operation, which obviously it's less emissions, less fuel burned while getting what you need out of your operation. Another big thing that's growing tremendously is condition-based monitoring of equipment versus your typical calendar or hourly-based maintenance. What I mean by that is condition-based maintenance is let's say you have vibration sensors on your electric motors, live oil sample monitoring of your equipment so you can make better decisions on when to pull the trigger on maintenance versus just say, "It's been a month, let's do this."
(29:12):
So it not only saves money, but it gives you a live look into your equipment and your health of your equipment. So you're keeping people out of harm's way from not having them have do so much maintenance, but also you can strategically plan for when you're going to pull the trigger on maintenance or if you have to or if you can put it off for a bit, knowing that you have solid information to make that decision. And anything that can take employees out of harm's way is a huge plus. As far as anything where the jury's still out, I don't think so.
(29:40):
I think people would say 10 to 15 years ago that what we're seeing now would be impossible. So I don't think there's any space to say the jury's still out. Technological growth is not going to stop. So we as professionals, whether it's a mariner or anyone else, you get two choices. You can adapt to what's to come and embrace the changes, or you can get left behind. So I am definitely looking forward to seeing where we go and I can definitely say that it is very exciting.
Yin Lu (30:05):
Awesome. Before we wrap up, I want to go back to a point you made earlier about getting more young people into the maritime industry. I wonder, is there a shortage of maritime workers that are coming online? And if so, how can we get more people into maritime work?
Zach Gallant (30:23):
Yeah, there appears to be somewhat of a shortage. I noticed that they don't stay as long. They're here and then gone, and I don't know, a lot of them go on shore. But a couple things that I can think of is, and this is speaking from my experience from 20 years ago when I was in high school, but more of a push in high school of what a maritime career looks like.
(30:41):
I mean, I didn't know. I had no idea when I was in high school and I don't know if it was the same for you, but I just saw ships on the ocean. I didn't know what that entailed or what it looked like. So could probably do a better job and maybe they are at this point, I'm not sure, but at least showing what that career looks like and what it can mean for you and your family.
(30:58):
I mean, I was only 40 minutes away from Maine Maritime from my high school and I knew Maine Maritime because my uncle had gone there, and that was about it as far as what I knew about that school. So that'd be one way, is trying to get the outreach at a younger time, or through high school guidance counselors or even through vocational schools, allow via field trips or something to go and see what that's about.
(31:22):
Another thing I was thinking of, current school-aged kids, they grew up with a device in their hands and they grew up with always being connected. All they know is whenever they want, they can pick up a phone and FaceTime whoever they need to, but companies need to better invest in high-speed internet for the employees while they're at sea to allow that connectivity, to allow to be able to watch Netflix or talk to your loved ones, because being at sea, it's not a normal thing.
(31:47):
So to try and get over that hump and make it an easier workspace, definitely invest more in the technology that is available to make it so people can stay connected while offshore. One more thing would be shoreside opportunities are becoming more intriguing, especially on the engineering side, when you get out of a maritime school.
(32:05):
There's way more things that meet that skillset onshore than there was even when I was there. So one thing that fixes that is pay, but it's also benefits and like I talked about earlier, is making sure that when you're out there there's stuff for you to do that keep you somewhat grounded with your life at home.
Yin Lu (32:23):
All right, one last question. What are three things that keep you optimistic as we look forward at the next decade or two in maritime?
Zach Gallant (32:31):
The biggest thing is that I'm very optimistic in that mariners, they're some of the most adaptable people that I've ever met. Routinely have to pivot to try something or learn something new as part of the job, and this industry is going to change. So it's up to us to be ready to adapt to that or go down with the ship, so to speak.
(32:48):
So being in the middle of the ocean between two ports, that's not natural. As humans, like I mentioned, we don't belong in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We're not meant to be there. So if at Fleetzero we can make it so mariners are only needed to service the ships and our batteries while in port, or while we're maneuvering the ship, that opens so many doors to this industry that allows for a better work-life balance where you don't really need people in the middle of the ocean, you don't have equipment that needs to be watched, fuel systems, all that stuff, fire hazards.
(33:18):
So I don't see what we are trying to achieve as the end of the mariner. I see this as more of a new exciting chapter that allows just as many opportunities, if not more than traditional ocean-going jobs right now. Then imagine living anywhere you want and you're driving the ship remotely, or imagine only having to board to take the ship into the port.
(33:35):
Imagine not having to constantly work on a diesel engine or its purification systems, auxiliaries that are needed to keep the whole plant going. That adaptability, that's the perspective of a mariner and will come in very handy to work on what we're building at Fleetzero and I'm very much looking forward to it.
Yin Lu (33:51):
Well, Zach, thank you for teaching us so much about the maritime industry. We're recording this four days before Christmas, so I know that this is precious time, so appreciate your taking the time to be with us and happy holidays to you and your family, and I'm sure we will keep in touch and see the great progress that you and the rest of the Fleetzero team are making.
Zach Gallant (34:12):
All right, well, I appreciate the time. That was fun.
Jason Jacobs (34:15):
Thanks again for joining us on the My Climate Journey podcast.
Cody Simms (34:18):
At MCJ Collective, we're all about powering collective innovation for climate solutions by breaking down silos and unleashing problem solving capacity. To do this, we focus on three main pillars, content like this podcast and our weekly newsletter, capital to fund companies that are working to address climate change, and our member community to bring people together as Yen described earlier.
Jason Jacobs (34:40):
If you'd like to learn more about MCJ Collective, visit us at www.mcjcollective.com, and if you have guest suggestions, feel free to let us know on Twitter @MCJpod.
Cody Simms (34:55):
Thanks, and see you next episode.
