Everett boat builder’s African dream nearing reality

Published 12:01 am Monday, May 23, 2011

EVERETT — Thain Boatworks’ effort to bring reliable ferry service to east Africa’s Lake Victoria is about to bear fruit, albeit two years later than expected.

Rob Smith, chief executive and president of EarthWise Ventures Inc. and Thain Boatworks, said he realizes now that improving traditional ferry service on the world’s second-largest lake was a bigger challenge than he anticipated.

The first 200-passenger ferry was shipped in several 40-foot containers to Uganda in the summer of 2009. Only now is it undergoing trials, and it should be ready for service after the Ugandan government commissions it May 28, he said.

The easiest explanation for the delay is simple logistics. Assembling the boat on the shore of a rural Ugandan fishing village exposed Smith’s team to random power disruptions and the lack of quick access to simple tools.

“You could spend a half-day finding a 1/8-inch drill bit, then it’ll break because it’s cheap Chinese junk,” Smith said.

Thain shop foreman Robert Zweibel laughed about all the things they’ve had to ship as luggage to Uganda to assemble the first ferry, including a generator so the assembly crew could work when the power went out.

Smith, a native South African who grew up in what was southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and moved to the U.S. when he was 19, said his desire to improve the lives of Africans stems from his many years helping care for the continent’s orphans.

“Besides loving the child, you have to love the community, too,” he said.

That got Smith to thinking about “a holistic approach” about how he could make things better there.

Africa has long had problems with AIDS, famine, civil war and corruption, but Smith concluded that what would help best is economic development.

“We tried things as a not-for-profit, but we need to create jobs with investment and business,” he said.

“We thought the boat business offered us a choice,” he said. “We got more excited at the prospect of restoring a (historic) transportation element.”

EarthWise Ventures convinced 14 investors to put up $2 million to fund construction of up to 10 passenger ferries. The twin hulls of the second catamaran ferry now fill Thain’s small shop and are nearly finished.

Each hull consists of 284 sheets of layered 1/8-inch plywood, laminated with fiberglass and epoxy for high strength and light weight. Two immediate benefits result, Smith said. Any damage to the hull can be easily repaired, compared to an aluminum hull, which requires skilled welders. The weight savings means Thain’s ferries are quick and efficient, which should result in better profits for the EarthWise ferry fleet because of lower operating costs and more frequent service.

“The hulls are tremendously strong,” Zweibel said.

The boats are built to U.S. Coast Guard standards and are designed to be “unsinkable” through the use of foam cores in the floors, walls and roof. Ferry crew members are being trained in safety procedures. Onboard software will prevent the ferry’s engines from running if sensors detect the boat to be overloaded.

The second ferry should be ready to ship to Uganda in July, Zweibel said. As many components as possible are installed in the ferry before shipment, including each hull’s Caterpillar engine, which runs on full biofuel refined from plants grown by farmers around Lake Victoria.

EarthWise has 30 people working in Uganda as boat builders and crew members, with more crew members being hired now, Smith said.

During his six to eight trips to Uganda each year, Smith has been recruiting 850 farmers to each grow 1.5 acres of sunflowers for conversion to biofuel. By making it a cash crop, farmers stand to gain about $1,000 per year, a substantial boost to the average farmer’s income.

By the time the 10th ferry enters service, Smith hopes to have established a viable market for biofuel and expects to have as many as 50,000 farmers around Lake Victoria growing plants for fuel.

“In some ways, it’s the most risky part of the deal,” he admits.

Kurt Batdorf is editor of the Snohomish County Business Journal. He can be reached at 425-339-3102 or via email at kbatdorf@scbj.com.