72 May 2015 - Business View Caribbean
and in Venezuela, and by doing inspection work.”
OTSL’s main competition comes from international op-
erators, which puts the company’s expertise in the lo-
cal waterways at a premium, Bertrand said. Locally, he
said, separation comes thanks to a more state-of-the-
art approach than other operators might be capable
of.
“Many a major contractor has tried to work on the east
coast of Trinidad with very unpleasant surprises,” Ber-
trand said.
“We know the environment much better than anybody
else, and that has proven to be a major advantage –
and that word has gotten around to major contractors
outside of Trinidad. We’re the only (local) people who
lay quad pipe, as opposed to traditional welding of pipe
in Trinidad. We have the largest ROV fleet in Trinidad.
That’s where we differentiate ourselves.”
Operational research continues with an aim toward
keeping the company “ahead of the curve,” he said,
but it won’t so much prompt frequent and wholesale
changes in technology as much as a consistent and
persistent pursuit of small changes that can maintain
in-house efficiency.
Going forward, laying the groundwork for an eventual
leadership transition is the top priority, too.
“If you look carefully, there are always better ways of
doing things,” Bertrand said. “We tend to look for those
things and demand them. We don’t have a 100-percent
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