AWARDS 2022 | Best Motion Controls Supplier – Humphree

This Swedish developer and manufacturer of very effective motion control systems appears on Baird Maritime with great regularity. Obviously, that is because its motion control systems are very popular worldwide and fitted to all kinds of mostly fast boats for commercial, leisure, and government owners.

"Over the years, we have demonstrated to have efficient and reliable products and to be a reliable business partner to our customers," Humphree Sales Director Per Landegren told Baird Maritime.

"We offer the best possible efficiency for the workboat with the required stabilisation up to 80 per cent. In addition, we are committed to offer continuous technical support, which is important as we strive to find the best possible product for each application."

The main change in the company's product offering in 2022 was an update to its software packages. Humphree offers six different software levels: Comfort, Comfort plus, Dynamic, Dynamic plus, Professional and Professional plus, with comfort being the most basic option and Professional plus having most functions and capabilities.

"Roll and pitch control have been so far only available in the Professional software versions," said Landegren. "However, since 2022, we made pitch control available as an option in the Comfort package. This change comes as a result of users' expectations as well as the product's technological evolution that normalise more advanced capabilities."

Landegren remarked that Humphree has been growing steadily over the past years and the sales and production volume has continued to grow through 2022.

"We're continuously improving our products and carefully following the market needs," he told Baird Maritime. "We're also looking forward to further increase our presence in the marine commercial area. In addition to Humphree interceptors, a couple of years ago we also introduced our fin stabilisers to the workboat market and we just launched a new interceptor system for the small boats market."

At this stage, the new interceptor system is aimed for recreational boats, though there are plans to release the product for the commercial sector within a year. This new interceptor will provide a performance boost for 23- to 45-foot (seven- to 13-metre) boats like RIBs and other smaller planning craft.

"Boat stabilisation at all speeds is a growing trend," added Landegren. "However, for the commercial business, energy savings are the key values that the interceptors bring to any workboat. This will become particularly relevant with electrification in the industry. Also, motion controls are becoming more sophisticated, autonomous, and 'digitalised', so we can expect to see motion data integration with the vessels' key insights data and fleet operations."

For a list of the 2022 "Best Of" award winners, please click here.