As a kid, Chris Clark spent his summers boating with his dad on Lake Michigan, watching as massive Great Lakes bulk carriers navigated the waters. He never dreamed that when he grew up, he’d make a career out of designing and building ships.

Today, as Director of New Construction for TOTE Services, Clark leverages his experience and best commercial shipbuilding practices to meet the rigorous demands of constructing a government vessel.

TOTE Services was awarded the Vessel Construction Manager (VCM) contract in 2019 by the U.S. Department of Transportation – Maritime Administration (MARAD) to build five ships known as the National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV). These state-of-the art vessels have been designed to serve as training ships for our state maritime academies and as ships that can be deployed for national disaster relief and humanitarian missions.

Clark and his 14-person team are managing the construction and delivery of these five ships at the Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia.  The first vessel, the Empire State, was delivered in September 2023 to the State University of New York – Maritime College in the Bronx, New York.

“There are few shipbuilding programs that will impact our industry as much as the NSMV program,” Clark said. “Not only are the ships unique and extremely complex, but the ships’ mission of training our cadets to develop the next generation of merchant officers is critically important.  The colleges are already seeing improvements in recruiting numbers based on the excitement generated around these new training vessels.”

Career launch

Clark, 40, has worked in the maritime industry for nearly 20 years, but he never intended to build ships.

“In high school, I was very interested in residential architecture,” he said. “I loved creating blueprints and designing homes.”

However, he entered the University of Michigan to study chemical engineering. There, he learned the university offered a naval architecture and marine engineering program.

“Despite all my time around ships on the Great Lakes, it never occurred to me that I could pursue a career around building ships and develop that specific expertise,” Clark remembered.

He enrolled in the program and launched his career as a naval architect designing and building high-end luxury yachts for a shipbuilder in Mississippi. The 2008 recession deeply affected the yacht business, so Clark changed course and joined the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for design integration on a new class of amphibious warfare ships.

Despite the allure of designing Navy combatants, the work at NAVSEA left Clark searching for something different.

“The pace was terribly slow and every decision in the government is made by committee. I saw first-hand why Navy shipbuilding programs cost so much, and I had no authority to do anything about it,” he recalled. He decided to get back into the commercial side of the industry, where he felt his ambition and expertise could be more impactful.

Overcoming obstacles

Clark first learned of the NSMV program while working for a competitor who also pitched MARAD for the VCM contract. While the company he was working for wasn’t awarded the job, Clark knew he wanted to be involved in the program and its profound impact on the maritime industry.

When he spotted the job opening with TOTE Services, he applied. In addition to Clark’s knowledge of both government and commercial shipbuilding, he believes his familiarity with the NSMV program and its requirements was key in helping him land the position at TOTE Services in 2020.

He moved his family from Florida to Philadelphia and dove in—right at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The TOTE Services team faced a host of challenges, from ensuring a sufficient and safe workforce to juggling global supply chain issues. Clark credits his team and the crew at Philly Shipyard with overcoming these significant hurdles.

As he describes it: “It is easy to forget all that we had to overcome during the first several months of the pandemic. While most of the world was working from home, our team was on-site at the shipyard every day. To build a ship of this magnitude and complexity during the heart of the pandemic was an unbelievable success story and an accomplishment by our team that I am extremely proud of.”

This teamwork enabled the delivery of the Empire State in 41 months, which is unprecedented for government shipbuilding programs. “I tried to play it cool at the time, but I can’t tell you how proud I was of our team and all that they achieved to make that moment a reality.  Delivering Empire State was a special moment for me personally and our organization.” 

Leading for the future

Clark said he gets his drive and work ethic from his dad. But he is continuing to develop the soft skills he’s observed in TOTE executives.

He lists TOTE Group President & CEO Tim Nolan, TOTE Services President Jeff Dixon, and Ben Christian, Vice President of Business Development and New Construction for TOTE Services, among his mentors.

“They are strong communicators who prioritize relationships. They genuinely care for their people.  As leaders, they have a way of making you feel like the most important person in the room, which is a skill I respect and admire,” Clark said.

Clark feels fortunate to have “an unbelievable team of project managers and new construction experts.” He wants to be the kind of leader who can develop their talent and set them up for long-term career success.

“No matter what I do with the next 20 years of my career, successfully completing this program will remain one of the most important highlights of my career,” Clark said. “Our success on the NSMV program has generated a great deal of interest in TOTE Services and our approach to shipbuilding. My challenge now is figuring out how to replicate this success for our future customers and preparing our people so they are ready when those opportunities come.”

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Off the Clock

WHAT IS NSMV?

The National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) program is a shipbuilding program funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation – Maritime Administration (MARAD).  Congress appropriated over $1.5 billion to build five modern ships to support cadet training at our state maritime academies.

In 2019, TOTE Services was awarded the Vessel Construction Manager contract to oversee a five-ship program’s design, construction, and warranty phases on behalf of MARAD. The contract leverages commercial best practices and shipbuilding expertise to meet the requirements of a government-owned vessel.

MARAD hired TOTE Services to design and construct these dual-purpose ships with two goals:

Produce modern, state-of-the-art ships that can better meet the needs of the state academies. They are training the next generation of merchant marine officers who directly support our domestic maritime industry.

Provide the United States with vessels that can support disaster response, humanitarian missions, and other critical national needs.

Following a competitive procurement, TOTE Services selected Philly Shipyard of Philadelphia to build the ships.

The first of the five NSMVs, the Empire State, was delivered to the government and sailed to SUNY Maritime College in New York in September 2023.

“I’ve delivered several ships throughout my career, and it’s always an awesome feeling to watch the ship sail away after delivery,” said Chris Clark, Director of New Construction for TOTE Services. “But delivering Empire State was a particularly historic moment given the profound impact these ships will have on our industry.”

Next will be the Patriot State, which will be delivered later this summer and homeported at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. The other three ships in the series are the State of Maine for Maine Maritime Academy, the Lone Star State for Texas A&M Maritime Academy, and the Golden State for the California State University Maritime Academy.

Each new NSMV vessel is equipped with training spaces, labs, classrooms, a dedicated training bridge, and a large auditorium. The ships are designed to accommodate 600 cadets, 100 faculty, and 60 crew while at sea during a training mission. Each ship also has a hospital facility, a helicopter landing pad, and surge capacity to berth up to 1,000 people during humanitarian missions. The ships are also designed with a roll-on/roll-off deck and container storage to assist with carrying supplies and emergency vehicles during disaster relief missions.

Clark believes the success of the NSMV program will bring more opportunities for the TOTE Services organization.

“Our success is recognized by key stakeholders within the federal government.  There is significant interest in this program and how this commercial-government hybrid approach might benefit future shipbuilding programs,” he said. “Our fleet of government ships is aging, and the concept of using a commercial entity like TOTE Services to build ships on time and within budget is gaining support.  There’s confidence in our ability to execute and deliver at a time when many government shipbuilding programs have suffered.  I’m excited and grateful to be part of this organization and at the forefront of what could be significant growth for our company.”

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