1. Robert McMahon Career Summary
Last 10 Years – Self Employed Consultant, Energy Efficiency Engineer & Marine Specialist
Consultant.
5 Years – Relief Engineer, Offshore Petroleum, Tugs, Supply Vessels, Bulk Carriers, Finance
Broker.
8 Years - Charter Vessels Owner, Manager and Operator. Built Business fromone vessel
income $250,000 pa to seven vessels income $5.0M pa, profit $1.0M pa. Core strengths,
organising skills, marketing skills, operations management skills and maintenance expertise.
Undertook roles as Manager, Marketer, Skipper, Engineer, Caterer, Cruise Director and
related roles in the business
18 Years – Seagoing Engineer to Chief Engineer Liner Vessels World Wide Trading, to Fleet
Chief Engineer, Superintendent Engineer, Port Superintendent, Shipping Fleet Manager,
New Construction Superintendent, RAN Reserve Engineer Officer.
Joined Royal Australian Naval Reserve as Recruit Stoker at age 18 and rose to Lieutenant
Commander Rank. Served as Relieving Engineer Officer RAN Warships & various Ship
Docking & Repair Projects.
My step father was a commercial fisherman, and I grew up in and around commercial
fishing boats, lobster boats and trawlers from age seven up till when I commenced a marine
engineering apprenticeship at age 16.
After completing my apprenticeship, I went to sea as a Junior Engineer and sailed in various
ranks in refrigerated liner vessels, tugs, bulk carriers, general cargo vessels, a heavy lift ship,
anchor handling supply vessels and an oil rig ship (companies: BHP Shipping, Australian
National Line, Blue Star Line, Tidewater, Fenwick Tugs, Queensland Cement & BHP
Petroleum.)
After becoming certificated, I sailed as Chief Engineer on (16) sixteen different steam and
motor passenger and refrigerated liner vessels trading worldwide. Before that I was First
Engineer on two (2) Bulk Carriers, a Heavy Lift Ship and (3) fully refrigerated liner vessels
trading mostly around the world eastwards amongst voyages to Northern Europe, South
America, Africa, Canada and elsewhere.
From seagoing Chief Engineer, Blue Star Line in the Vestey Group, I was appointed Assistant
Superintendent Engineer in the London Docks (Blue Star Port Lines Management) then
appointed Superintendent Engineer, Singapore (Austasia Line)
At Singapore I superintended voyage repairs and annual dry dockings and surveys of the
Singapore based passenger and cargo fleet and voyage repairs of visiting vessels.
Safety incidents encountered included a passenger vessel grounding, a passenger ship main
boiler meltdown following the misreading of a gauge glass and a serious fire on a visiting
Argentine flag ship where two young Singaporean firemen dangerously entered a smoke
filled hold and one fireman sadly lost his life.

2. One large project in the Austasia Line was the retrofit of the Passenger Vessel “Malaysia”
where I project managed a major upgrade of the vessel including refurbishment of all
accommodation and installing new HVAC systems throughout the vessel, special survey and
major structural repairs following the grounding of the vessel at Djakarta.
Another achievement in Singapore was the successful operation of the m.v. Australasia,
powered by a worn out world’s largest double acting two stroke diesel engine at the time.
Next, I was made Fleet Chief Engineer (in the Vestey Group’s Angliss Fish Division)
responsible for 27 freezer trawlers, mother ship & three (3) export fish processing works in
Northern and Western Australia.
The main fishing areas for these trawlers was Shark Bay, Western Australia & the Gulf of
Carpentaria Queensland and Northern Territory. In this position I managed technical
operations afloat, annual slipping and repairs of the fleet and the over saw the Chief
Engineers in the fish processing factories.
The fish processing works were located in Carnarvon, Karumba and Cairns.
I was then appointed Assistant Superintendent Engineer & Port Superintendent Sydney,
Newcastle & Port Kembla in the Australian National Line followed by Ship Manager for the
bulk fleet based on Port Kembla.
In this role, I managed dockings in Korea, Japan, Singapore & Australia for Ro-Ro vessels,
Container Ships & Bulk Carriers. One of my projects was the jumboisation of a Ro-Ro heavy
steel carrier at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kobe, Japan.
I managed off-hire dry dock delivery of two large bulk carriers to difficult owners and
delivery of vessels to new owners on three occasions.
As Chief Engineer, at sea I was able to operate my own vessel at lowest fuel consumption,
fastest passage speed and lowest maintenance cost by keeping all engines, plant &
equipment well maintained and tuned to optimum efficiency.
I wrote a paper on the “Treatment of Marine Fuels” which I presented to the Institute of
Marine Engineers and won an excellence award from Bureau Veritas, Paris. I am a Fellow of
the Institute of Marine Engineers, Science & Technology, London (FIMarEST), a Chartered
Engineer (CEng) and CMarEng).
I am an Associate Member of the Company of Master Mariners, Australia and a member of
the Australian Institute of Refrigeration & Air Conditioning (MAIRAH) & a member of the
Australian Institute of Energy (MAIE).
I left ANL to buy a charter boat, Vagabond II in Sydney and grew the business from one to
seven timber vessels, acquiring, redesigning and rebuilding (3) existing Queensland tourist
vessels and buying out (3) competitors businesses as going concerns, each time arranging
complex finance deals with different large financial institutions.

3. In my 9 years as a charter boat owner and operator, all vessels were slipped and surveyed
annually by NSW maritime surveyors, and three vessels superstructures were redesigned
and rebuilt in aluminium with a new luxury internal fit out, undergoing complete plan
approvals and new original re-measurement, structural, stability and safety surveys.
In parallel with my regular career I was called up in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve as
National Serviceman initially, rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and served as relief
Engineer Officer in a number of warships, naval bases and on several naval vessels dockyard
refits.
In the last 10 years I have been responsible for generating in excess of $5m in Government
grants & subsidies for clients for implementing energy efficiency measures. Also helped
clients save over $20m in energy savings.
Robert is an easily approachable Professional Engineer and an in tune strategic business
partner who brings efficient solutions to the businesses and projects he works with.
Robert’s goal is to help organizations achieve business and energy & environmental goals
faster and easier than you ever imagined.
This includes propulsion and power generation on land and sea, renewable energy, boilers,
steam, diesel, refrigeration, air conditioning, compressors, lighting, pumps, meters,
measurement & monitoring control equipment, technical design, reporting and much more.
Robert engages with clients and assists organizations develop proposals with triple bottom
line profits.
Developing Business Cases for efficiency improvements & upgrades of all types of
mechanical plant & equipment, HVAC, refrigeration & renewable energy systems are a
specialty.
Facilities include, cruise ships, , maritime facilities, hotels, food processor, manufacturing
plants, industrial plants, warehouses, strata commercial and residential properties,
supermarkets, schools, universities, hospitals, nursing homes, data centres, shopping
centres and in fact all types of plants & facilities.
Specialties: Business Planning, Financial Modelling, Charter Boat Operations and Marketing.
Superior Energy Strategies, NABERS Star Ratings, Energy Analysis, Modelling, Air
Compressors, Thermal Imaging, Lighting Design, Motors, Fans, Variable Speed Drives,
Meters, Controls, Measurement, Validation Systems Technology, Energy Saving Certificates,
Refrigeration Repairs & Maintenance, Air conditioning, Project Specifications, Project
Management, Plans & Drawings, Energy Intensive Facilities, Trouble Shooting, Business Case
Development, Sustainability Projects, Tri Generation, Creating Asset Lists, SAAS Software
Solutions, Power Factor Correction.