Meet Henri Mutti, Maritime Civil Engineer, ABL London
The team at ABL Group shares the passion, vision and values for working in energy and the world’s oceans, de-risking and driving the energy transition. We are driven by the idea that the best work is born from professionalism, diligence… and fun. You know ABL Group, but do you know our team?
What does your day-to-day look like at ABL?
“My day often starts with a catch up of emails from colleagues in different time zones. Response priority is given to Asia and Middle East to ensure they get a return from me before they sign off. I can then focus on my ongoing jobs which are generally either marine casualty or engineering consultancy. Casualty work often consists of FFO (fixed & floating object) post loss. As a Civil Engineer, I often focus on jobs within my area of expertise, which mainly include port infrastructure such as quay walls, fendering equipment, mooring equipment, breakwaters and terminal buildings.
On the other hand, consultancy jobs are more design focused, and often consist of Port feasibility studies, and Port technical due diligence (TDD) studies and generally require inputs from various entities and teams across the Group. I get involved in the design of berthing, mooring and wave protection structures, focusing on their structural design. I also conduct mooring analyses, where outputs become a critical input for the concept design of Ports.
I regularly attend Ports across the UK for marine casualties where I undertake joint surveys of alleged damages, often between a vessel and port infrastructure. These attendances are often at short notice, and remaining available and responding quickly is key for our clients.”
What inspired you to join your industry?
“Since university, where both my dissertations were related to offshore renewables (floating solar & offshore wind foundations), I developed a keen interest in marine infrastructure. As a civil engineer, I realised that there was a big gap in existing port infrastructure for these ever-growing offshore wind turbines, and thought I’d like to work in this sector. Safe sector in the long term, as port design and maintenance is unlikely to ever see a trough during my career. As I started working, I then realised that the size of ships was also becoming a leading factor in the extension and development of ports. I generally enjoy the variability of the work I do, where loading conditions and boundary conditions always differ from a port to port and region to region. I naturally ended up specialising in port infrastructure rather than renewables, and I understood that it isn’t possible to work in everything!
Can you tell us about something exciting you are working on right now?
“I am just back from North Africa, where I am working on a marine casualty case which has now grown to be a very large claim. This involves extensive damages to a quayside in a major port. What I enjoy the most in the job is investigating the incident, the damages incurred by it, and separating the pre-existing damages from previous incidents or wear and tear.
We then make sure that repairs agreed by the Port are adequate and represent a like for like replacement, using a cost-efficient method. These are interesting investigations that require the review of various sets of data requiring different skill sets including master mariners, naval architects and of course, civil engineers.”
What does the future look like in energy and oceans in the UK ?
“I think that future in renewables is bright, despite recent market adjustments. There are challenges in the supply chain and upfront costs are high, but as we develop and continue to enhance the technology, I would expect both of these to start reducing, leading to a more cost-efficient market. I am no expert in renewables, but I hope and believe that it’s efficiency and capacity will continue to increase.”
What do you enjoy most about working as part of the ABL Group team in London?
“Getting to stretch my legs every 15mn or so to open to entrance door of the office 😊 More seriously, I enjoy the social aspect of the office, with a large proportion of junior staff, often keen for a social drink after work. The view is obviously a big plus, which makes the office space that more enjoyable.”
More about Henri
Position: Maritime Civil Engineer
Office: London / Southampton
Hobbies: Triathlon, Eating & Travelling🚴🌍
Favourite movie: The Godfather
Favourite song: Rispondimi by I Muvrini
ABL provides specialist expertise in marine studies, including technical due diligence, and engineering consulting services to assist in the development of new and existing port projects. Our team of experts offers extensive ports and harbours risk engineering and technical due diligence solutions to identify and mitigate risks, including formal risk assessments, navigational risk analyses and vessel manoeuvring simulations.
Join us for the ABL December Maritime Market Briefing on Thursday, 12th December, where our maritime experts from around the globe will come together to address your questions on a wide range of maritime topics, offering valuable perspectives on this year’s key challenges facing the industry and expert strategies for navigating 2025.
Find out more and register your interest here: