The money and power behind Triton Logging is Clark Sustainable Resource Developments (CSR Developments). CSR was founded by the former Prime Minister of Canada, Joseph Clark. Clark had the money and the political contacts (many at the World Bank) to fund the development of Triton Logging.
Although Triton trumpeted the Sawfish (their submarine harvester), the Sawfish is not the way they marketed their harvesting abilities to the nation of Ghana for the Lake Volta concession (Triton owns 40% of the Lake Volta concession). Instead, Triton developed a new technology called the Sharc for more dependable and practical underwater logging. The Sharc is basically a large backhoe utilizing a slide mechanism attached to a feller buncher adapted for underwater use.
While the Sharc is more practical than the Sawfish, it too has serious drawbacks. The Sharc slide is made of heavy weight steel, and as everyone knows, steel does not float. Therefore, the longer the arm, the more weight must be managed, and this requires additional horsepower to operate and maneuver. Also, the longer the arm and the more weight the arm is expected to lift, the more steel must be applied. This additional weight causes serious capsize dangers if the weight is not perfectly centered. Thus, the Sharc requires a highly skilled operator to perform even it's basic tasks. And, while the Sharc is promoted as having a reach of 40 or so meters (roughly 131 feet), no such arm of this length apparently was built. The weight makes this technology difficult to scale to the larger end of the size spectrum.
The advantages of the TigerLynk are obvious. The TigerLynk is constructed of tubular steel (which floats or can be made buoyant neutral). Thus, less horsepower is required, and the lighter weight reduces the skill level and allows for much greater lift potential. In addition, the TigerLynk has all sighting and locating technology located at the point of cutting, instead of on the platform like is seen on the Sharc. But the biggest advantage is the degree of movement allowed by the TigerLynk. In effect, the TigerLynk has nearly the same degree of movement allowed by the human arm. Thus, a barge sporting a TigerLynk can be powered to a central location, and the arm does all the complicated maneuvers instead of a highly skilled operator.
From a practical and operational standpoint, the advantages of a TigerLynk are clear.
