ROBERT G. ALLAN P.Eng
Robert Allan is the President of Robert Allan Ltd., the oldest established Naval Architecture Consultancy business in Canada, begun by his grandfather in Vancouver in 1930, and currently celebrating 78 years of continuous operation under three generations of family ownership.
Born in Vancouver, he received an honours degree in Naval Architecture from the University of Glasgow in 1971, and after working for two years in the U.K., returned to Canada to join the family business in 1973. Assuming ownership of Robert Allan Ltd. in 1981, he has led the business into a position of wide-spread international recognition in the design of specialized commercial vessels of all types, but particularly tugboats, escort tugs, fireboats, icebreakers, shallow-draft tug and barge systems, research vessels and high speed patrol craft.
He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, a Fellow of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.
He has published numerous papers and articles on the subject of tug design and performance as well as several other topics. In 2006 he authored two major contributions to the latest edition of the SNAME Textbook, "Ship Design and Construction"; one chapter on "Small Commercial Workboats", and one on "Tugs and Towboats".
In 2005, Robert Allan was awarded the Royal Institution of Naval Architects Small Craft Group Medal in London "...for his contribution to the field of workboat design, and in particular for his innovative work in the development of tugboats for all types of operation", and the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers David W. Taylor Medal for 2005, "for notable achievement in naval architecture and/or marine engineering", the only Canadian ever to be so honoured.
