Page 43: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2013)

Offshore Energy Edition

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www.marinelink.com 43with seriously looking at the BWMS re-quirements, looking at the gas emission requirements, and of course, it is expen-sive. Many owners are putting off get- ting into these expensive conversions. At the end of the day, I see quite a bit of work coming from both the scrubber in-stallations and the BWMS installations. I think LNG will be the fuel of the future. I think what we?ll see a lot in the next Þ ve to 10 years as many vessels go for LNG propulsion. With shipowners delaying the installa- tion of BWMS, for example, and the future high demand for such conver- sion work, what is ASRY doing today to prepare to capture its share from this ß ood of business? We?re talking to the owners today to Þ nd out what they?re thinking, what their ideas are on gas emission and BWMS. At the same time, we?re talk- ing with manufacturers of equipment to get into some sort of arrangements with them where we can promote and market their equipment, and at the same time, they can promote our services so jointly, we can approach owners and present a package. And what are shipowners thinking, from your experience? They?re trying not to think at the moment ? they know it?s going to come, and they?re just hoping the day will get put off as long as possible. Some of the owners are taking it seriously, but some of the owners are not taking an approach on it at all. Through our new consultancy, we are trying to address this with our customers. It is encouraging with some customers, as they?ve asked for studies, some designs, and we?ve had a couple of commissions in the last few months to provide studies and informa-tion.How have your investments paid off? The best example is the offshore business. During 2012, the offshore business contributed 50% of revenue, and it has grown steadily over the last four years, from 10% to 25% to 40% to 50% last year (2012). The $180m invest- ment was totally necessary. If we had stuck solely with commercial ship repair we wouldn?t be sitting here as comfort- ably as we are now, that?s for sure. We expect the (power) barges, when they get into gear, will make a huge contribution as well. Our core business is still com-mercial ship repair, but the facilities, the resources, the skills: we are able to use them in different areas. MR #4 (42-49).indd 43MR #4 (42-49).indd 434/3/2013 9:02:50 AM4/3/2013 9:02:50 AM

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