Why did Marco Polo Marine start a shipyard in 2005?
CEO: The shipyard is a support business with ship repair, conversion and maintenance... As we continue to grow..., we require more vessels... hence the natural progression into shipbuilding.
... the shipyard will remain focused on ship repair and conversions... the ship repair business is one that is seasonal but non-cyclical. If you own a ship, you are required to conduct mandatory servicing and maintenance.
Keppel Corp and Sembcorp Marine focus on shipbuilding and ship repairing of the larger vessels. We on the other hand target the medium and smaller vessels that take up most of the population of the ships around this region.
What are the prospects for Marco Polo Marine's core business, tug and barge operations, in Indonesia?
CEO: Indonesia produces over 200 million tonnes of coal every year... 36 new plants are currently being built in Indonesia and they have the combined capacity to generate over 20,000 megawatt of electricity.
... there are over 100 independent power plants in Indonesia, 80 to 90 additional tons of coal will be needed domestically in the near future.
How are you going to move the coal to the power plants? We need more tugs and barges because large vessels cannot manoeuvre around the rivers of the Indonesian mine sites... the demand for Indonesian flagged vessels will remain strong at least for the next five to six years.
Source: Marine Money Offshore.
Related post:
Marco Polo Marine: The CEO speaks.