Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
My last post said 'DYOR folks before buying'.
I think should also be balanced with, DYOR before selling too.
GLA
Am i excited about today's news of a 26M contract and a 10% share price rise so far today ? - Nope ! ! !
Before i go on to explain my logic in this headline, It's important to say a huge well done to JW and the team for getting this 26M contract over the line. We hear on an ongoing basis JW saying that there's a lot of tenders out, and how exciting the future is for Infrastrata over the 5 target business areas. It's good to now see a good sized double digit million pound contract now on the books. Well done on this you folks at Infa ! !
Back to my lack of excitement on this 26M contract. My emotions are that I'm delighted, and happy as it's something other than ferry work to keep the cogs turning, pleased to see a little rise in the share price today and I'm also feeling a lot more confident going forward for Infa.
Excitement though on just this news ? Still nope !
What I am REALLY excited about is the future news that might come, and come anytime from now over the next 6 months. These news items could be many many multiples on this 26M contract. Examples could be :-
The letter of intent (LOI) from Triumph for a new build ship is 300M+. If this goes to contract that's 10 times this fabrication contract announced today. Both Infa and Triumph have said late June being their target date to take this to contract stage.
There's also an option for a 2nd Triumph ship. That's another 300M !
The MOD FSS contracts where Infa are part of the Team Resolute consortium with Navantia and BMT. This would be a 3 figure millions contract and it appears as if there's only one other main competitor for this. Even being negative on this, if the contract isn't won by Team Resolute, it's very possible that H & W could gain sub contract on the MOD FSS contract.
With cruise ships starting up again soon many of these will be needing maintenance and work prior to commencing service. This work can be into the double digits of millions, and that's per ship ! How many cruise ships are there too ? Point to remember too is that JW met Simon Zielonka Director, New Build and Marine Projects at Royal Caribbean at Downing Street last year. Infa have also just appointed the hugely respected and influential Graham Couser as Head of Business Development in Miami with him tasked with developing Harland & Wolff’s cruise repair, refit, refurbishment and revitalisation business globally.
Appledore. This historic site was purchased just last year by Infa with Boris Johnston at the opening. He has since then in September past, responded to to a question in the Chamber from an MP re H & W and Appledore, with Boris stating 'watch this space'. As yet that 'space' has still to be elaborated on. What does Boris have in mind ?
All of the above and there's also Islandmagee . It's a massive positive if it all goes to plan.
Pleased as I am with today's news, it's the news to come that has me EXCITED !
Obviously DYOR folks before buying
With many of the cruise companies now advertising heavily and resuming their cruises in the coming months, this is going to see a big increase in the number of them requiring work to be done before coming back into service. The amount of work required will depend on whether they have been in 'hot, warm or cold lay up'. The website DNV (link below) has an article on these lay up definitions and also in the last paragraph talks about what it takes to bring a vessel back into service after Covid. Bear in mind this article was from 1 year ago, just after lockdown restrictions, so the amount of work could be even greater with the long lay up the ships have had.
https://www.dnv.com/expert-story/maritime-impact/Key-factors-to-consider-when-assessing-lay-up-options.html
The longer a ship is stationary or laid up also increases hull fouling issues or bio fouling. The longer a ship sits stationary the greater the issue with bio fouling, barnacles, organisms, weed etc attaching. This fouling affects a ships performance, speed, fuel efficiency etc. My reason for this paragraph is that many of these cruise ships at the very least will need a scrape and hose before going back into service.
Now, here's another 2 links below and it's to do with Navantia and Royal Caribbean, both companies that Infa have had interactions with very recently.
Navantia is the company that Infa are working with (along with BMT) in Team Resolute, for the FSS MOD contracts. Royal Caribbean is of course the very big player in the cruise ship world. Obviously Infa have been working very closely with Navantia, and JW has also met Simon Zielonka Director, New Build and Marine Projects at Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines last year at No 10.
I'm eventually getting to a point here. Navantia have just had a contract to bring 4 Royal Caribbean ships back into service. It's stated that the work done across the four ships will take about 500,000 hours and create 1,230 jobs at the Navantia shipyard.
My question ! Might the relationship that Navantia / Infa / H & W / and John Wood have bring some of this work to Belfast as sub contracted ? ? ?
I wouldn't be surprised if it did ! !
Again, I've absolutely no knowledge on this but I do have time on my hands and do a lot of reading and research trying to put 2 and 2 together. Many times I'm way way off the mark but sometimes my 2 plus 2 does equal 4. Could we possibly see a Royal Caribbean ship in the Belfast Building Dock very soon. VERY possible imho. The last post (well found Stokey) about the Miami office was interesting too as this just happens to be the base of Royal Caribbean’s operation.
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/04/05/four-royal-caribbean-cruise-ships-will-get-dry-dock-work-spain
https://twitter.com/johnwoo64494325/status/1238469509536718853?lang=en
If you're unable to post the chart Lottie, is it possible you could even give us a summary of what it reads please ? Your knowledge and experience of the markets and particularly trading in the markets is very enlightening at times, and very much appreciated on the page here.
A bit more info on European Highlander. It's now showing on the Belfast Harbour page that it's scheduled to be in dry dock until 23rd April.
It must be getting more than a wee lick of paint and a freshen up if it's in for 3 weeks.
I see on the Belfast Harbour page that the P & O ferry European Highlander is due to dry dock in Belfast on 2nd April.
It's great to see a new customer and particularly a new customer like P & O. Could this be the start of more P & O ships starting to utilise H & W ? Hopefully it could be !
I think it was maybe Dawski that mentioned here last week about a potential new customer at the start of April. Well done that man, your crystal ball is a good one (if this is the new customer you were thinking about), lol.
Personally I'm still hopeful for a very positive result on Islandmagee. I'm not expecting though for DAERA in the next few days though to say to Mr Poots 'let them there guys, go on ahead and dig those big holes under the lough, we're delighted with all the data they've provided as they've been very thorough'.
You can quite rightly ask then if I'm not expecting that, how can i then say im hopeful of a positive result. Q & A time might help.
Q - What do i deem a positive result ?
Ans - Digging big holes under the lough.
Q - Do i see those big holes started to be dug in the next 3 months
Ans - No chance.
Q - In 6 months then ?
Ans - Unlikely.
Q - By the end of the year
Ans - Possible.
Q - What do i expect as an announcement from DAERA in the next few days (before 31st as promised).
Ans - Very little (Maybe I'm too negative but my confidence in them to deliver as promised isn't high).
Q - What do i expect from DAERA announcement ?
Ans - To have a few suggestions or conditions but to ultimately sit on the fence and not give any definitive answer, and also suggesting it goes to the executive for a decision or even possibly an enquiry.
Q - Will it eventually be recommended to proceed by the Executive.
Ans - Yes, i firmly believe it will.
Q - Will it be appealed by the group protesting against the application ?
Ans - Definitely yes.
Q - Will this have it dragging out longer again ?
Ans - Definitely yes.
Q - Will the initial decision by the Executive be up held
Ans - Yes i believe. (This is where i now get my 'positive result' feeling from).
Q - Same question as above. Do i still believe there will be holes started to be dug this year ? ? ?
Ans - Hmmmmm ? Maybe not. But the holes i believe will be dug.
Q - Will those holes in the ground eventually hold Hydrogen ? ? ?
Ans - I'm not even going there, but Hydrogen does seem to be the buzz word these days ! !
Lets see how this all develops, and again, I'm 'medium to longer term positive'.
go. :-)
That’s a good summary of the position re the ML Loosegoose. 2 years ago the ML decision was a boom or bust for INFA. Not any more.
If the ML is granted, it definitely will be a massive boost for INFA. If it’s declined I believe it will affect the share price in the shorter term only, as many early investors came onboard with it in mind. They may just have had enough and jump out if it’s declined.
What I however feel is more likely is that if DAERA do put a recommendation to proceed to the minister or to the executive, is that it will be with conditions attached. I’ve obviously no knowledge of what conditions they might be, but lets say it was a longer discharge pipe, 2 discharge pipes over a greater area, lower daily cubic metre discharge rates, additional test data, etc. These are all achievable, albeit with additional time delays and additional expenses. They’re achievable though and we’ll have other income streams while we’re waiting.
Something that JW referred to previously is that there is a plan B, C, D,E and more as options for Islandmagee and this project. We don’t know these options, but could one of them be to maybe to sell Islandmagee ? ? If it was, it would obviously achieve maximum value if there was a ML granted with no conditions. Regardless of whether it is granted or a decline, there is still a monetary value on the Isalandmagee project if it was being sold on.
Not normally me, but I’m going to look at a very worst case scenario. It’s a straight forward decline for talks sake. There still I feel would be very interested parties in taking over the project as the financial gains that could be here are massive. They might feel they could do a better job than INFA in getting an ML sign off, or go about it with a different approach maybe. Ie Hydrogen is the buzz word these days and it’s definitely the future. Might they feel a Hydrogen storage facility could be more likely to be signed off if they can evidence a greater need for it.
The bottom line for me is that Islandmagee has a saleable value whether the ML is granted / granted with conditions / or declined.
Would I personally sell my shares right now, today, even if I did feel the ML was going to be declined in the next week or 2 ? NO WAY, is the short answer. I’d be too afraid to be ‘out of market’ for when possibly bigger contract news is announced (and a subsequent share price jump) , and I feel that’s very close.
Don’t forget that with all this hype at the minute around the big grey boats with shooty guns and the wurley windmills possibly happening , we’re only 13 weeks away from the end of June and when we might see the LOI with Triumph progress to an order. June was the timescale discussed for this and this was 300M+ for one ship.
To summarize this above spiel. Is the ML essential for INFA going forward. Nahhhh, it’s not, not at all. Would it help. Definitely, but it’s only one egg in JW’s basket of exciting directions we can
Jabido. You're quite right, it is a relatively small boat at 60m x 14m. I'd imagine that going forward this would be the type of vessel that would be more suited to Appledore type work, however Portaferry is only around 50 miles round the coast from Belfast, so it's only a wee scoot up the lough to H & W.
It is a new customer too, and also an interesting one, as it's Transport NI, an executive agency of the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure that operate the ferry. It's good to see some government type work coming into the Yard. Hopefully this bodes well for future work of this type.
One of the 2 ferries that operates the route from Portaferry to Strangford (short crossing at the mouth of Strangford Lough in N Ireland) is coming to the SRQ in H & W this afternoon, and then into dry dock tomorrow.
It's posted on the NI Ferry Facebook page that's it's in for overhaul work.
https://www.facebook.com/niferrysite
Cheers for the St Paddy's wishes Si. . . . . and here's a wee St Paddy's day blessing for chums on the page here.
May your pockets be always heavy, may your hearts be always light, may good luck be with you each morning, and stay with you every night.
I've pasted below the link to the defence secretary's speech at the SMI conference today. It gives some more information on the National Shipbuilding Strategy.
I won't summarize it here, but will say it's worth clicking for a read.
One part of the speech however i liked and will refer to, is where Ben Wallace says 'more broadly, I want us to create local hubs of expertise. So that the ships that leave these shores aren’t simply famed for bearing a stamp saying “made in Britain” but for the stamp that says Belfast or Birkenhead'.
Nice to also see the word 'Appledore' in his speech too. I wonder can we read into that reference a bit further ? ?
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/a-speech-by-the-defence-secretary-at-the-society-of-maritime-industries-annual-conference
Great post Chrisa. I'm hopeful for some substantive news in the next fortnight or so.
As for shipyards in NI Stokey, H & W are the only one.
With the Covid restrictions still in place I'd imagine this physical roadshow at H & W isn't proceeding. Maybe I've just missed it but I haven't seen it posted anywhere that this is the case though.
Has there been any communication from Infa on this or have they announced any plan to do this roadshow online, similar to the Zoom one they done in November ?
Cheers Lottie. Your dealing knowledge and experience is very much appreciated here. Thanks for continuing to share this on the page.
As Stena Edda is due to leave to leave dry dock in the next day or so I see that according to NI Ferry that Superfast VII and Superfast VIII are due to dry dock for essential maintenance. This is good news for continuity of work in the yard.
They also highlight that Stena Edda was in dry dock for much longer than anticipated. That also makes good reading as days in dock = more work completed and a bigger invoice.
https://www.niferry.co.uk/stena-shuffles-irish-sea-ferry-fleet/
I see yesterday the specialist recruitment company in the marine business Faststream Recruitment have advertised some jobs at H & W. These include :-
Head of ship construction
https://www.totaljobs.com/job/head-of-construction/faststream-recruitment-job91843160?WT.mc_id=A_RE_JG8PPC_MP3_C46_20_TJ
IFS Support lead
https://www.totaljobs.com/job/support-lead/faststream-recruitment-job91844171
Marine estimator
https://www.totaljobs.com/job/marine/faststream-recruitment-job91627298?src=search&page=3&position=11&WT.mc_id=A_PT_CrossBrand_Jobsite&searchCriteria=Construction&searchLocation=Northern+Ireland&source=jobsite
Ship repair manager
https://www.totaljobs.com/job/repair-manager/faststream-recruitment-job91835251
IT Support manager
https://www.totaljobs.com/job/it-support-manager/faststream-recruitment-job91835392
Hmmmmm. Why would Infa advertise these jobs of head of ship construction, marine estimator and ship repair manager ? My calculator is suggesting 2 + 2 = Big floaty boats
The Irish research vessel, Celtic Explorer, left Harland and Wolff on 16th January. The Irish Marine Institute have posted on their page some information on the works that were completed on it as well as some great pics of the work being done. I don't know how to cut and paste a Facebook post to here, but if you go to their Facebook page ' Marine Institute - Foras na Mara ' you can see the post and pics there. I've pasted their wording below for anyone not on Facebook.
- - - - - - - - - -
Celtic Explorer refit 2020
In December 2020, the RV Celtic Explorer entered the Dry Dock at Harland and Wolff ship repair to commence a dry dock and refit program to keep the vessel in class and overhaul essential equipment.
Despite the size of the Explorer it was dwarfed by the huge dry dock run by Harland and Wolff! The team on-board and from the yard worked to complete all underwater works before the vessel was floated once again after Christmas.
The works undertaken included full renewal of the vessel’s antifouling, painting of the vessels superstructure and decks, frame and cranes, removal and inspection (and polishing!) of the ships propeller and shaft, a full overhaul of the vessels main crane (which required removal of the crane), replacement of hydraulic pipes and shipside valves and Installation of a new water ballast treatment system to ensure the vessel meets the latest pollution regulations. The ships port engine also completed an 80,000 hour overhaul after 18 hard years of use. Many other unseen ships equipment was overhauled and replaced as required to ensure the vessel was in good order for the busy years ahead before its next docking as well as overhaul and installation of specialised science equipment. From a health and safety perspective all work had to completed whilst maintaining the highest precautions to minimise the risk presented by Covid 19.
The works were all completed to a very high standard just prior to the vessel departing on passage for its first survey of 2021 on the 16th of January, with credit to the P&O Maritime Logistics vessel crews and shore side technical team and the team from Harland and Wolff and their contractors.
That new welder is an impressive piece of kit. I've posted a video below if anyone's interested to see it in operation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTkLOf8aSQ0&feature=emb_logo