44 To further refine this business case and provide the arithmetical model with accurate data, the maritime consultancy Koers & Vaart B.V. – drawing on interviews with market parties, public sources research, and its knowledge of shipbuilding and maritime market segments – made an overview of the market segments, types of vessels, new shipbuilding prices, total costs, daily rates and returns for the various types of vessels and accompanying activities. Conclusions and recommendations Multipurpose maritime entrepreneurship not only calls for technological adjustments to ships and different competencies of the crew, but also new forms of entrepreneurship. Cooperation within the sector is also key to positioning the fisheries sector as an attractive provider of services and to build bargaining power vis-à-vis customers. Offshore support for oil & gas − including diving, seismic support and wind farm support − is a market with interesting opportunities for multipurpose seagoing platforms. The prices are good. High demands are made on ship, crew and technical systems. But the entry threshold is not as high as is often thought. One operational challenge is that most activities and the highest prices occur in the summer season, which is also the best fishing season. Technical systems such as Dynamic Positioning (DP), motion compensating (knuckle boom) cranes and offshore access systems absolutely offer added value in the offshore and wind farm support. The big question, however, is whether the utilization rate of these systems throughout the entire year justifies these investments. A seagoing platform that can facilitate diving support activities is an interesting option. The fishing vessel winches, for instance, can be used for four-point anchoring. However, the ship must have sufficient crane capacity and deck capacity to make this possible. Wind farm construction also offers opportunities for vessels without DP or other complex technical systems, including searching for unexploded ordinance (UXO) and other research activities. Though this market is significantly smaller, support activities for the government can also be profitable. The current austerity drive has made government more willing to cooperate with maritime businesses than before. The study also shows that such partnerships can yield substantial public cost savings thanks to the much more intensive use of units. The recommendation is to elaborate the multipurpose seagoing platform concept in consultation with potential new users into a concrete design with accompanying functional and technical specifications. As this report centres on the fisheries sector’s potential to develop new activities, fishing businesses are the only secured customer for the platform at this stage. This means that the investment cost-benefit analysis must fit in with normal fisheries operations. A long-term commitment of the new user makes it possible to adapt the design to his specific needs. An additional advantage is that this gives the ship owner greater security for the finance. This new user Pagina 53
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