Srt Marine Systems Share Discussion Threads

[countryman5] 25/4/2024 15:09

LAV’s last post nails it.

[lavalmy] 25/4/2024 14:36

I suppose the real point about the system as specified is that it was designed and intended to cover 400,000 vessels and not a few thousand. If they stop at a few thousand, then they would have been better off with a CLS-type satellite system. So the value proposition depends on what they now do with it. Having all these towers with RADAR and CCTV is largely worthless as it stands.

This is from the BFAR in 2019:



'STRATEGIC PLAN – Key Objectives

The effective monitoring and control of the national fisheries and the
marine environment.
➢ Track and identify all vessels – from oceanic to municipal and artisanal
➢ Monitor vessel ownership, operators, crew
➢ Monitor vessel activities, status, fish catches & landings
➢ Automated detection and enforcement of illegal activities
➢ Monitor, model and understand aquatic environment dynamics
➢ Effective policy & regulation development and enforcement
➢ Compliance with all international, regional and local regulations now
and in the future.'

It is up to them, they have bought and paid for it. It is neither the BFAR's nor SRT's fault or responsibilty if illegal fishermen buy a judgement from a regional court declaring tracking anti-constitutional and thereby impeding the intended coverage. That is a matter of political will and Marcos seems to be ducking the issue or worse by putting an illegal fisherman in charge of the Department of Agriculture. But barring any EU input, it is a purely Philippino issue and I would expect neighbouring countries to view it as such and nothing to do with SRT or Tucker.

[boadicea] 25/4/2024 14:01

The pragmatic view rests on two main points - 1. Do they need the sytem and 2. Are they getting best value for money.
The political view, of course, can be detached from such common sense considerations which, in addition to general bribery and corruption, includes the ability to enforce the measures that the system would enable.

Not knowing which view will win, one is naturally apprehensive. But beyond that, it opens up a number of other possibilities related to the real value of the company and its unique expertise which now stands at a knock-down valuation.
In other words, there now appears to be a golden opportunity for a predator to snap it up for a song, posing as a White Knight. If enough mud sticks (I am not predicting that it will) a major group (Ocean?) could buy in and do a rebrand exercise.

So the hope must be that it proves to be a storm in a rice-bowl devoid of any grains of truth which quickly blows itself out before permanent damage is done.

[buck581] 25/4/2024 11:54

Nothing will stick to silver tongued Mr Tucker. He’ll soon have them all buying shares in the company.

[colliera] 25/4/2024 10:16

Thanks for the updates all you guys, esp LaV

[colliera] 25/4/2024 10:14

goodapple - I would expect that's the case, company used to be called Software Radio Technology as I recall before SRT Marine (I've been invested all along - wish I had traded it more)

[lavalmy] 25/4/2024 08:44

Owenski

Soft loans can be tied under EU rules, though the OECD is trying or more hoping to phase them out as they typically add 20-30% to the cost. Within the EU, nation states cannot discriminate against other EU states on government contracts etc. Globally there are also agreements on the level and cost of export guarantee schemes to avoid effective subsidies. Soft loans are not covered.

[amt] 25/4/2024 08:40

Perhaps time for new management. It's been very disappointing so far?
They have the product and manufacturing in place.

[goodapple] 25/4/2024 08:36

Origin of 'SRT' = Simon Richard Tucker as I recall.
What's the mood at MSN I wonder?

[pinkfoot2] 25/4/2024 08:30

The problem is ST is the company-without him ,it would be toast in my view

[amt] 25/4/2024 08:19

Worst case scenario. Pay a couple of hundred thousand on legal fees and Tucker leaves the company. Sce are not being charged so hardly explains the big drop in share price.

[owenski] 25/4/2024 08:15

Was under the impression that it went against EU rules for nation states to provide loans on the basis that the recipient had to buy the same nation's goods and services with the loan???

[lavalmy] 25/4/2024 06:15

ftt

I remember at the time that the BFAR had thought they could simply switch from a foreign to locally financed project easily and that the original contract could be novated. The BFAR rarely had any projects so they didn't really know the process. The DBM instead insisted that the entire budgetary and bidding processes be redone. This opened the way for the BFAR to increase the size of the project, not doubling the amount of kit as transponders were only a small percentage. An agency like the BFAR, on a very small regular budget, could not on its own decide to do this but had to have buy-in and approval from multiple entities including NEDA, chaired by the then President. No short cuts allowed in summary.

[amt] 25/4/2024 04:39

All a lot of technicalities if you ask me. Did the Phillipines Government get a decent system at a fair price is what matters. All they need to do is find out how well it is operating and what the alternatives might have been. It seemed to take many years to get the contract in the first place so it must have had every dot and I checked out.

[fft] 25/4/2024 03:28

When the Philippines contract was extended/expanded - as per the Philippines star article posted below - were all the new paperwork and regulatory stages carried through properly by BFAR etc with regard to govt/courts etc ? The amount of kit more than doubled. If various bodies were sidelined then I can see why this has reared it's head. But ST shouldn't be in the firing line unless they have a smoking gun - phone call, money, email etc - that indicates he knew that things were not right.It is also not clear why using a subsidiary of a company to carry out a contract is not ok. Most companies have loads of subsidiaries. However, if they are claiming it is a false front, or nominee, to merely get the contract and that paperwork submitted by SRT was disingenuous (to be polite) about aspects of that company then that could be an issue. With the dismissal of the case against RH i would surmise that only ST put his signature on a particular piece of paper.CM5 the eternal optimist might think it will blow over quickly and won't affect other operations, but the solution may well be (after an extended period) a financial penalty - perceived excess gains plus a punitive fine. That is the last thing SRT can afford.It would be interesting to know what the price of rolling over the loans that SRT currently has as the risk appears to have increased. Is it eagle eye who keeps upto date with those ?

[pldazzle] 24/4/2024 22:25

Would others agree that this is a fair analysis? If I have got the wrong end of the stick, amendments would be welcome:

1. We the Philippines have two major and conflicting fishing problems: (a) foreign [mainly Chinese?] vessels illegally fishing in our waters, and (b) home commercial fleets outmuscling small operators in part by fishing in shallow inshore waters. (b) will also deplete our fish stocks to the longer-term disbenefit of all concerned, including the country's economy, but see below. The more widely we deploy AIS, the better for (a), but the worse for (b) which we perceive as costing more money in terms of the Filipino economy and, more importantly, our own pockets.

2. We (being vested interests at top Government level) choose to disregard the above, in the hope or belief that - all evidence notwithstanding - the EU will prove toothless and can somehow be persuaded not to issue a yellow and then a red card even as we cheerfully continue to run fish stocks dry.

3. Pretending that none of the above is or has ever been a problem will involve, inter alia, finding a fall guy or two for the false narrative of what has happened so far. Oh wait a minute, how about SRT and that pushy man Tucker, they look like sitting ducks. We don't even need to bring formal charges against SRT, ruining its reputation will do just fine. Simples.

[pinkfoot2] 24/4/2024 21:11

CM-you don’t think this stuff will have some toxicity on the rest of the business?Why has the share price fallen 30pc on the news??

This needs cleared up pronto because a CEO being cited like this is not something to gloss over.

[countryman5] 24/4/2024 20:17

Hopefully the dust will soon settle around the Ombudsman story. Everyone will have to wait for the Supreme Court ruling on whether the monitoring of fishing boats contravenes constitutional rights.
This board will then return to the start of three contracts. Indonesia requires the signing off of the £145 million UKEF backed loan by the Indonesian Ministry of Finance (MOF). The next stage of the M E contract awaits a start date as does the smaller Bahrain extension? September should see the launch of Nexus. Philgeps should reveal the first stage of the Philippines Coastguard ten year programme. This appears to be getting momentum from the US navy, as does possibly Tanzania and Kenya. Let us not forget that Kuwait and Vietnam also have need for a system. A lot of detailed work to keep the SRT team busy.

[pinkfoot2] 24/4/2024 19:37

Reading between the lines, have they simply bought more kit than needed?

[crystball1] 24/4/2024 19:11

I haven't seen this before.

I hope it helps to explain the situation.

[kinbasket] 24/4/2024 17:36

pldazzle.

It's my phrasing above that is confusing. I was paraphrasing the argument made in the initial complaint letter to the ombudsman.

i.e. the initial complaint suggests no EU country should be able to benefit from EU regulation. It's daft.

[lavalmy] 24/4/2024 17:34

I don't have to convince anyone, merely giving my view.

This is anotther link I posted at the time which shows the same sort of reasoning:



'In case the cause of action for the EC’s ‘Red Card’ is due to the permanent injunction issued by the RTC, which issue is now pending before the Supreme Court, does the EC find itself above and beyond the judicial processes of country as enshrined in our Constitution?'. Might it not be that the EU does not feel itself bound by the Philippines constitution?

I suspect and hope that the EU does act. It changes nothing for Tucker's predicament, but may dissuade Marcos from putting a poacher in as game-keeper. The illegal fishermen have won this round, but they have not won the war.

Edit. There is no Philippines PR machine but rather vibrant reporting, the best and most fearless of which is the Rappler. Their chief was jailed under Duterte for no reason but at least Marcos has let her out. She has won a Nobel prize.

[pldazzle] 24/4/2024 17:01

La V #14296 - Sure, it may seem 'obvious' from where we sit that the Ombudsman and Victoriano have been bought, but go ahead and convince the Filipino PR machine, be my guest! Isn't the expression "Mud sticks"?

[lavalmy] 24/4/2024 16:52

“The sudden creation of SRT-France a month before the second bidding; the permission to SRT-France to participate in the bidding despite knowledge that will have to depend on SRT-UK’s technical, professional and financial capabilities; the sudden termination of the award to SRT-France for some baseless reason; and the immediate request for the cancellation of the French Laon by DA-BFAR in order to remove the French-related conditions–all these paved the way for SRT-UK to participate in the bidding – a bidding for a project with an expanded scope and increased project cost,” the OMB also said in its resolution.

This is part of the Ombudsman's reasoning. We all remember that there was no sudden termination of the award to SRT-France for some baseless reason but rather because the French refused to honnour their commitment. I rather think that such terminations are by nature sudden. As is the creation of a subsidiary. It should not be surprising either that the BFAR acted to replace the French loan with local funding as soon as it became apparent that the French were not going ahead with the loan. The EU had been waiting since 2015 for action on vessel monitoring after all.

The overarching thrust seems to be that the three defendants conspired to have a bigger contract awarded to SRT in the UK by firstly causing the French loan not to be provided. It is quite clear that they were trying to get the French loan to finance SRT-France's bid.

The Ombudsman's position is so similar to our pal Victoriano's counsel in style and in logic that it seems obvious to me at least that they have been bought.

[pldazzle] 24/4/2024 16:34

kinbasket #14292 - you wrote "Because the EU red card was from the EU, no non-EU country may ever benefit from it."

Sorry, but you have me baffled. The EU infographic reads:

"In cases where the pre-identified country fails to resolve its IUU fishing problems, the Commission identifies it as a non-cooperating country, in what is called the 'identification' step, or the 'red card', and proposes to the Council to place the country on the list of non-cooperating countries, i.e. the 'listing' step. Listing involves trade-restrictive measures – the prohibition of imports of fishery products from the listed country, associated with a prohibition on EU vessels operating in its waters."



Suppose now that, as in this case, a non-EU supplier* provides the country in question with a system designed to help reduce the "EU red card" risk. Where does it say that said non-EU supplier - note: a non-EU *supplier*, not a non-EU *country* - should be precluded from benefiting from the EC regulations? And why should that be the case anyway?

* [Or technically, perhaps, a supplier who was based in the EU when the order was placed in late 2018, but ceased to be so based upon Brexit taking effect on 31.1.2020]

_ _ _ _ _


And in passing: I don't think there has actually been a red card, has there? Isn't it rather the case that the country is perceived to be *at risk* of one?