Srt Marine Systems Share Discussion Threads

[extrader] 02/7/2018 08:38

Hi all,

Coals to Newcastle, sand to the Saudis, electronics to the Japanese...;->

ATB

[goodapple] 02/7/2018 08:36

An underwhelming response from the share price so far, but Simon has repeatedly stated that there would not be any RNS's issued which were not significant.
This looks significant to me, and I'd agree with C5's comments above although lining up potential takeover predators at this stage may be a bit premature.

[pandeck] 02/7/2018 07:49

fft - you really must try harder....

[countryman5] 02/7/2018 07:36

This is a very significant RNS. JRC is renowned for quality at the top end of the commercial market and they have chosen SRT to provide them with their AIS modules. Praise does not get better than that. JRC is big, much bigger than Raymarine. JRC has 5650 employees and sales of approx £1,0000 million and describes itself as 'one of the leading companies in the field of wireless'. My understanding is that it always developed its own AIS and therefore it must have stood down its own R&D AIS development team. This sends a very powerful message to the global maritime market about who is best in class in the global AIS market. This tells potential buyers that EMTRAK is best in class and will enhance both EMTRAK and OEM sales going forward . The likes of Garmin will know that buying cheap and dubious alltech is not the way to preserve their brand name.
I predict that JRC will want to buy SRT Plc because they cannot afford to allow a competitor to buy their source of AIS modules. Not only that but SRT are now competing with them in their very profitable systems market.
If there is a fight between JRC and CLS for the ownership of SRT that would be two big pocketed suitors... but there may be others.
SRT merges CCTV, radar and other information in its GeoVis system. But once it detects a target, the logic would be to provide the response such as armed boats or missiles, which makes SRT attractive to global defence companies.
Who will be the lucky buyer of SRT Plc and at what price?

[fft] 02/7/2018 07:33

Wasn't that impressed. Surely this agreement can't be material to revenue given the amounts expected from projects, and isn't it a bit worrying that there is still no official mention of a contract despite numerous mentions on this BB and apparently by ST at Mello recently ?

[lavalmy] 29/6/2018 13:13

WRT to goodapple's quote above (and the reply to extrader in the header), I think AIS/terrestrial is the only way to go, for now at least. exactEarth's recent tie-up with IHS Markit is as clear an indication as you can get that satellite AIS and busy areas do not mix and it has to be supplemented by terrestrial coverage and that for the relatively easy Class A transmissions.

These VMS projects don't just involve standard AIS messages, of course. There is all the catch reporting etc to beam up as well and I have no real idea of how they are doing that in terms of transmissions. From extrader's reply:

'SRT’s approach has been a little different. Our VMS system offers an innovative onboard data in put method using our VMS-Connect application that enables the fisherman to use a cheap mobile device. We have selected AIS as the transmission method since when near to shore there is no data costs, and when further out with SAT-Trak it can continue to be tracked, but now at between $5 and $10 per month ..'

and

'If 20,000 vessels were transmiting data to the Inmarsat overhead, it would be overwhelmed as it was not designed for this.'

From these two, I surmise that whatever data the fisherman is putting into his mobile, that is transmitted to the shore stations, and, if, further out, via satellite. Quite how much data is needed and when, e.g. if the customer needs once an hour pictures of the catch or whether that can simply be stored and accessed later, is a bit unknown. However, the Inmarsat/CLS approach doesn't seem to be capable of coping with large numbers either (and that would be non AIS transmissions).

[desha] 29/6/2018 12:48

thanks LaV. Had assumed Vietnam was asking the EU to fund at least partially

[lavalmy] 28/6/2018 12:57

goodapple

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[goodapple] 28/6/2018 12:55

I quote from a reply I received from ST some time ago, regarding SRT's main markets being outside the EU:

"For SRT, our opportunities are all outside of the EU. The EU is, today, a minor commercial marine market. For example the Vietnamese fishing fleet alone is 50% larger than the entire EU fishing fleet. They do not have VMS systems currently and cannot afford the version of VMS system used in Europe. This is where our AIS based version, which has a low per vessel installation cost and low ongoing operating costs is so attractive and why we are making such good progress with our plethora of discussions with these countries in particularly in the area of fisheries."

I look forward to Vietnam getting up and running, to be followed by others from "the plethora".

[philburt] 28/6/2018 12:26

LaV - Good points. Thanks.

[lavalmy] 28/6/2018 11:51

desha

If Vietnam are short of funds, they will go with the most cost effective solution. The loans that CLS manage to organise from the French (not EU) government still have to be paid back, so the question of cost remains - if CLS is 66% more expensive, it would require a heck of a soft loan to make the NPV cost to Vietnam equal to a self-funded option.

There is also the point about scalability - if they are going to track the other 80,000 fishing boats that don't go far offshore, they can do that with the AIS infrastructure and no communications costs. In the government document, they are planning to do just that. Plus you have EEZ security and port management aspects. All that can be added on to an AIS system.

The original CLS Movimar system was paid for by a French loan. Vietnam are now stuck with having to repay that. I imagine that they are now much keener on value for money.

[desha] 28/6/2018 11:40

Hi LaValmy

What with Brexit, why would SRT be in a better position to beat CLS to Vietnam?
If EU funding, then they may well insist on CLS (France) despite SRT being superior solution.

[lavalmy] 28/6/2018 07:25

This other article is more explicit about the main reason for the continuing yellow card.



The Movimar system is CLS.

The way I see it is that the EU is insisting that they track at least the 30,000 offshore boats and the Vietnamese are saying that they cannot afford to do so. Maybe they are trying to get some sort of financing from the EU, maybe not. But cost seems to be the big issue. If SRT's assertions about their cost profile (and claims of superior performance as well) are true, then one would have to think that they are in pole position.

A further point is that if the EU is returning in January to review the situation, action must have been started by then to make it worth the bother.

[countryman5] 27/6/2018 21:14

Philippines and Vietnam are previous contracts for CLS. The Philippines Philo phase 2 was supposed to be funded by France and no doubt CLS assumed it was going to them. My understanding is that the recent fundraising indicated that an unnamed country was now going to fund a major contract with SRT rather than another source ( I read France). Recent gallery photos and ST comment on the webcast suggests that SRT is in line for the Vietnam contract, previously CLS contract. I am reading between the lines and all will eventually be revealed.

[hjb1] 27/6/2018 16:16

what have SRT 'stolen' so far exactly?

[countryman5] 27/6/2018 15:41

Clearly Mr T will not be getting christmas cards from CLS unless CLS can acquire SRT and put Mr T on the pay roll!!!!
CLS must be seriously aggrieved that little SRT are stealing their bread. I am expecting a takeover approach which I hope will be kicked away.

[lavalmy] 27/6/2018 13:57

Well yes and no. They would just have the set-up for a proprietary VMS system. How useful that could be for anything else, I don't know. It certainly isn't AIS so would be difficult/pointless to integrate with e.g. coast stations, though I imagine that they would try to harmonize the reporting of the catches etc. Probably be cheaper to replace the transponders with SRT's AIS based ones so that they are all running on the same system. I mean 3,000 old versus 30,000 + 3,000 new (eventually).

The control centres themselves would be in the fisheries department, I suppose, so as rooms...

[hjb1] 27/6/2018 12:51

what would happen with the current infrastructure already in place ie; the three control centres for instance.Could SRT utilise them I wonder?

[lavalmy] 27/6/2018 12:42

I think the real advantage that SRT has is that they use AIS with satellite as an add on. Once the infrastructure is in place, it is scalable quite easily to cover, e.g non-fishing boats, and other applications such as ports and security, and there are no ongoing communication charges except for satellite when needed.

[hjb1] 27/6/2018 12:32

new supplier, , no probs sir.. world leading technology, no probs sir, 40% discount, no probs sir,....bring it on!! lol
Can anyone else compete on quality and cost ?

[philburt] 27/6/2018 12:23

Interesting stuff guys. Thanks for the info.

[yumyum] 27/6/2018 11:53

I also see that CMS have an office in Vietnam.

Project manager in 2013 on LinkedIn said:

Project Management Officer of the
▪ MOVIMAR (Satellite Monitoring of Vietnamese Marine Domain and Resources) Project which represents a contract of 13.9 M€ and involving different themes: VMS (Vessel Monitoring System: location of 3000 fishing boats) and associated control centers in 3 cities in Vietnam, marine forecasting weather center, provision of services associated on 4 years,
▪ Supply of Satellite services and Oceanography/Hydro-Meteo data transmission after the end of MOVIMAR project for 2 years, which represents a contract of 3.1 M€,
▪ LRIT (Long-Range Identification and Tracking of ships) project which represents a contract of 1.1 M€,
▪ LRIT Support services which represents a contract of 85 k€/year


Looks like a 6 year contract from 2011 presumably, and hence Vietnam now looking for a potentially new competitive supplier.

[yumyum] 27/6/2018 11:52

Thank you LaValmy. I see the contract was originally won in 2011.