Sembcorp Marine to suffer declining orders

Orderbook already declined by $800m as of September.

SembCorp Marine will remain on rough seas as rig orders is bound to decline, DBS Group Research said.

The firm noted that the group's orderbook has already declined by $800m to $8.4b as at the end of September 2016.

"It is set to decline further as we anticipate order flows to remain sluggish," the research group said. "We believe rig orders are unlikely to make a comeback anytime soon, given the supply glut."

The market, DBS argued, will take tike to absorb around 160 rigs scheduled for delivery in the next two years. This represent around 20% of its existing fleet.

"Competition has intensified with the low order backlog of Korean yards and emergence of Chinese shipyards in the offshore space," it added.

Semcorp Marine's new order wins of $3.2b in 2015 came from two sizeable contracts to build a fixed platform and the world’s largest semi-submersible crane vessel.

"We expect SMM to secure $1bn in new orders in 2016. SMM has clinched orders worth S$320m year-to-date," DBS said.