Marco Polo Marine secures more than $61m in multi-year contracts

Four long-term vessel charters were also renewed.

Long-term earnings and cash flow visibility are expected for Marco Polo Marine as it clinched multi-year contracts worth more than $61m in multi-year contracts for six vessels.

According to a report by OSK-DMG, the first is a USD27m AWB contract, followed by a maiden AHTS contract in Vietnam (USD4m), and four vessel charters worth more than USD15m.

Specifically, the first contract is a 5-year bareboat charter contract worth USD27m for an AWB to start in April in Malaysian waters, with 2-year plus 2-year extension options. This comes as a positive surprise, and prompts us to raise our FY15/FY16 earnings forecasts by 10%/11% respectively.

The four vessels chartered are: i) MP Prelude and MP Premier – plying in Indonesia till end-August, ii) OMS Endurance in Australian waters on a renewed bareboat contract for three years (with two 1-year extension options) starting this month, and iii) MP Spectrum in the Gulf of Thailand on a renewed contract for two years, which began in Nov 2014.

At the same time, Marco Polo Marine’s latest anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) MP Prowess began a maiden 1-year bareboat contract worth USD4m in Nov 2014, with a 1-year extension option. This AHTS is being chartered into Vietnamese waters, marking Marco Polo Marine’s inaugural foray into this market.