Marcus Högblom, Vice President, Passenger Ships & Azipod Segment at ABB Marine, says ABB has not been affected by low oil prices yet, IAA PortNews journalist reports.
According to Marcus Högblom, the company is loaded with orders till 2020-2021 with most of the products contracted before low oil prices could affect the situation. He added: “Most of these projects are long-term projects like Yamal LNG. They cannot stop because fuel price is down.”
Commenting on the oil market situation Mr. Högblom said: “If you design a ship you have to think of what the oil prices would be in three-four years and what the market is going to be. Of course, the marine market is generally oil and gas related. Oil prices can have an impact on the conventional business - construction of drilling ships and things like that.”
Though the demand for Azipod products intended for ice-covered waters can go down amid low oil prices it can grow in the segment of cruise ships. “As long as oil prices are low there is a lot more money to build passenger ships because you don’t have to spend so much for the fuel and can invest in new tonnage instead”, Mr. Högblom believes.
ABB Marine and Ports numbers 1,700 employees in 22 countries. ABB Marine business is based on electric propulsion commonly used in cruise vessels, LNG tankers, off-shore vessels and icebreaking vessels due to reduced fuel consumption, lower emissions and increased pay-load.
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