The Norwegian wellboat company is now announcing a number of new builds.
“We rounded off 2019 with record numbers. I suspect that we are the only wellboat company that has ever passed a billion (EUR 93.5 million .ed) in turnover, and actually I believe once again we are biggest when it comes to wellboats, but that is of little importance to simple souls like us. Our passion is the construction and operation of wellboats and the figures are really only a result of what we are concerned about seems to be working well,” wrote Rostein vice president Glen Bradley, in an email to SalmonBusiness.
The ships operate in Norway, but also operate in Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Scotland, Iceland and Russia. Rostein owns the following 14 wellboats in addition to “Ro Vision” and “Ro Venture”.
He said last year’s profits have already been “ploughed into” two new vessels delivered in 2020. This applies to“Ro Vision” and “Ro Venture”.
Expanding shipyards
At the end of 2019, the total balance of the company was EUR 270 million, of which EUR 112 million was in equity.
Rostein’s parent company Rofisk is the main shareholder in Larsnes Mek. Verksted with a 68.8 per-cent stake and extensions are planned here, Bradley said.
“This is because more and more aquaculture vessels are increasing the demand for maintenance there. There will also be a number of new builds from Rostein and there will be a bunch of new jobs of all this,” Bradley wrote.
Bragged
In its annual report, the Board of Directors of Rostein wrote that they expect positive prospects for the wellboat industry, especially for larger and more efficient vessels with leading solutions for fish welfare and environmentally correct profile.
“At the same time, the Board of Directors notes that many vessels are still contracting and are taking this into risk management,” it added.
Bradley, in turn, bragged that his customers who choose “to add a little more in quality to get the lowest price overall” were awake to the company’s success.
“With high productivity on expensive vessels, we can keep prices down as well. Our vessels perform missions as we know several competitors need two vessels to manage. (…) Quality tends to pay off in the long run, and this is why we have put ourselves on the top shelf as seen. We believe our wellboats are the recipe for reducing the cost of salmon and increasing the utilization of MTB,” he said.
