Bridging the gap in workboat funding

“We use Seawork, says Peter Curtis of DS Marine Finance, “not to find customers as we are inundated already, but to bridge the gap between the banks and the boat operators.”

He explains there’s often a divide “between the people who know about finance but don’t know anything about workboats, and those who understand the boats but don’t understand funding”. So at every Seawork Mr Curtis lines up around 60 people from banks and funding institutions to meet with him, and shows them what their financing actually buys. “I often explain that the workboats are the ‘Land Rovers’ of the marine sector, not necessarily pretty, but built to keep working.”

It’s important, he says, to spend time talking the financiers through the market, the challenges and opportunities, and the safety nets. “We demonstrate the real value of these boats, so that they understand if the worst came to the worst and an operator fails, there’s going to be a potential buyer for the assets,” he explains.

“Owners come to us because we live and breathe workboats, we don’t do anything else,” says Mr Curtis. He points out that banks often don’t have a marine finance arm and may not even really be aware of the offshore windfarm sector, so the specialisation gives the company both focus and flexibility.

“The joy of being independent is that if one bank says no, we can usually find another source of funding”, continues Mr Curtis. He also points out that given a good business case to extend operations, the firm will look at backing a second vessel three or four months after the first, unlike a bank which might well refuse.

So, the firm has proved a popular way forward for around half the operators in the sector. “We have completed 50 transactions since Seawork 2010. We have 16 customers and used 13 banks and funders, and every customer has come back for a second transaction”, says Mr Curtis.

DS Marine Finance has now set up an agreement with WFSV builder CTruk and associated operator CWind so that customers will have a straightforward finance as well as boat solution. In addition it is also working with AMC to develop construction funding for their target customers.

However, despite saying that it isn’t always easy “as there’s an awful lot of background research and talking to be done”, he does admit that it can be fun. “We don’t just tick the boxes, we paint pictures of the owner, the boat, we get involved.”