New Business Opportunities within PROTEUS
Changed ownership and new responsibilities In the light of the unfavourable market conditions, an increased openness to new ownership constellations has been observed in the industry. Several suppliers are now mirroring business models seen in other industries, by maintaining ownership of the goods provided and gaining revenues from selling performance outputs. These setups typically result in more predictable costs for the shipowner. In maintaining the ownership, a whole new set of responsibilities are moved to the supplier. In cases where compliance is key, such agreements can be a way for the shipowner to mitigate risk and gain peace-of-mind, despite ever-increasing legislative pressure. Finally, the suppliers are also moving to cease the opportunity found in alleviating the costs faced by the shipowners, in micromanaging an immense undergrowth of non-critical components. Strategic partnerships with financial institutions The shipowners’ liquidity is currently limited and the risk aversion of the financial markets limits opportunities for external financing. As a consequence, shipowners are not necessarily able to act on attractive business cases provided by suppliers, unless these are of a “must have� nature.
81