Cruise and Ferry Market Update

RNS Number : 4976O

Harland & Wolff Group Holdings PLC

10 June 2022

 

10 June 2022

Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc

("Harland & Wolff" or the "Company")

Cruise and Ferry Market Update

Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc (AIM: HARL), the UK quoted company focused on strategic infrastructure projects and physical asset lifecycle management, provides an update on the cruise and ferry market, one of its key markets.

The Company is pleased to report that works on the Queen Victoria, announced on 11 April, were recently completed on time and on budget.  The scope of the Queen Victoria project proved to be greater than originally anticipated and the vessel has now re-entered service. The Aurora project, also referred to in the announcement of 11 April, was due to dock in Belfast on 9 June for a two-week period but the Company has been informed that the vessel has now been rerouted to another shipyard for operational reasons. The additional revenue from the Queen Victoria project more than exceeds the revenue that management had budgeted for the Aurora project and the Company remains ready to support P&O Cruises and Cunard for any of their future requirements. 

Following the departure of the Queen Victoria, a series of planned docking activities and some major carbon abatement works have been undertaken and our Belfast delivery centre is now fully ready to service a larger number of vessels across the cruise industry.

More widely, the Company has continued to receive a high level of enquiries from a wide range of cruise vessel owners and operators and dry-docking dates have now been provisionally reserved for four vessels for FY 2022 and FY 2023, each spanning between 15 and 30 days. In addition, the Company continues to build its pipeline of potential contracts with projects at various stages of the tender process. The cruise industry has, over the last two years, undergone a significant change, with refurbishments and major upgrades of existing vessels being prioritised over new build projects. The Company believes that this is likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future and, with these activities at the core of Belfast's skillset, this bodes well for forthcoming periods.  

Harland & Wolff, group CEO John Wood, commented:

"It was a proud moment for Harland and Wolff (Belfast) to see the Queen Victoria arrive in the shipyard, the first cruise vessel of her size to dock in a UK yard ever. The vessel undocked from our Belfast dock on time and looked stunning whilst boarding her passengers this week.  Whilst we are disappointed not to welcome the Aurora this time around, we are happy that our projected revenue was met by the growth in the Queen Victoria contract. The owners of the Queen Victoria have a large portfolio of cruise vessels and, given the excellent relationship that we have built with them, we look forward to further dry dockings in the future.

Cruise is a very exciting market to be in and with a growing pipeline of projects, it is shaping up to be one of our main pillars alongside defence and renewables."

For further information, please visit  www.harland-wolff.com  or contact:

Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc John Wood, Chief Executive Officer Seena Shah, Head of Marketing & Communications	[phone] [e-mail]   [e-mail]
Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser & Broker) Stephen Keys / Callum Davidson / Dan Hodkinson (Corporate Finance) Michael Johnson (Sales)	[phone]

About Harland & Wolff

Harland & Wolff is a multisite fabrication company, operating in the maritime and offshore industry through five markets: commercial, cruise and ferry, defence, energy and renewables and six services: technical services, fabrication and construction, decommissioning, repair and maintenance, in-service support and conversion.

Its Belfast yard is one of Europe's largest heavy engineering facilities, with deep water access, two of Europe's largest drydocks, ample quayside and vast fabrication halls. As a result of the acquisition of Harland & Wolff (Appledore) in August 2020, the company has been able to capitalise on opportunities at both ends of the ship-repair and shipbuilding markets where there will be significant demand.

In February 2021, the company acquired the assets of two Scottish-based yards along the east and west coasts. Now known as Harland & Wolff (Methil) and Harland & Wolff (Arnish), these facilities will focus on fabrication work within the renewables, energy and defence sectors.

In addition to Harland & Wolff, it owns the Islandmagee gas storage project, which is expected to provide 25% of the UK's natural gas storage capacity and to benefit the Northern Irish economy as a whole when completed.

 

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