Supporting the oil and gas industry has enabled Bayu Maritim Berkah to build a solid reputation as one of the biggest providers of Accommodation Workover Barges in southeast Asia. The Indonesia operator is now contemplating an approximately US$60 million investment injection to increase fleet numbers, build a shipyard, and diversify its business offering. Andy Probert caught up with President and CEO Adi Agung Tirtamarta on the company's vision for expansion.
Established in 2011, Indonesia's Bayu Maritim Berkah has transitioned swiftly from agent to shipping owner and operator, providing 18 Accommodation Crane Workover Barges (AWBs) and Offshore Support Vessels (OSVs)
While its domestic and international reputation continues to grow as a safe and reliable partner to oil and gas majors, the company is set to take the biggest step in its relatively short history.
"We are planning a major expansion based on three core pillars: consolidation of our support services to the oil and gas sector, diversification into cable-laying and the establishment of a shipyard," explained President Director and CEO Adi Agung about the company’s US$60 million plans.
The fleet of 13 AWBs and five OSVs consists of AWBs with a capacity to handle between 100 and 424 people and are equipped with cranes from 100MT-300MT. It also owns various dynamic positioning vessels, anchor handling tug supply units, harbour tugs, diving support and multi-purpose support vessels.
Exciting plans & opportunities
However, the company plans to seriously upscale the fleet in 2023 with an additional three AWBs. One will be extensively refurbished to become a self-propelled pipe-laying vessel to handle up to 60inch diameter pipes.
Mr Adi explained: "We are in the market for second-hand units because the price of an AWB unit is $6-7 million compared to a new build of up to $22 million."
Two second-hand platform supply vessels (PSVs), with a minimum operational age of seven years, will be acquired. One will be allocated on operational duties in Southeast Asia in 2023. The other PSV will be converted into a cable-laying vessel and readied for the Indonesia Government’s plans to install 13,000 km of fibre-optic cabling to the country’s east and west areas in 2023.
Bayu Maritim Berkah also intends to acquire two second-hand Anchor Handling Tug Supply vessels (DP2) as they offer the potential to expand its business service offering in the region.
Mr Adi has also invested in 16 hectares of land formerly used as part of a power plant on the Island of Bintan, part of Indonesia's Riau Archipelago and with good proximity to Singapore. The area, equipped with a 250 metre long jetty, will become a smallscale shipyard to help repair and maintain the Bayu Maritim fleet. "We hold hopes of utilizing the yard in the future to build more specialist vessels. We will use some parts for a scrap business and build the yard to fully comply with the latest Hong Kong convention regulations.
"The heavy investment in the fleet is justified as we have identified many opportunities coming forward in 2023-2024 that require us to be forward-thinking, agile and geared up."
In particular, some AWBs will be stationed on short-term contracts to service oil and gas rigs offshore of Mumbai, India. These vessels are highly sought as they are equipped with lifeboats and conform to recent India Government guidelines requiring this type of ship to have a lifeboat aboard.
This feature emerged after the 2021 Cyclone Tauktae on India's west coast killed nearly 80 people, most of whom were on a barge carrying offshore workers that sank and 600 were rescued from offshore oil installations.
Mr Adi said: "What transpired is that most AWBs working in India, south-east Asia up to the Far East are not equipped with lifeboats. Ours are, so enabling us to work on continuous projects.
"We also see opportunities arising with ADNOC in the UAE who have opened contracts for five years but ask for the highest-spec in accommodation barges."
In Indonesia, due to the pandemic and the oil and gas crisis, some competitors are facing problems and may be forced to close, presenting Bayu Maritim in a strong position to pick up more work domestically.
The company is also contemplating retrofitting its oldest 90m barges into 300-person capacity AWBs to build greater flexibility for their contracts in Indonesia.
Staying strong
The decade-long success of Bayu Maritim and its ability to position itself firmly for the future is down to "being reliable, versatile and ever adaptable" to the changing circumstances of the oil and gas industry, according to Mr Adi.
After he became the President Director in 2011, Mr Adi manages the company as its CEO by first chartering barges and vessels to oil companies to support their activities in Indonesia and overseas. As one of the shareholders, he was determined the company become the leader in the accommodation barge business domestically, while building its foundation internationally.
It began with three AWBs and an OSV to meet the demands of Indonesian law, which effectively encouraged local vessels to work on government-issued tenders. Bayu Maritim worked with the likes of Chevron, CNOOC and Total and continued to expand its fleet to support workovers for drilling and platform work.
"Today, we are now the biggest owner of AWBs in Indonesia. We have several – around 65% - working domestically, while others have been on active contract in India for the last five seasons." Other vessels are on service in Myanmar, Malaysia and Thailand. While the company saw turnover and work decrease by about 10%, it has seen a 15% bounce-back in 2022 as contracts continue to pick up and the oil and gas industry in the region emerge from the pandemic. Mr Adi said Bayu Maritim differentiates itself from the competition because "we are fully committed to providing the best services even if we are running at zero profit on contracts.
"With both suppliers and clients, we remain open, communicative and tell the truth. If they are happy, then we are happy. Ultimately, we want to partner with them for the long haul.
" We believe our expansion is well-timed,” Mr Adi concluded, “and will position ourselves very well for future gains as new opportunities come forward and boost our revenues in 2023 by 20%-25%."
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