Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Scubacraft (Submersible vessel used for multi-purpose sub-aqua applications to enhance marine life,environment conservation and structural integrity of offshore installations.)
Berichtszeitraum: 2016-07-01 bis 2016-12-31
In today’s global market, companies that offer technologies capable of transporting passengers across water whether surface or underwater face many challenges such as; Environmental laws and regulations, prolonging asset life cycles and all while remaining at a competitive price point within the market. Increasing developments in offshore oil & gas platforms and wind power increases the demand for underwater installations, inspection and maintenance. Many organisations are involved with seabed surveys, monitoring pipelines and inspecting underwater facilities; applications where people are either transported from the shore or mother ship on the surface before diving down to a location. Effective transportation of people and equipment - directly from the shore to the dive location - will reduce operating costs and increase diver performance. There is an ever-increasing awareness of marine degradation, rising temperatures and sea levels. National research institutions and marine conservation organisations over the world are aware of the need to monitor marine ecosystems whilst managing their protection. In the luxury sector, yacht owners are looking for technologies which combine dynamic surface performance with underwater flight. Within this market luxury hotels and scuba diving resorts which operate in highly competitive markets, are looking for new technologies which can provide a competitive advantage. Scubacraft has been developed with the explicit capability of being a submerging vessel, with the dual ability of operating on the surface at high-speed. The vessel has the carrying capability to hold numerous pieces of vital equipment which would be used to perform testing, sampling, environmental research, offshore engineering tests and leisure activities. The vessel’s design is such that it has the optimum on board capacity to carry up to three people. In addition there is designated space specifically created for the cargo of detection equipment, sensors and other kits as per need and requirement. Through this innovative design, the Scubacraft vessel will provide operatives with all the equipment they would require under the sea surface.
In this study, the business potential and feasibility of the Scubacraft product has been analysed. Starting with a PESTLE analysis of targeted market sectors, the environment has been analysed leading to market research for overview of market size and trends, to establish understanding of demand of such product. A SWOT analysis considers the company’s internal resources and external market/competitor factors. Resources and competencies have been identified to cater and mitigate any risks and external threats and weaknesses identified in SWOT. Targeted customer groups and demographics have been identified and a specific pricing strategy for each targeted customer segment is being sorted with revenue projections. The unique selling points of Scubacraft products are established considering product features, value proposition of company for customers and differentiating with benchmarking models done for competitors. Market penetration critical success factors, porters analysis and sensitivity analysis has been done to cater market entry barriers and to tackle competition dynamics. Distribution channels, suppliers and export strategy have been developed for the product in this study as well. The feasibility study concludes a strong potential of business and market replication for Scubacraft and shows generation of €8.1 million in revenue, gross profit of €3 million with net income of €1.2 million for Scubacraft Ltd by 2020 creating 24 new jobs for the company.
Scubacraft has the unique capability of being a high-performance surface and submerging vessel that offers unrivalled flexibility with the carrying capacity to transport personnel and numerous pieces of vital equipment for a range of applications. We aim to reach a €5.8m on sales and €2.4 m of gross profit by 2020. This revenue will help us to create more than 45 direct and indirect jobs by 2020, and over 220 new jobs by 2025. We expect Scubacraft being a key player on Health & Safety procedures for Oil and gas, defence and marine inspection industry as well as helping to reduce the potential environmental risk and fauna preservation. The impact of this technology on the offshore inspection industry will help to avoid more than €2bn in environmental damages each year. Additionally, Scubacraft will help more than 1,000 environmental groups and conservationist within Europe to protect specific endangered species or particular group of flora or fauna in a cost efficient manner.