Wärtsilä Marine Solutions Sees 12% Drop in Order Intake

Order intake at Finnish engineering company Wärtsilä’s Marine Solutions sector reached EUR 407 million (USD 460.4m) for the quarter ended September 30, down 12% compared to EUR 463 million reported for the same period a year earlier.

On the other hand, order intake for the recently acquired L-3 Marine Systems International (MSI) developed well, the company says.

Within environmental solutions, orders included exhaust gas cleaning systems for three passenger vessels, as well as ballast water management systems for eleven container vessels.

In the gas carrier segment, orders included two contracts to supply regasification modules to be installed on FSRU vessels owned by Höegh LNG from Norway.

Gas carriers represented 37% of the third quarter order intake, while the conventional merchant segment accounted for 21%.

The cruise and ferry segment’s share was 16%, special vessels represented 9% of the order intake, navy 6% and offshore 5%. Other orders accounted for 7% of the total.

The overall outlook for the shipping and shipbuilding markets remains challenging, Wärtsilä says, as overcapacity continues to affect demand.

Gas carrier contracting is expected to remain on a normalised level, and the outlook for the cruise segment remains positive thanks to an anticipated increase in Asian passenger traffic.

The outlook for ferries is supported by signs of economic recovery in the USA and Europe. The importance of fuel efficiency and environmental regulations are clearly visible, the company says, as the regulatory environment is driving interest in gas as a marine fuel in the wider marine markets.

Wärtsilä’s third quarter order intake totalled EUR 1.086 billion, a decrease of 17% compared to EUR 1.309 billion from the corresponding period a year earlier.

The company recorded EUR 132 million profit before taxes, compared to EUR 129 million reported in 3Q2014.

Looking ahead, Wärtsilä expects its net sales for 2015 to grow by 5-10% and its operational profitability (EBIT% before non-recurring items) to be 12-12.5%.

This guidance includes the impact of the MSI acquisition. MSI is expected to contribute approximately EUR 250 million to net sales and EUR 9 million to the operating result during 2015. Excluding purchase price allocation amortisation, MSI’s operating result is estimated to reach EUR 16 million.