The passenger boat segment is an ever-increasing part of our portfolio. These vessels are mono-hulls and/or catamarans and operated by renowned companies employing professional seamen with the relevant formal degrees (captain, etc).
The boats are used for shuttle services (sailing from A to B and back) and/or embarking on touristic excursions. In this segment Sealease has identified the trend towards green / ecological offering and is eager to fund new vessels with electrical or hybrid propulsion. Our experience in this field is fueled by the close collaboration with the top manufacturers in this domain with whom we follow-up the entire building process, from order to delivery.
In close collaboration with the customer we determine the ideal boat specifications based on the local legislation (eg. CE regulations), jointly review the business plan and optimize the TCO where possible. As an example, we review the autonomy of an electrical vessel (x hours at x knots during the day) and determine whether the business plan makes sense or needs to be finetuned. The rising fuel cost being a significant portion of the operators’ costs structure this proves to be key. Needless to say, that the insurance is an important pre-requisite for passenger boats, not only on Casco but specifically on P&I where again, we benefit from our volume leverage through our insurance brokers.
Often so, the public sector is involved with RFI’s and RFQ’s to award business to the best operator with consistency in service levels to transport city inhabitants or tourists across waterways. In other cases, there can be governmental incentives to the operator to reduce car traffic and enhance the transportation facilities across water. Also, here we demonstrate our added value over the past decade.