On the 22nd of February 2022, The top Management Staff,.First Adasa Group Ltd, arrived the serene and well kept environment of the Naval Shipyard Ltd, to pay a courtesy/ Social visit that was on schedule.

Our Chairman,  HRM  King Frank N Okurakpo, graced this event by His timely presence in the cool of the evening.

We were duly received at the officers mesh by the distinguished Naval officers, the Staff of the Naval Shipyard were equally in attendance.

The essence of this social visit was to Foster more cordial relations between Naval Shipyard Ltd and Our Company.

And also to  seal ongoing plans of our proposed partnerships.

This is geared towards mutual  benefits and growth for both organizations

Captain I C  Ketebu was  the able Anchor for the social event and carried on with such admirable fluidity.

A very warm welcome speech was made by the The Superintendent, Naval Shipyard, Rear Admiral SJ Oyegade,

Thanking His Majesty for His presence, the good thoughts of initiating this event and having beneficial  plans for Naval Shipyard Ltd .

The Partnership  between both organisations will foster mutually beneficial  business interactions/ transactions, which would entail the supply, installation and maintenance  of Air Boats.

His Majesty, who is a Rtd Navy Captain, in His address, reminisced His earlier days in the Nigerian Navy and how He was instrumental to the formation and establishment of the Officers Mesh at the Naval Shipyard.

It is with this same loyalty, goodwill and commitment that He has extended a hand of friendship and Business interest to build a stronger collaboration between Naval Shipyard  Ltd and the First Adasa Group Ltd.

It was a warm evening of bonding, networking, and enjoying  light refreshments.

And it ended well.

The future  holds a tangible promise for both organisations .

First Adasa Group Ltd, 

A Confluence of Passion and Performance

Australia-based MMA Offshore reported that it has completed the sale of its 12-year-old supply ship MMA Leveque to Fortescue Future Industries. Built in 2010 in Indonesia the 3,100 dwt vessel currently operates on four diesel-electric Cummins main engines. It was sold for $7.75 million to become the demonstration ship for the ammonia conversion project. It will be the first ship that FFI has converted as part of its efforts to demonstrate different modes of transportation using green fuels.

“We are excited to continue working with FFI, with the MMA Leveque now joining Fortescue Future Industries, where the goal is to transform the vessel to run almost totally on green ammonia,” said David Ross, Managing Director of MMA.

Last fall, Fortescue chairman Dr. Andrew Forrest challenged the shipping industry to accelerate its move to net-zero operations. To demonstrate that the capabilities existed, he said the company would convert a ship to ammonia-fueled operations within a year. Earlier in 2021, the company reported it achieved successful combustion of blended ammonia fuel in a locomotive and committed to converting its entire fleet of nearly 100 ore carriers by 2040 at the latest.

Dr. Forrest announced the plans to operate the PSV on ammonia speaking at Transport Day during the COP26 conference. Dr. Forrest said, “This vessel will show the shipping industry the power of a vessel fueled by green ammonia in real-world conditions. It is world-leading technology and will assist in providing the shipping industry with the practical know-how to decarbonize completely.”

Fortescue is investing heavily in research and development to transform its operations on road, rail, and sea with zero pollution fuels. Forrest believes it will be possible to achieve net-zero operations before 2040 and during his speech called for the entire shipping industry to embrace the 2040 target.

The cruise company under its different brands, reports that it has returned 64 ships to guest operations primarily in North America and Europe, as well as a few ships in South America, and starting in May 2022 will resume operations in Australia. The only major market that remains closed is China but regardless of the timeline for Asia, the company is confident that they are on course for their recovery after the pandemic. To date since the operational restart began Carnival said more than 2.2 million passengers have taken one of their cruises and more than 70,000 crew have returned to work.

Speaking to investors for an update, Arnold Donald, President and CEO of Carnival Corporation, highlighted the company’s achievements over the past two years saying that Carnival had been able to
reduce monthly adjusted EBITDA losses by 40 percent since mid-2020 while also completing more than $29 billion in capital raising and refinancing more than $9 billion of debt.

“We now expect each brand’s full fleet to be back in guest cruise operations for its respective summer season where we historically generate the largest share of our operating income,” said David Bernstein, Chief Financial Officer of Carnival Corporation during the investor update. He highlighted that 10 additional cruise ships returned to service during the company’s first quarter of FY 2022, taking operating capacity from 47 percent of their fleet to 60 percent, and with additional ships returning to service have now reached 75 percent of the fleet based on capacity.

“With improved recent booking trends leading the way, driving customer deposits higher, positive adjusted EBITDA is clearly within our sights,” forecast Bernstein saying that while the company would still report a loss for the full year, they expect the company should reach profitability during the third quarter. For the next fiscal year, he projected that Carnival’s brands would carry nearly 14 million guests “generating potentially greater adjusted EBITDA than 2019.”

Occupancy aboard the cruise ships is also rebounding. Challenges including the surge in COVID-19 early in 2022 meant they experienced a lowered than expected 54 percent occupancy on cruises in January but they reported it is growing with nearly 70 percent occupancy so far for March and more than 40 sailings exceeding 100 percent occupancy. They are also experiencing strong onboard revenues from passengers which nearly equally ticket revenues in the quarter for total revenue of more than $1.6 billion. Drydocking and other expense increases including fuel contributed to a quarterly net loss of more than $1.9 billion.

Another factor helping to drive the company’s positive outlook is the ongoing revitalization of its fleet. Donald highlighted that a quarter of the company’s ships will be new or recently introduced when they complete the return to service. With the full fleet in service in 2023, the company will have an eight percent capacity increase over 2019, while having also accelerated the removal of 22 older and smaller ships from across the brands.

This year, the company plans to remove three additional ships from the fleets. One of the ships, the Carnival Sensation, departed last week from Miami bound for the recycling operations in Turkey. Built in 1993 as the third vessel in the 70,000 gross ton Fantasy class, and with a capacity of 2,000 passengers, she at the time was among the largest cruise ships in service. Carnival Cruise Line announced earlier this year that it had decided not to return her to service after the pandemic and they are also planning to retire her sister ship the Carnival Ecstasy in the fall of 2022.

Carnival did not identify the third ship leaving the fleet but in January 2022 they sold the 1999 built AIDAMira. The 48,000 gross ton cruise ship had sailed for the company’s Costa and later AIDA cruise brands. The ship was delivered to a start-up cruise line named Ambassador Cruises that plans to return her to service in 2023 as the Ambition.

As the company continues to follow its strategy to rebuild the operations after the pandemic, Carnival Corporation noted that it has slowed its growth expectations. The corporation has reduced its capacity growth to 2.2 percent compound annually from its pre-pandemic rate of 4.5 percent. The expectation is that it should enable the corporation to capitalize on pent-up demand on intentionally constrained capacity.