Ads by Google Ads by Google

ASG Shipyard faces loss in revenue says chairman

With boat owners putting off dry docking their vessels due to current fishing restrictions, the American Samoa Shipyard Service Authority is facing a decrease in revenue for the third quarter of fiscal year 2015.

 

The authority, which oversees and manages the ASG owned Satala shipyard, is forecasting 2016 to be a “tough one” and it’s possible that the budget projection for fiscal year 2016 will not be met in terms of operating review, says authority board chairman David Robinson.

 

The shipyard is projecting a profit of just over $140,000 in its FY 2016 budget, which begins Oct. 1, 2015, based on revenue forecast versus expenses, according to the FY 2016 budget document.

 

Total revenue forecast for FY 2016 is $2.02 million — which includes $880,000 from dry docking large vessels; $720,000 drying docking small vessels; $180,000 dry docking government vessels; and $240,000 from other revenue collected for work handled by the shipyard.

 

For FY 2015, total revenue is $1.96 million, while expenditures totaled $1.94 million, according to the budget document.

 

The proposed FY 2016 budget totals $1.87 million, a decrease of $66,500. The drop in expenditures is in personnel cost and contractual services totaling $76,000, but there is an increase of $46,000 for the All Others budget item, which covers expenditures such as electricity, telecommunications, depreciation expenses and excise tax/customs fees.

 

Based on the budget document, the shipyard is reinstating its “employee morale awards” with $2,000 allocated in FY 2016, while no amount had been set aside for this fiscal year.  The budget also shows, under contractual services, $65,000 for Robinson, who is also the acting chief executive officer. (There is no CEO post proposed in the budget.)

 

Responding to Samoa News questions, Robinson says that based on third quarter FY 2015 figures, revenues are down by $293,645 and last month July revenues were down by $40,412 for the month.

 

“This downturn reflects the current difficulties faced by the fishing boat owners who are putting off dry docking repairs, which are the mainstay of our business,” he said.

 

He also said that “2016 looks like being a very tough year and it may be likely that our budget predictions will not be met in terms of Operating Revenue... unless the problems relating to fishing days, fishing areas and the potential for an increase in the minimum wage and the negative impact this will have on the operations of our two canneries are all resolved.”

 

Lawmakers are expected to question Robinson and shipyard officials over the proposed forecast for FY 2016, asking if it’s going to meet operational costs with the downturn in fishing vessels coming up for repairs.

 

Lawmakers are also expected to raise the issue of the Commerce Department’s review of the shipyard that was ordered by the governor a couple of months ago. Robinson told Samoa News last month that the review team is headed up by Bill Emmsley, working with Mike McDonald and Robert Tuala.

 

Samoa News understands that among the areas covered in the review are the repairs to the shipyard, new areas of improvement, and potential growth of the facility to attract more vessels here for repair.