Ocean Carriers

The estimated operating costs for the new vessel assume that it would be operated in the same way as the Vital Spark. However, the new vessel should be able to handle a larger load on some routes, which could generate additional revenues, net of additional out-of-pocket costs, of as much as $100,000 per year. Moreover, a new vessel would have a useful service life of 20 years or more.

Coast4life Inc with the expected downturn situation due to recent terrorist attack on a cruise ship in 2012 and on airline industry would prepare to remain profitable by finding ways to cut cost or generate additional revenue. Target is to recommend the best among the four alternative suggested aiming at 16% after tax return and tax rate of 38%.

Based off a financial analysis using the data Ocean Carriers has provided, the final recommendation is that Ocean Carriers should build a new ship out of its Hong Kong base where the tax rate is 0% and scrap the ship when it is 25 years old. Following this recommendation would be the only scenario where Ocean Carriers sees a positive net present value

The marketing strategy that Ricci has selected has many pros and cons. The cons are that it is highly targeted, easy to track, and highly informative. By being highly targeted, Ricci will be able to directly send advertisements to the specific target market based on the results from the feasibility study done by the consultant. Also, this will help Ricci find households that have already purchased related products in the past with the use of mailing lists. Since implementing a mail order marketing strategy is easy to track, Ricci will be able to easily calculate the return on investment. This strategy also provides the consumers with a great deal of information since mail ordering is highly informative. This type of strategy will allow for Ricci to send out an advertisement that consists of a picture of the product, detailed information about it, and a sales letter. They can also use the sales letter to offer special discounts and promotions as well.

Lastly, an alternative that can be taken is to build relationships with various large companies with employees who make an income in the target range and make offers to company executives. This method would not downplay the company image because Cunard would be communicating directly with high-income executives and furthermore will not be making any public sales or advertisements. This method would create new potential customers who are directly in the target market of choice using the method of relationship building. This may also result in additional customer retention. This method can be used for both the four and five star ships. In order to attract the target market of the five star ships, Cunard can make an arrangement with a company to offer a deal with their luxury ships as part of a retirement plan.

Smooth Sailing has determined three possible options for its future, along with the probabilities of occurrence and estimated cash flows (ECF):

(NSY) had been providing parts and services to the Mega-Yacht Industry since receiving their initial seed capital in 2000. The Mega-Yacht industry provided an attractive opportunity for NSY. Although the industry was small by comparison, serving only 10,000 vessels, it generated in excess of $1 billion in economic activity annually, divvied amongst the new build, and maintenance, refit and repair business sectors (Mark & Mitchell, 2003, p. 48). The industry’s supporting cast included captains and crews, owners, management companies, procurement agents, yacht builders and repair entities, brokers, and local husbanding agents. Although unknown to the firm at its inception, consultants in 2002 forecasted the mega-yacht industry would see annual growth of 6%, with the potential for even better numbers in the short-term (Mark & Mitchell, 2003, p. 48).

If the company is incorporated in the U.S., the NPV will be $-7,836,500.07(US25) after 25 years and will be $-6,395,945.22(US30) after 30 years. Therefore, the U.S. company should not purchase the vessel. If the company is established in Hong Kong, the NPV will be $1,522,472.92(25HK) after 25 years and will be $3,402,293.81(30HK) after 30 years. Therefore the 30 years should be the optimal number of years to operate the carrier before scrapping it after 30 years. In this situation, if the 15-year-selling policy is changed, the company should buy the carrier. For years 26-30, we assume that average daily charter rate is increased by $200 per year. The expected daily hire rate is calculated by multiplying Avg. Daily Charter Rate by adjustment factor for hire rate of 65%.

1. There are a few trends in the US airline industry. One is consolidation, wherein existing players merge in an attempt to lower their costs and generate operating synergies. The most recent major merger was the United Continental merger, which is still an ongoing affair, but has created the largest airline in the United States by market share (Martin, 2012). Another trend is towards low-cost carriers. In the US, Southwest has been a long-running success and JetBlue a strong new competitor, but in other countries this business model has proven exceptionally successful. The third major trend is the upward trend in jet fuel prices, and the increasing importance that this puts on hedging fuel prices and capacity management (Hinton, 2011).

4) Should Ms Linn purchase the $39M capsize? Make 2 different assumptions. First, assume that Ocean Carriers is a US firm subject to 35% taxation. Second, assume that Ocean Carriers is located in Hong Kong, where owners of Hong Kong ships are not required to pay any tax on profits made overseas and are also exempted from paying any tax on profit made on cargo uplifted from Hong Kong. (75 points)

Despite extensive renovations and unsympathetic additions to her superstructure, The Emerald, as she was known for her final years of service, was in fact a significant ship in maritime history. She was one of the last American-built passenger ships and steamships, able to survive years of obscurity and the bankruptcy of two owners to have a long career.

Perhaps the easiest approach to the acquisition of BoatU.S. is to leave BoatU.S.’s current demand and forecast planning untouched and separate from West Marine’s planning processes. This would be inexpensive and non-disruptive to the current corporate culture. The drawbacks, however, could be a slow steady decline in profitability and reliability of the BoatU.S. brand, hence the reason for the acquisition in the first place.

We expect the daily hire rates to increase from 2001 to 2002, but then to decrease overall in the long term based on the assessment of the consulting firm. The consulting firm based their forecast on higher demand in iron ore shipments. They claim demand in iron ore shipments has historically shown a strong correlation with charter rates, and we believe this makes sense. Vessel size, distance of route, and demand for ore/coal are drivers of daily rates.

Linerboard producers and Wall Street analysts expect the years following 1983 to have very good effects on the sales of linerboard due to strong demand, limited supply and negligible new capcity. The projected sales increase in linerboard is 7% as industrial production and real GNP increase with forecasted economic expansion; however the current linerboard industry will only increase by 1-2% leading to a projected price hike of 16% created by the difference between supply and demand. Linerboard makers are expected to operate at historically high levels of production as operating rates were forecasted to increase from 84% in 1982 to 99% in 1986.

Every firm would love to invest in shipping industry due to large profits involved. However this would seem easy but practically it is lot more difficult and virtually impossible to establish in container line business. The problem pertains to large capital investments in form of vessel and container procurements and risk of operating vessels. Even if we take the examples of biggest companies