The storm clouds that have been gathering over embattled Western Australian shipbuilder Wavemaster International may be starting to clear.
The storm clouds that have been gathering over embattled Western Australian shipbuilder Wavemaster International may be starting to clear.
Wavemaster has secured its first contract in nine months, a $6 million job to build a ferry for a Danish company Christians-oefarten, and is in the box seat to land another contract of similar magnitude by the end of the month.
The company has been looking to secure new contracts since late last year and, as WA Business News reported on July 1, the writs from unpaid creditors have been piling up, totalling $134,000.
As of July 5, the company had received writs totalling a further $20,856. It has also been ordered by the WA Magistrate’s Court to pay creditor CDM Electrical Contractors $6,322.40.
In a related matter, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union secretary Jock Ferguson said the union’s officials would be investigating whether Wavemaster’s employees entitlements were under threat.
Wavemaster general manager Malcolm Swaddle said the company had missed one payment to its workers – himself included – but denied any claims the workforce had gone without wages for longer than this.
“They [Wavemaster’s owners Penang Shipbuilding and Construction] had a late payment from the Malaysian Government so some money didn’t get here when it should have,” he said. “The money is now in our bank account.
“We’ve also been negotiating new terms with our creditors. Some have actually come to us and suggested it.”
Mr Swaddle said the company had been struggling to pay its bills on time, largely due to the fact that it had no cash flow, and admitted Penang Shipbuilding and Construction had been partly to blame for those delays.
“They hold the purse strings and we have to explain to them why each creditor has to be paid,” he said.
However, Mr Swaddle said the company’s Malaysian owners had shown great patience in keeping the company’s workforce employed through the nine months the company had been without a contract.
“The easiest thing would have been for them to shut the place down a year ago, but they haven’t,” he said.
Mr Swaddle said he was appointed nine months ago to get the company back on track after the previous management had experienced problems.
“We weren’t getting our jobs finished on time,” he said.
Mr Swaddle told WA Business News he had streamlined the company’s production processes while also sourcing new work.
For its part Penang Ship-building and Construction has also had some difficulties.
In January, Malaysian businessman Tan Sri Amin Shah Omar Shah paid up to RM382 million for PSC Industries Bhd, the owner of Penang Ship-building and Construction.
About RM136.87 million of that debt was tied to Penang Shipbuilding and Construction.
Mr Amin Shah has had corporate difficulties of his own in recent times, having been involved in a boardroom battle for control of Malaysian Plantations.
Mr Swaddle said the ructions in Malaysia had little bearing on Wavemaster.
