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Growing global concerns about erosion, the need to better manage the environmental impact of human activities on coastal areas and interest in tourism derived from beach recreation is driving worldwide demand for ASR Limited's products.
ASR is an innovator in the development of artificial reefs and marine engineering solutions designed to protect and enhance coastal areas.
Its multi-purpose artificial reefs protect shorelines from erosion, help encourage tourism and improve local fisheries. These reefs have the additional ability to expand beaches, generate surfing waves and create niches for marine life.
The company’s products use advanced hydrodynamic and oceanographic modelling to provide better solutions than traditional marine engineering approaches, which may cause more harm than good.
ASR had its genesis in consulting work conducted in 1997 by one of its founders, Dr Joseph Mathew, who formed the company in Raglan jointly with other coastal scientists in 2000. The company was acquired by US private investors In 2009, and now has its headquarters in Venice, California but its technical base remains in Raglan.
ASR now has an extensive profile of projects from around the world under its belt and is working on marine consulting and coastal protection projects in Australia, India, Mauritius, various Pacific islands, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK.
India has always been on ASR’s radar as Mathew is an Indian citizen from the State of Kerala who immigrated to New Zealand in the 1990s to study marine engineering.
Mathew’s homeland presents substantial business opportunities for ASR. At least 23 percent of the Indian mainland – some 5,420 km in length – is affected by erosion, according to a report by the South Asia Association of Regional Cooperation.
Every year, India’s coastline is inundated by monsoons and occasional tsunamis cause massive damage. The beaches provided by ASR reefs can help mitigate the economic and environmental impact of both problems, says ASR Commercial Manager Andy Campbell.
India also has many man-made problems caused by development and activities such as sand mining and dumping, and there is increasing demand for environmental impact studies.
The Indian Government is starting to look at the ecological effects of the country’s explosion in infrastructure spending – for instance, investment of NZ$17 billion is earmarked to develop facilities at 276 ports from 2009. India is also increasingly interested in tourism to boost foreign exchange earnings, which includes promoting major beach destinations such as the resort area of Goa.
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ASR first began proposing a submerged reef at Alapad to the State Government in Kerala (a particularly erosion prone state) in 2000 although the project saw no firm action until 2010.
Meanwhile, Mathew returned to set up ASR’s permanent presence in India in 2006, establishing an office in the Kerala city of Thiruvananthapuram (also known as Trivandrum).
Mathew’s local knowledge and academic standing, including scientific journal articles looking at safeguarding India’s coastlines from erosion, helped open doors for ASR.
The company’s efforts bore fruit in 2007 when ASR was awarded consulting work from the Asian Development Bank, as well as a now-completed project to construct an anti-erosion reef at Kovalam in Kerala.
This work saw ASR’s revenue from India rocket to the tens of millions of dollars and led to other projects. India now accounts for a third of ASR's US$75m project pipeline.
“Growth has been pretty phenomenal in India,” says Campbell.
ASR is now working on a second reef at Kovalam; potential reefs for private hotel clients; ports; and coastal erosion studies with potential construction work in the states of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The company is now searching for a partner with international reach that can help drive expansion in India and elsewhere.
“We’re in discussions with local companies,” says Campbell. “We have to be very careful on how we protect our intellectual property either through joint venturing, licensing or another arrangement. “
“The partner has to provide something more than just riding on our coat tails, for example finding us overseas markets such as the Middle East,” Campbell says.
Campbell says ASR has had a huge amount of assistance from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise’s (NZTE) Beachheads team. NZTE’s India Beachheads team is helping ASR source potential partners and “the Beachheads team’s intervention and guidance have been critical,” Campbell says.
“They’ve helped guide our approach to governments in India and got us through some sticky contractual negotiations and issues.”
Dealing with contractual negotiations and regulations have raised some challenges for ASR.
Incompatibility between a contractual clause and tender specifications caused a delay to the Kovalam reef at a crucial stage. The issue was ultimately resolved after intervention from members of the New Zealand Beachheads program.
ASR also had to resolve issues encountered when sending its construction crew to work on the reef project, owing to changes in Indian immigration regulations. It required considerable effort to clarify the crew’s immigration status.
ASR’s Campbell says finding the right adviser earlier on to work with Indian governments would have helped to avoid these bureaucratic hiccups.He also recommends professional assistance in setting up a company: “the process is quite difficult, have a good adviser,” Campbell says.
In the future, the company will also include more safeguards in its contracts to ensure earlier payment, possibly including letters of credit. ASR is now eligible for New Zealand export credit finance guarantees and intends to make use of them.
Campbell says that the first Kovalam reef project is ASR’s greatest success in India so far.
“The Kovalam reef is proving its worth, we’re monitoring it daily and weekly, Kovalam has really showcased what ASR can do to the Indian market.”
www.asrltd.com
India is an important bilateral trade partner for New Zealand, offering a potentially vast market for consumer and industrial products.
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The India Beachhead was established in 2007. Participants in the India Beachhead are eligible for advisory services from the India Beachhead Advisory Board, and the advice and expertise of NZTE’s in-market staff.
