Maritime surveillance specialist SRT Marine Systems is set to digitise Indonesia’s coastguard operations after securing a €157.9mn package from the UK’s export credit agency and Santander.
Under the deal, UK Export Finance (UKEF) is providing €41.5mn in direct lending and a €116mn buyer credit guarantee to Santander, the sole mandated lead arranger and lender.
The facility is propping up a contract between SRT Marine Systems and the Indonesian coastguard, with the UK firm delivering a solution that will help create Indonesia’s National Maritime Security System (NMSS).
Kevin Finn, chairman of SRT Marine Systems, says the company has poured “massive investment” into its SRT-MDA System solution in recent years.
“It’s often said that we know more about the moon than the ocean. Over 10 years ago we set out to develop a system that would solve that problem for nation states. The result is the SRT-MDA System that delivers a completely new level of marine domain insight, intelligence and operational command and control,” he says.
The solution will combine terrestrial, mobile and satellite surveillance sources within a single AI-powered system, helping digitise processes at 50 different locations across Indonesia – a country with over 17,000 islands.
“It will provide Indonesia with a new and significant maritime surveillance and intelligence capability that is able to detect, predict, track and manage a wide variety of events from illegal fishing to smuggling, piracy and marine environment protection,” SRT Marine Systems says in a statement.
The company will implement and operationalise Indonesia’s NMSS over a two-year period and offer support and maintenance for a further eight years.
Patrick McAweeney, Santander’s head of export and agency finance UK, says the deal enables an innovative exporter to expand internationally and contributes to global security and resilience.
“Banco Santander is proud to have supported the financing of this important maritime security infrastructure project in Indonesia and SRT Marine Systems, a growing exporter in advanced surveillance technology,” he adds.
Separately, SRT Marine Systems has also secured a £24mn guarantee under UKEF’s general export facility (GEF) programme for the Indonesia deal and a project with the Kuwait coastguard.
Barclays has issued contract bonds and released working capital to fund the delivery of the projects.
James Guthrie, Barclays’ head of UK mid-corporate trade, says: “We’re proud to have supported SRT Marine in securing two major international contracts. These represent a key milestone for SRT, further strengthening its support to maritime security across key trade routes.”
The deals are expected to create 50 high-skilled jobs and will facilitate “millions of pounds in contracts to an array of UK suppliers”, UKEF says.
