Page 28 - The ROV Manual - A User Guide for Remotely Operated Vehicles 2nd edition

16 CHAPTER 1 The ROV Business
Table 1.6 CAPEX Versus Vehicle Sizes
Category Typical Depth Typical Typical Day Type Payback Rating Cost Rate Work Period
OCROV MSROV WCROV
300 m (1000 ft)
2000 m (6600 ft) .3000 m ( .10,000 ft)
$100,000 $1.5 million $5 million
$750 Call out $3000 Call out $5000 Contract
133 days 500 days 1000 days
Table 1.7 Utilization Rate Versus Recapture Time
Category Typical Typical Payback Utilization Revenue Days Years to Cost Day Rate Period Per Year Per Year Recapture
OCROV MSROV WCROV
$100,000 $1.5 million $5 million
$750 133 days 10% $3000 500 days 40% $5000 1000 days 75%
36 days 3.65 146 days 3.42 274 days 3.65
along with some measure of profit. Table 1.6 describes a representative sample of day rates, costs, and recapture on the various size categories of vehicles.
There is a trade-off between utilization and day rate in order to achieve an acceptable annual return on investment (ROI) so as to substantiate the investment. Contract work typically enjoys a higher utilization percentage over its call-out counterpart. But a contract ROV with a 1000-day pay- back period (days, revenue to full recapture of the system cost) with a 75% utilization will take the same time period to recapture its investment as a call-out system with a 10% utilization depending upon the combined factors. Table 1.7 provides a sample of how the same recapture time is achieved between a high recapture percentage coupled with a low utilization as opposed to a high utilization coupled with a longer payback period. As demonstrated in Table 1.7, in the day rate world of ROV services, it is all about utilization!
1.4 ROV services by industry
In this section, the various typical missions by industry will be explored with a conclusion as to the typical vehicle type and sensor/tooling configurations for accomplishing those mission-related tasks.
1.4.1 Science
Industry description: The general need for governmental/university/industrial research organizations involves the gathering of sensor data and the taking of samples for the understanding of the subject environment. Often, scientific manned diving or manned submersibles are used for shallow and deeper water efforts. ROVs predominate as the robotic vehicle of choice for teleoperation due to