Talk is mounting in offshore shipping circles that Bermuda-headquartered Altera Infrastructure has agreed a deal to sell its fleet of eight super-large anchor-handling tugs (AHTs).
A transaction to offload 100% of the shares in its Netherlands-based subsidiary ALP Maritime Services to Dutch shipowner and contractor Boskalis has been revealed by a decision to approve the sale published by the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE).
CADE confirmed the decision to TradeWinds and said it had published its view that the companies have a low market share in the AHT and offshore support vessel sectors earlier this month.
Boskalis, ALP and Altera have not responded to TradeWinds’ requests for comment.
The fleet includes the 218-bp ALP Forward (built 2008), 219-bp ALP Winger (built 2007), 285-bp ALP Guard (built 2009) and 297-bp ALP Centre (built 2010).
Then there are the ships with bollard pulls of more than 300 tonnes: the 305-bp ALP Defender and 303-bp ALP Sweeper (both built 2017), 302-bp ALP Keeper (built 2018) and 309-bp ALP Striker (built 2016).
Half were ordered by ALP in 2014, while half were acquired from Germany’s Harms Bergung in 2014.
Two other ALP vessels were sold to Multraship in 2022.
VesselsValue assesses the remaining ALP ships as worth $276m combined.
They are ideal for towing and salvage work worldwide.
Brookfield Business Partners-controlled Altera, the former Teekay Offshore, will be left with six floating production or storage ships, plus the 17 tankers owned by subsidiary Altera Shuttle Tankers.
Sensible deal for Boskalis
Brazilian investment company WSB Advisors’ chief executive Alexandre Vilela said on LinkedIn the move makes sense for the buyer.
Shipyards are full and rates are rapidly picking up, and Boskalis has a strategy to grow through acquisitions, the former broker said.
“Boskalis eyes the long-distance ocean towage market, specifically the FPSOs,” Vilela added.
He said a floating production, storage and offloading vessel lined up for Brazilian work by Equinor would possibly need three vessels of 300 bp for a tow.
“What we see emerging is a second-to-none contractor capacity for long-distance ocean towage,” Vilela argued.
ALP was founded in 2010.
Boskalis was delisted in Amsterdam in 2022 following a $2.3bn takeover deal by the group’s biggest shareholder, Monaco investment fund HAL Holding.
The group controls nearly 190 ships and is best known for its dredgers and tugs.
Boskalis also has a big fleet of AHT supply units, platform supply vessels, cable layers, research ships and semi-submersible heavylift vessels.
