Norway’s Eidesvik Offshore is making progress on its exit from the seismic survey vessel sector.

The Oslo-listed owner said it has sold the 92-loa Viking Vanquish (built 1992) to an unnamed owner.

The fleet of four seismic vessels was put up for sale in February.

The remaining three vessels are all laid up and classed as assets held for sale.

Eidesvik said the trio is worth NOK 49m ($4.4m), down from NOK 80.7m following the sale. This suggests a price of NOK 31.7m for the Viking Vanquish.

This was Eidesvik's first listed ship sale since January 2022.

The other units are the 105-loa Viking Vision (built 1993), 93-loa Veritas Viking (both built 1998) and 93-loa Vantage (built 2002). All have been owned by Eidesvik since between 2007 and 2012.

The company’s net loss widened in the first quarter to NOK 25m, against NOK 9.6m in the same period of 2021.

Revenue rose to NOK 129m from NOK 106.5m, but the bottom line was hit by financial income declining to NOK 9m from NOK 26.8m last year. Ebitda was NOK 27.8m.

Chief executive Gitte Gard Talmo said: “The solid results at the beginning of the year position us very well to achieve our strategy and our goals for 2023.”

The market continues to strengthen in all of its operating segments.

“Vessel availability is rapidly decreasing globally, and we see increased day rates and utilisation levels,” the owner said.

Higher costs being battled

The contract backlog is now NOK 2.1bn.

However, high inflation and constraints in the supply chain continued to affect costs.

“All drivers for the platform supply vessel market are robust, and the supply side is significantly tightening,” Eidesvik said. “Our market outlook is positive both short, medium and long term.”

The company also noted positive developments in its decarbonisation efforts.

There was a 26.5% reduction in CO2 emissions per operational day in 2022 compared with 2021. Battery hybrid power solutions were fitted to two more vessels.