John Fredriksen’s private Seatankers operation has sold two platform supply vessels in hot offshore markets.
The 5,200-dwt Sea Goldcrest (built 2019) and Sea Gull (built 2020) have gone to Dutch contractor Fugro for an undisclosed price that should entail a handy profit for the Norwegian tycoon.
The new owner will convert the PSVs into geotechnical vessels for offshore wind farm work.
Seatankers picked up the duo as resales in 2018 at $19m each from Fujian Mawei shipyard in China.
They were ordered for $21.5m in 2013 by Nam Cheong International, but were not delivered in the offshore slump.
VesselsValue assesses the Sea Goldcrest as worth $23.6m, up from $15.1m two years ago.
The Sea Gull is valued at $24.5m, against $15.9m in 2021. It is on a three-year charter to Fugro agreed last year at $26,000 per day.
Seatankers is left with nine bulkers, two other PSVs and an accommodation ship, plus a panamax bulker, five aframax tankers and four feedermax boxships on order.
Fugro said the offshore wind market continues to grow rapidly, adding: “The acquisition is in line with Fugro’s strategy to capture this market growth opportunity...
“With the purchase of these strategic assets Fugro will operate a balanced fleet of owned and chartered vessels, maintaining flexibility towards the future...
“The purchase of these vessels also supports Fugro’s net zero 2035 roadmap as both vessels are fuel efficient and suitable for the conversion to low-carbon fuels.”
Key assets
The Dutch group views ships as key strategic assets.
Its aim for the coming four years is to secure long-term vessel capacity, especially for the global offshore wind market, which has a large need for mapping soil composition and its associated properties via the extraction and testing of soil samples.
“For the foreseeable future, these activities cannot be executed with smaller and/or uncrewed platforms,” the company said.
Fugro identifies a shortage of geotechnical-capable vessels.
The conversion of the Sea Goldcrest will be done this year so that it can be operational early in 2025.
The Sea Gull will be ready late in 2024 or early 2025.
Fugro is continuing to invest in remote and digital solutions, partly by increasing its fleet of uncrewed surface vessels.
