Producer and shipowner China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has become the latest operator to seal a rare new order for a platform supply vessel.
No such ships were ordered for 10 years in the offshore slump, until Greek tycoon Evangelos Marinakis’ start-up Capital Offshore made the plunge in June.
UK shipbroker Clarksons reports that CNPC has now added to a small orderbook by ordering a 4,300-dwt unit at China’s Dalian Liaonan Shipyard, which is listed with no other vessels on its books.
The contract has been placed by subsidiary CNPC Offshore Shipping (Tianjin), its only ship.
CNPC also has a bulker on order and a fleet of 51 ships, including PSVs, anchor-handling tug supply units and three VLCCs.
The new PSV is due in April 2027 at a cost of CNY 181m ($25m), which appears a low price considering broker estimates of at least $41m per ship for Marinakis’ slightly larger 5,400-dwt units at Fujian Mawei Shipbuilding.
Clarksons also reports that in January and August, a Singapore company called Sinopacific E&C signed deals for two 4,000-dwt PSVs due in 2067 and 2027 from Nantong Rainbow and Nantong CIMC SOE.
The company is listed with no other ships.
And Clarksons has identified Greece’s Costamare Shipping as being behind an order for four firm multipurpose supply ships (MPSVs) at PaxOcean in Singapore.
The deal, with six options, was signed in October.
PaxOcean said only that a Greek owner was the client.
The 5,000-dwt MPSVs will have DP2 dynamic positioning and be built at PaxOcean’s yard in Zhoushan, China.
New entry into offshore
Deliveries are scheduled from the third quarter of 2026 onwards. No price has been revealed.
If confirmed, this would mark an entry into offshore for the Greek group.
Costamare has been contacted for comment.
The owner has previously declined to comment on the PaxOcean deal.
Brokers had earlier suggested that Costamare was involved in buying two Vestland Offshore-controlled PSVs, the 4,900-dwt Vestland Artemis and 5,500-dwt Solvik Supplier (both built 2011), as well as JJ Ugland’s 5,400-dwt Evita II (built 2012).
But Costamare told TradeWinds at the time that the vessels had not been acquired by the listed company or any of its subsidiaries.
The transaction was described as a complex one and the exact structure is not known.
It is possible that private interests linked to Costamare’s controlling Konstantakopoulos family could be behind the move.
Offshore rates have been recovering and tonnage has dwindled, but the high cost of newbuildings, as well as questions over yard capacity and newbuilding financing, have largely kept owners away from shipyards.
Capital Offshore is listed by Clarksons as having 12 PSVs and MPSVs on order at Fujian Mawei.
The PSVs are believed to be costing between $41m and $43m each, and the MPSVs are reportedly priced at $69m each.
Clarksons records only 19 genuinely new PSVs on order, with a couple of legacy vessels still on the books from the offshore slump.
