Four former Bourbon platform supply vessels have finally been sold at auction in China following a series of price reductions this year.
The successful sale on the Guangzhou Shipping Exchange is thought to be the sixth time that Chinese lender ICBC Financial Leasing had put the PSVs up for grabs.
The four laid-up ships are the 1,500-dwt Bourbon Liberty 101, Bourbon Liberty 106, Bourbon Liberty 107 and Bourbon Liberty 109 (all built 2008).
Little interest at higher prices
One industry source said there had been little interest in the units until the reserve price was lowered to $280,000, a 65% drop from the $800,000 level earlier in 2020.
The Bourbon Liberty 101 sold at the reserve level, while the Bourbon Liberty 107 went for $300,000, the Bourbon Liberty 106 for $320,000 and Bourbon Liberty 109 for $400,000, according to VesselsValue data. The previous reserve price had been $340,000.
The buyers are not yet known.
ICBC took over the ships as part of the restructuring of France's Bourbon.
VesselsValue puts their worth at between $1.27m and $1.41m.
Special surveys are due on all four.
Work needed?
The Bourbon Liberty 101 is stacked in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Bourbon Liberty 106 and Bourbon Liberty 107 are idled in Curacao, and Bourbon Liberty 109 is laid up in Senegal.
The overall state of the ships is said to be worse than the two PSVs the lender sold earlier this year, the 1,500-dwt Bourbon Liberty 104 and Bourbon Liberty 108 (both built 2008). These needed $2m of work each, TradeWinds was told.
Those PSVs were laid up in the United Arab Emirates.
Nigerian interests have been linked to the ships.
ICBC was the lender that started the ball rolling on a restructuring that eventually saw five French creditor banks take over Bourbon, while principal Jacques de Chateauvieux lost his shareholding following the offshore slump.
