Hornbeck Offshore Services (HOS) has grabbed three offshore supply vessels (OSVs) at US government auction to use for wind farm work.
The Louisiana shipowner said on Monday that it bought the US-flag trio from the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MarAd) for an undisclosed price.
“We believe these modern, state-of-the-art, high-spec, diesel-electric OSVs are great additions to our growing fleet,” chief executive Todd Hornbeck said.
“Built by Eastern Shipbuilding in 2013 and 2014 to a design specification and with components that are very compatible with our other ’Tiger Shark Class’ vessels, these particular ships are excellent candidates for deployment in the growing US domestic offshore wind industry, as well as for potential conversion to military or other non-oilfield, non-wind specialty applications.”
HOS did not name the Jones Act-qualified ships, but government documents suggest they are the 4,500-dwt platform supply vessels Bravo Five, Bravo Six (both built 2013) and Bravo Seven (built 2014).
MarAd began soliciting bids for the vessels in September.
They were formerly owned by Boldini and laid up in Beaumont, Texas, since their acquisition.
HOS said it would conduct reactivation and regulatory dry-dockings for all three.
VesselsValue estimates the Bravo Five is worth $13.6m, the Bravo Six $13.9m and the Bravo Seven $14.4m.
The trio is similar in class and dwt to eight of the 10 OSVs that HOS acquired from Edison Chouest Offshore last month.
The other two were 3,200-dwt, Mexico-flag vessels.
The acquisitions are the first for Hornbeck since emerging from bankruptcy proceedings in September 2020.
