China's ICBC Leasing may never sell the four platform supply vessels it has been trying to auction off this year.
The leasing unit of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has launched a sixth bid to offload the ships taken over as part of the restructuring of French shipping company Bourbon.
The quartet failed to sell at a minimum price of $340,000 each earlier this month.
This has now been cut to $280,000.
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).
Laid up in Caribbean and Africa
Special surveys are due on all four.
The Bourbon Liberty 101 is stacked in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, while the Bourbon Liberty 106 and Bourbon Liberty 107 are idled in Curacao, and the Bourbon Liberty 109 is laid up in Senegal.
One broking source explained the major hurdle to a sale is the money needed to bring the vessels back up to scratch for continued operations.
Diesel-electric propulsion is also not a popular option for owners in the US who may look at the two units being sold in the Caribbean.
Scrapping is not a realistic option as towing costs would make it uneconomical.
Steel content is low in offshore ships and VesselsValue assesses the four as worth $330,000 each on a demolition basis.
The overall state of the ships is said to be in worse condition 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.
Price plunges
The ICBC Leasing is aiming to sell the PSV quartet on the Guangzhou Shipping Exchange.
The reserve price has already been cut from $420,000 and $800,000.
VesselsValue now estimates the PSVs are worth between $1.34m and $1.49m each.
The two ships ICBC Leasing has managed to offload were laid up in the United Arab Emirates.
Nigerian interests have been linked to the ships.
ICBC Leasing 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.
