The offshore support vessel market is unlikely to see a return to significant newbuilding activity anytime soon despite improving market conditions, industry players said.
Renewed momentum in the offshore market has increased utilisation rates of OSVs and anchor-handling tug supply units.
However, there have been no new vessels joining the fleet in recent years and it appears there is little appetite for newbuildings, delegates heard at the Marine Money Offshore Energy Finance Forum in Singapore on Tuesday.
This is despite the price difference between newbuildings and resales closing on single-digit figures, according to a presentation by Ashwin Choolun, business development manager, Middle East and Asia Pacific for Veson Nautical.
For a large platform supply vessel, the difference is down to just 20% for a unit built in Norway and just 13% for a similar vessel built at a shipyard in China, the Boston-based company said.
However, delegates also heard that there is likely to be some speculative newbuilding orders, but insufficient to “move the needle” one executive told TradeWinds on the sidelines of the conference.
These are likely to be either new market participants, such as Greek shipowners, or private equity companies looking at asset play.
Late last year, TradeWinds reported that Evangelos Marinakis had set up a new company to capitalise on the hot OSV sector following acquisitions worth $106m.
Conference attendees also heard that some of the large fleet deals completed last year have already reaped significant profits for the early movers.
Britoil Offshore Services’ purchase of a fleet of AHTS and PSV vessels from Dutch player Vroon in September 2023 has already seen the value of the acquisitions increase by an average of 40%.
The Singapore-based company bought 16 AHTS vessels for $69.9m and 13 PSVs for $167.15m which are now said to be worth $112.76m and $218.57m, respectively.
Meanwhile, US player Hornbeck’s acquisition of 10 Edison Choust PSVs between February and August 2023 for $160m are now said to be worth $222.4m, an increase of nearly 40%.
