John Fredriksen's SFL Corp has torn up deals for the final two offshore support vessels (OSVs) it charters to Norway's Solstad Offshore- and then sold them.
Restructuring Solstad, in which Fredriksen also has a stake, said it had agreed to terminate the bareboat contracts for the 2,750-dwt Sea Halibut and 3,250-dwt Sea Pike (both built 2007), both platform supply vessels (PSVs).
They have been handed back to SFL. They have been in laid up since 2016 in depressed markets.
The move follows the ending of charters for three anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) ships by the two companies in February.
An SFL spokesman told TradeWinds the PSV pair were offloaded to a third party for an undisclosed price.
VesselsValue assesses the PSV duo as worth $2.9m and $3.1m respectively.
Last month it said it was left with no option other than to sell the previous trio.
The AHTS ships were the 15,000-hp medium-size Sea Cheetah, Sea Jaguar (both built 2015) and Sea Leopard (built 1998).
Two of them have now been sold to an unrelated third party, while the third will be recycled in Norway at a green recycling facility according to the European Ship Recycling Regulation.
Hjertaker told analysts in February: "We have evaluated several alternatives for the asset, but given the age of the vessels and limited capital invested, we believe a sale of the two vessels and recycling of the third is the better alternative for us."
Solstad is trying to agree a refinancing deal with lenders to boost liquidity and has a standstill agreement in place.
Solstad also revealed it has sold a derrick-lay barge, the 42-metre Norce Endeavour (built 2010), to Saipem of Portugal.
The oil company had an option to acquire it as part of its bareboat deal.
Delivery will be in April and the sale will have a minor accounting effect, Solstad said.
