Solstad Offshore has shed another of its laid-up anchor-handling tug supply vessels.
The Oslo-listed company said on Monday that it had sold the 12,240-bhp Elang Laut 1 (built 2009) to an unspecified buyer for an undisclosed price.
“Delivery of the vessel to the new owner took place today, July 3, 2023,” Solstad Offshore said.
“The sale of the vessels will result in an immaterial accounting effect.”
The Elang Laut 1 sale follows a move in March to dispose of the 15,953-bhp Far Sabre (built 2008), a deal for which details were also undisclosed.
Both ships had been in lay-up in Asia since 2019.
According to Clarksons, it has four other ships in lay-up, the 16,090-bhp Normand Titan and 14,684-bhp Far Sound (both built 2007) and the Far Scimitar (built 2008).
A fourth ship, the 70-loa multi-service vessel Nor Spring (built 2008), is also laid-up.
The sale follows Solstad Offshore’s exit from the platform supply vessel segment, which saw it sell its entire fleet of 37 to US owner Tidewater in March.
The sale helped the company slash its debt by $570m to $1.2bn, which it intends to refinance ahead of its maturity in the first quarter of 2024.
In its first quarter earnings, Solstad Offshore chief executive Lars Peder Solstad said the sales put the company in a better position for refinancing as PSVs were the company’s lowest margin vessels and could only work in oil and gas.
The company said it intends to continue operating its AHTS vessels and its construction support vessels, as both are in demand for both the oil and gas industry and offshore wind.
Clarksons lists 13 AHTS vessels in the Solstad Offshore fleet and in service, six of which are younger than the Elang Laut 1.
At the end of the first quarter, Solstad Offshore listed NOK 56m in assets held for sale, versus NOK 412m in the first quarter of 2022.
In midday trading in Oslo, the company’s shares were up NOK 0.28 from the previous close to NOK 23.16.
