Giant US shipowner Tidewater is unlikely to rest on its laurels after building a dominant position in platform supply vessels with a series of huge deals.
Rob Day, head of offshore at VesselsValue, told TradeWinds: “At a global level Tidewater has set the bar for the rest of the market.”
He is tipping further acquisitions and takeovers.
The US-based powerhouse has been on the offensive again since early 2022, first with the $190m takeover of Swire Pacific Offshore, adding 21 PSVs and 20 anchor-handling tug supply units.
Tidewater then spent $577m this month on the 37-ship PSV fleet of Norway’s Solstad Offshore.
These transactions followed the $1.25bn acquisition of GulfMark Offshore in 2018.
Tidewater now has a total fleet of 228 vessels, including 199 PSVs and AHTSs.
“Most likely they will continue to explore growth options, whether that is fleet acquisitions or via company takeovers,” Day said.
“To maintain its market leading position and really take advantage of the continued firming market, Tidewater shareholders will be eager for the company to continue its growth push via secondhand transactions or company acquisitions and get more vessels on the books — and the water,” he added.
Hard to compete
Day argues smaller owners will find it harder to compete with Tidewater’s economies of scale.
“It will be interesting to see how they evolve and change to deal with the new and improved Tidewater,” he said.
While Tidewater has been focusing its efforts on plays outside of the US Jones Act fleet, one local owner has been slowly and strategically growing its Jones Act PSV business.
Since 2018, Hornbeck Offshore has added 19 PSVs, the majority of which are modern and high-spec deepwater units.
“Although 19 vessels doesn’t seem like a huge number when compared to Tidewater’s acquisitions, within the extremely closed and tight US Gulf of Mexico Jones Act market 19 vessels is a remarkable feat,” Day said.
Hornbeck now ranks second in terms of deepwater PSVs in this sector, behind only Edison Chouest.
