Tug and barge owner sold as market conditions worsen

Boa Offshore sold Trond A Kittelsen on 28 October 2020 to an unnamed buyer enabling the Norwegian-headquartered owner to concentrate on operating other assets in its tug, barge and offshore vessel fleets.

This sale included 1976-built harbour and coastal towage tug Boa Sund and three barges. Boa Sund provides towage services around Oslo Fjord and between Norway and Denmark, with its latest route, according to Automatic Identification System (AIS) information between Skagen, Denmark and Stathelle in Norway with Boa Sund en route to Moss, Norway on 10 November, according to AIS.

Boa Offshore also sold flattop barges Boabarge 31 and Boabarge 49, and rock barge Takboa in the Trond A Kittelsen deal.

This arrangement also included part ownership in the floating crane Taklift. This is an A-frame sheerleg crane with capacity of 400 tonnes at a height of 45 m and radius of 14 m. Taklift can be equipped with jib for a capacity of 200 tonnes at a height of 76 m.

It is towed in open waters and can manoeuvre and lift in sheltered waters. Its owner said Taklift operates from the Skagerak area in Norway up to Trondheim in Norway and across the North Sea and Baltic region to Germany.

Following the sale, Boa Offshore operates five azimuth stern drive, towage, harbour and salvage tugs, one conventional propulsion tug and a multipurpose workboat.

It also operates 16 heavy-lift, semi-submersible and heavy-deck cargo barges. Its offshore fleet includes anchor handlers Boa Jarl and Boa Bison, plus offshore construction vessels Boa Deep C and Boa Sub C.

Boa Offshore has struggled, as have most OSV owners, following the slump in oil prices and vessel demand this year, due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Its tug and barge operations were more stable as they were exposed to more industries and demand drivers than oil and gas.

However, these markets were negatively impacted by Covid-19, said Boa Offshore. It then said Boa Barges “has a relatively robust backlog for 2020-21 and Boa Tugs has seen decent activities this Q2 and Q3 2020”. But, Boa Offshore was expecting a tough Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 for its tug business.

During July, Boa Offshore was involved in a major decommissioning project off Eastern Canada. One of its semi-submersible heavy-lift barges was used in the de-installation of the Deep Panuke jack-up production unit off Nova Scotia.

Boabarge 34 was chartered to Kvaerner Canada and mobilised by tug Boa Odin from the outfitting yard in Gdansk, Poland to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In favourable weather conditions offshore Nova Scotia, Deep Panuke was jacked down onto the deck of Boabarge 34. It was then towed to Halifax harbour where it was redelivered to its owner, SBM Offshore.