A dozen Chinese-built Bourbon Offshore OSVs are headed to the auction block

A dozen offshore support vessels built by Chinese shipyards between 2009 and 2014 for Bourbon Offshore are heading to the auction block.

China’s ICBC Financial Leasing plans to auction the vessels off on the Shipbid online platform, most likely in May. Seabrokers reports the list of laid-up vessels includes 10 platform supply vessels (PSVs) and two multi-purpose support vessels (MPSVs). The shipbroker reports the PSVs were either built at Sinopacific Zhejiang or Yangzhou Dayang shipyards, with deliveries between 2009 and 2014, while the MPSVs, Bourbon Evolution 801 and Bourbon Evolution 803, were constructed in 2011 and 2013, respectively.

All the vessels are in cold layup in various locations around the world, according to Seabrokers, suggesting significant time and costs involved to reactivate them.

The two MPSVs could draw the highest bids, based on estimated valuations by UK ship valuation service VesselsValue. It estimates the valuation of Bourbon Evolution 801, located in the Ivory Coast, at US$53.63M, and Bourbon Evolution 803, docked in Ghana, at US$60.57M.
New BOS in town

High-flying Britoil Offshore Services (BOS) was revealed to be the buyer of two anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels sold by SEACOR Marine. BOS added the 2013-built DP-2-class AHTS vessels, Britoil Dominance (ex SEACOR 88) and Britoil Dignity (ex SEACOR 888), in the transaction. Both have been moved from the Marshall Islands flag to the Tuvalu flag.

While the Singapore-based OSV owner’s roots stretch back 40 years, its supercharged growth in the last two years has been nothing short of phenomenal. It now has 61 OSVs in its fleet, including PSVs, AHTSs, anchor-handling tugs, and multi-purpose support vessels.

“We didn’t stop there, we kept shopping”

Like many OSV companies, Britoil Offshore Services suffered during the prolonged downturn in the sector, said BOS head of SBU, Asia Pacific, Ernest Loh. But Mr Loh said BOS has been able to grow significantly with the backing of the HICO Investment Group in 2021, and Pérez y Cía. At the end of 2021, BOS had 27 vessels in its fleet, mostly anchor handling tugs (AHTs) and PSVs.

“Fast forward two years, and we completed the acquisition of Vroon Offshore Services’ OSV division, that added another 30 vessels to the mix,” he said, about a move that expanded the company’s presence globally to the North Sea, West Africa, Mediterranean, Middle East, southeast Asia and Australia.

“But we didn’t stop there, we kept shopping,” Mr Loh told delegates at the Marine Money Offshore Energy Finance Forum 2025 in Singapore in March. The shopping spree took BOS to China where it acquired several resale units — semi-completed hulls.

“2024 was a phenomenal year for us. We had very high utilisation levels, rates were very good, and we managed to put together a very strong management team,” he said.

While Britoil Offshore Services has more than doubled the size of its fleet in three years, Mr Loh said it has not forgotten the lessons learned from the prolonged downturn in the offshore oil sector: “We will apply as much as we can and do our best to watch for the next curve ball the market will throw.”

Wise words considering how much the global trade market has been roiled by the Trump Administration’s tariff war.