Buyers scoop up older Bourbon Offshore OSVs at auction

While overall secondhand sales have slowed compared to the past two years, auctions held by ICBC Leasing over the last few months to sell 16 Bourbon Offshore OSVs are bearing fruit. Listed on China’s Shipbid platform, the clutch of OSVs on the block were built between 2009 and 2014 in Chinese shipyards. Seven anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels, two large and five small platform supply vessels (PSVs) and two multipurpose support vessels (MPSVs) are being offered at auction.

In one of the earlier auctions in July, an undisclosed buyer submitted a winning bid of US$8.3M for a pair of AHTSs, the 2012-built Bourbon Ampan and 2009-built Bourbon Morrakat, according to Seabrokers. Additionally, offered at a starting price of US$18M, the 2013-built PSV Bourbon Rainbow drew 68 bids, including a winning bid of US$23.58M by an unknown shipowner. The winner of this bid was incorrectly identified as Brazil’s Posidonia Shipping by some sources. “We didn’t win the bid for the Bourbon Rainbow,” Posidonia COO Alex N. Ikonomopoulo told OSJ. Specified as under bareboat charter on the Ivory Coast, Bourbon Rainbow was at anchorage in Abidjan, according to vessel positioning service MarineTraffic.

A PX105 PSV from Ulstein Design & Solutions, Bourbon Rainbow has an X-Bow, with an overall length of 88.9 m, beam of 19 m, clear deck area of 1,017 m² and dynamic positioning class-2 capability. Bourbon Calm, another PX105 design PSV, is also being auctioned. The two vessels are the largest PSVs offered for sale.

Meanwhile, Seabrokers said auctions held 14 August resulted in a winning bid of US$4.86M by an undisclosed buyer for AHTSs Bourbon Liberty 202 and Bourbon Liberty 203. Both 15-year-old AHTS vessels have been stacked in the Middle East for eight years.

An auction on 26 August saw an undisclosed buyer submit a winning bid of US$8.32M for the 2012-built AHTS vessel Bourbon Kaimook, which was on charter in southeast Asia in Q2 2025. It had been originally offered at a starting price of US$7M, according to Shipbid.

On 29 August, a winning bid of US$4.41M was submitted by an undisclosed buyer for the 2009-built PSV Bourbon Horus, which the broker noted has been stacked in West Africa since mid-2024. Additional auctions are scheduled for September.

Secondhand sales slowdown

Overall, S&P transactions have slowed considerably across all ship and vessel types compared with the last two years, and the OSV sector is no exception. As of 1 August, 97 OSVs had changed hands valued at US$1,049M — well down on the levels of the previous two years, according to data from Veson Nautical’s ship valuation platform VesselsValue. 2025 secondhand sales in the OSV sector are 32% below last year’s, when 142 OSVs were purchased for US$1,537M. This year’s sales levels are even dimmer when compared to 2023, showing a 56% drop in vessel sales and 41% in total transaction sales. In 2023, 221 OSVs were sold, valued at US$1,765M.

Only six OSVs were sold for demolition, with sales totalling US$3M. VesselValue data does not include sales of fast supply vessels or PSVs under 300 dwt.