Maersk completes sale of two AHTS vessels

The company said the decision was taken in light of the current market situation and the global over-supply of offshore support vessels.

Maersk Supply Service chief commercial officer Carsten Gram Haagensen said “As a response to the recent downturn in the oil and gas industry, we have re-evaluated our fleet composition and future fleet deployment. As we expect insufficient commercial opportunities for Maersk Advancer and Maersk Asserter, we have concluded that a sale of these assets is the most attractive solution. With this, we continue to take active steps to right-sizing the supply side of the market that the OSV industry needs for a sustainable recovery.”

The vessels have been sold to an (undisclosed) international buyer and will be modified for use in a non-competing industry.

The company said it has set out to reduce its fleet in response to the global over-supply of offshore support vessels since 2016. The divested vessels have been either recycled or modified by their new owners to compete outside of the offshore supply vessel segment. In total, 26 PSV and AHTS vessels have left Maersk Supply Service’s fleet since 2016. After the recent sale, 41 vessels remain in the fleet.