With limited new capacity available, OSV owners get creative with quick conversions

While newbuild activity in the OSV sector has slowed this year, there have been some notable quick conversion projects of high-spec tonnage. Two recent retrofits were highlighted by Singapore-headquartered owner and operator Green Parrot Marine – a new joint venture company formed of Verde Maritime, set up by the founder of E-NAV, Diego Aguilar, and Spanish project management contractor Blue Parrot Offshore.

One retrofit has transformed 2018-built Island Sapphire (ex Martha’s Pride) from a platform supply vessel to a high-spec inspection, maintenance and repair (IRM) vessel. Performed in 105 days in Cádiz, Spain, the conversion saw the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel fitted with a 160-tonne capacity lattice-boom crane, a helideck certified for medium-lift Sikorsky S-92 helicopters, a 23-m motion-compensated gangway, and its accommodation capacity was increased from 90 to 202.

ABS records indicate the DP2-class vessel was built by Guangdong Yuexin Ocean Engineering in China, and has an overall length of 86 m and beam of 20 m.

The IMR vessel was sailing from Las Palmas towards the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa in early November, according to AIS tracking information.

Green Parrot Marine also reported, in a social media post, a second retrofit project involving the conversion of the accommodation vessel Safeen Athena 2 to a walk-to-work vessel.

Key upgrades for the conversion involved the removal of a 64-tonne offshore crane, installation of an Ampelmann E-type motion-compensated gangway, and repainting and rebranding under Green Parrot Marine. Following its conversion, Safeen Athena 2 was deployed to Brazil to support local independent oil company PRIO.

“Brazil is the most exciting market today,” Mr Aguilar told OSJ in an interview on the side lines of the Offshore Support Journal Conference, Asia, in September. He said offshore oil and gas activity led by the likes of Petrobras and IOCs is generating significant opportunities for PSVs and walk-to-work projects. “Rates are increasing and a lot of foreign owners, including ourselves, are starting to work there.” Mr Aguilar described Brazil as “an exciting market,” but also “not an easy market” to operate in, noting requirements around local crew and content and taxes. “There is a lack of tonnage in the market, so older vessels are getting long-term charters – 25-year-old vessels – it’s quite a tight market.”