Many of the deliveries that took place in June were OSVs that were ordered years ago and had been delayed. The lack of new contracting shows recovery is still a long way off
The Paul Candies was one of four PSVs that entered the fleet in June. It was delivered to Otto Candies LLC, a company with a long tradition in the US offshore scene. Paul Candies is the product of the relationship with the Norwegian design group Marin Teknikk, and a version of Marin Teknikk’s MT6020 design. Paul Candies was launched last in 2017 by Candies Shipbuilders in Louisiana, and is 101.3 m long and 20.6 m wide, with a capacity of 4,500 dwt. The vessel is named after Paul Candies, who was a long-serving member of Otto Candies LLC (11 executives carry the Candies name), chairman of the International Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo and one half of the legendary drag-racing team, Candies & Hughes. After his death in 2013, he was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
Staying in the USA, offshore industry giant Tidewater took delivery of Youngs Tide, which is 91.4 m long and 18.9 m wide with a capacity of 5,300 dwt.
The medium-size PSV Artemis Offshore was launched from Yuexin Shipbuilding in June, for the account of Chinese owners. The yard was one of the first to build to Norwegian designs. The vessel is 85 m long and 22 m wide with a capacity of 3,000 dwt. The yard only produced one offshore vessel in 2016 and 2017, but so far this year, it has delivered three offshore units. There are 11 offshore vessels still on the shipyard’s orderbook.
Other PSV newbuildings entering the fleet in June included Vroon Offshore Services’ VOS Patriot, which was christened in a ceremony in Rotterdam. The new vessel is the last of six PX-121-type built for Vroon at COSCO Guangdong shipyard in China.
All six vessels are designed with Ulstein’s X-Bow hullform, which allows for smoother vessel movement through water, resulting in enhanced fuel efficiency and crew comfort.
VOS Patriot is 83.4 m long with a breadth of 18 m and has a capacity of 4,200 dwt. Its propulsion system comprises four diesel engines: two of 1,630 kW each and two of 990 kW each, along with two 1,600 kW azimuth thrusters and two 880 kW bow thrusters. It has a maximum speed of 13.5 knots and a dynamic positioning class of DP2.
Seaway Heavy Lifting has chartered VOS Patriot for at least 70 days at the Trianel Windpark Borkum II on the German continental shelf, to provide noise-mitigation assistance.
VOS Patriot’s five sister vessels are managed by Vroon and are all active in northwest Europe and the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, Solstad Farstad will take two of its PSVs out of the fleet for conversion to hybrid power systems. Normand Server and Normand Supporter are being rebuilt in accordance with DNV GL’s Battery Power notation.
In 2012 DNV GL published the world’s first battery-class rules. These were tentative because technology was still developing. In 2015, the society published more a consistent and prescriptive rule set. And in 2017, another update was published based on the knowledge acquired so far and which aligned with Norwegian Maritime Authority’s requirements. These rules consist of two notations: a battery safety notation that is the only notation followed if the batteries are only going to be used for peak shaving; and a battery power notation concerned with the capacity and availability of the battery. The conversion will result in a 15%-20% reduction of emissions from the PSVs.
Westcon Power & Automation will provide the batteries for the two vessels and sister company Westcon Yards will carry out the conversion, which is supported by the Norwegian NOx fund and is set to take about two weeks. Normand Server and Normand Supporter were built in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
No PSV orders in June
There were no new PSV contracts in June. The orderbook currently holds 116 orders, with 95 scheduled to be delivered in 2018. So far this year, 23 PSVs have been delivered, which suggests around 50% of the PSV orderbook is likely to be delayed until the following years.
However, three PSVs were deleted from the fleet in June, including two newbuildings. According to VesselsValue, the PSVs L 46 and L 48 have been cancelled/scrapped after receiving heavy damage in the Larsen & Toubro shipyard in India during a cyclone in 2016. The third PSV to come out of the fleet was the 1984-built Sea Meadow 01, which was under Vietnamese ownership and is believed to have been recycled in Vietnam.
AHTS deliveries
On the handling tug supply (AHTS) front, the Norwegian yard Kleven Verft delivered Maersk Minder to Maersk. The AHTS is the fourth of sixth Salt Ship Design SALT200 vessels the yard has been contracted for under Maersk’s “Project Starfish”, which aims to provide vessels capable of deepwater anchor handling and oilfield operations, with an emphasis on reliability, safety and minimised environmental footprint.
Maersk Master, the first Project Starfish AHTS to be delivered, was awarded Vessel of the Year at OSJ’s Annual Offshore Support Journal Awards 2018. The Project Starfish vessels are 95 m long with a 25 m beam and are built for deepwater operations. They have an ice class of 1A FS, a dynamic positioning rating of DP2 and carry DNV GL’s Clean Design notation. Each vessel has a bollard pull of 230 tonnes from five medium-speed engines, with a total output of more than 23,000 bhp. As well as two controllable-pitch main propellers, each AHTS has three 1,580 bhp bow tunnel thrusters and two 1,580 bhp stern tunnel thrusters.
Maersk Minder will join Maersk Mariner, Maersk Mover and the aforementioned Maersk Master in service, with the fifth Project Starfish vessel due for delivery later this year and the sixth also under construction.
A 12,000 bhp AHTS Ming Yuan 9 was delivered in June from the Chinese shipyard Sanmen Jiantiaogang to the new owner Ningbo Mingyuan Shipping. The Ming Yuan 9 is 77 m long and 18 m wide, with a capacity of 3,100 dwt.
Troubled Nam Cheong International of Malaysia has 13 OSVs in the water, and 13 on order with eight different shipyards across China. In June the company took delivery of two AHTS but from two different yards. SK Marquee was delivered from Fujian Funing. The SK Marquee is 65 m long and 16 m wide with a capacity of 2,100 dwt. The other AHTS, SK Marquis, was delivered by Fujian Southeast, but to the same design as SK Marquee.
Conversely, Capo Gee is the only AHTS listed to Martens Marine of Singapore. Capo Gee is 65 m long and 16 m wide with a capacity of 2,294 dwt; it was delivered in June 2018. The vessel is the result of Nantong Rainbow Offshore & Engineering (ROC) working with two leading vessel designers to market designs for liftboats and AHTS vessels, the company’s chief marketing officer Roy Yap told OSJ in 2015. In 2011, ROC tied up with trading group Xiamen ITG to build a pair of PX121 PSVs. The Martens Marine AHTS is one of the later vessels from the collaboration.
Meanwhile, Island Diligence has entered service for Island Offshore. The company has 26 offshore vessels in the fleet, with another three on order from Vard Brevik in Norway, from where the Island Diligence was delivered in June 2018. The PSV is 86 m long and 18.5 m wide, with a capacity of 4,200 dwt. Island Diligence is likely to be one of the OSV deliveries that were delayed in 2015.
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