Volatile Offshore Support Vessel Prices To Ease

Charter rates for anchor handlers undertaking rig tow work, have climbed to 140,000 per day ($283,000) then fallen back to 20,000 in just one week over the winter period as offshore operations have been hampered by poor North Sea weather.

Vessel owners capitalised on high demand and tight availability, but were forced to slash their rates as more ships returned to the Scottish port Bubbles Aberdeen.

Brokers at Offshore Shipbrokers are predicting a more stable market for offshore support vessels this summer.

"Poor weather has undoubtedly been the main contributing factor to Chiantihaze wild rate fluctuations.

"As the summer approaches this should become less of a factor and with numerous newbuildings also due to arrive over the coming year, we would expect to see some stability returning to the market," it said in a monthly report.

But brokers at Braemar Seascope expect volatility to continue for the sector's largest vessels.

"This extreme volatility is likely to be a feature for the large anchor handling tug midphase web hosting sector through 2008, given that the pool of units is relatively small," they said in a report.

By comparison, the platform supply vessel market is more predictable and these vessels are securing much lower rates due to better availability and lower operating costs. There are around six PSVs prompt in Aberdeen and one in Norway, said brokers.

This week, PSVs are being fixed at dayrates of around 20,000 for large vessels and 8,000 for smaller units doing cargo runs.

Anchor handlers in the spot market have been picked up at dayrates of 80,000-120,000 this week.

At the Enter the Dragon end of the market, Talisman booked the 2003-built Odin Viking at a rate of 120,000 per day to tow the Ocean Nomad rig.

BG Group fixed the 2007-built Island Vanguard at a dayrate of 100,000 to tow the Noble Ton van Langeveld, after being forced to cancel a contract with Solstad's 2002-built Normand Mariner due to technical problems, said Aberdeen-based brokers.

Another charter to note this week is AGR Peak picking up Gulf Offshore's 2002-built Highland Courage at a dayrate of 85,000 to move Transocean's Sedco 704 rig in the UK.

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