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Huge exploration and developments are now taking place off Sakhalin on the North East coast of Russia
which requires very specialised and expensive ice class tonnage which is now being built. Russian companies
have gone into joint ventures with established international owners to source the necessary tonnage.
5.1.5 South Asia
Bangladesh and India.
There are no domestic offshore owners in Bangladesh and as such, most of the chartering is done from
overseas. India is a rather complicated chartering market since there are strict Director General Shipping
guidelines which results in Indian flagged shipowners having the last opportunity to match a foreign vessel’s
bid. Regulations are also changing in that newer vessels with DP1 are required for long term work.
The types of tonnage required in the region are wide ranging, from the shallow water Jack-up support
vessel of around 5,500 BHP AHTS vessels ranging up to 15,000 BHP AHTS vessels to support semis and
drillships.
A great deal of demand will stem from not only the renewal of the small/medium AHTS vessel fleet that
supports the Jack-Up fleet but also from medium sized PSVs as several additional Drillships have been
chartered for long term drilling programmes in deeper water.
The market for large AHTS vessels (in excess of 10,000 BHP) is currently restricted to a small handful
of units, as the main charterers appear so far to have a preference to charter Jack-ups as opposed to
Semisubmersibles.
Presently, there are a small number of medium sized modern PSVs in this area and Seascope believe that
if field development continues offshore India and production increases as a result of new and large numbers of
fields coming onstream then some of the oil and gas companies may believe that there could be benefit in
using large PSVs. The sheer geographical size of the Indian offshore market combined with the internal
demand for oil and gas, coupled with the relative immaturity of the domestic oil and gas exploration industry
in relation to other areas, indicates strong future demand may come from this region for all types of vessels.
5.1.6 Northern Europe
Denmark, Holland, Norway, United Kingdom and Ireland.
The North Sea and Atlantic Margin remains the largest market for modern medium and large AHTS
vessels and PSVs with good position keeping requirements and high standards of safety required by
governments. Consequently, oil and gas companies demand high specification tonnage from the market place.
Moreover, weather conditions in Northern Europe, especially the North Sea, are harsh and unforgiving and so
the majority of vessels in Northern Europe are larger and more powerful AHTS vessels and PSVs.
The existing PSV fleet is already extremely modern so there is not a significant number of older units
that can be displaced. In respect of AHTS vessels, the market demand for anything below 10,000 BHP can be
covered by a small number of ships as charterers have shown a preference for higher horse power units, given
the sea states and weather conditions and these smaller units are used for jack-up rigmoves in the Southern
North Sea.
A notable point is that certain operators now have size restrictions when chartering PSVs for straight
forward platform supply duties due to the increasing age and fragility of some platforms. This is purely a
safety precaution as in the worst case scenario — a collision with an older platform by a vessel over a certain
lightweight may cause significant damage. Concerns from oil companies about older platforms and maturing
fields leads on to the subject of oil companies decommissioning fields and their needs in this respect. Whilst
the North Sea decommissioning market is still in its infancy stages it is likely that these projects may produce
additional demand for the large PSVs and subsea construction support vessel market in future years.
5.1.7 North America
Canada and United States.
Due to the Jones Act restrictions, foreign vessels are prohibited from participating in the local supply
business carrying cargoes from U.S. ports in U.S. territorial waters. As such, domestic AHTS vessels and PSV
demand is satisfied by U.S. built, owned and flagged vessels. U.S. flagged vessels are generally much simpler
than those built by most international owners, especially those which do not trade internationally.
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