French orders to foreign shipyards

35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
Average reported day rates in £/day
for deploying ROVs to clear the ocean floor with grapnels
before burial by cable laying ships.
Vessels used for these operations are either AHTS or PSV.
They are chartered by cable manufacturers that successfully
bid “turnkey” contracts from telecommunications
consortiums or from specialised underwater operations
subcontractors. It is important to note changes in the types
of vessels chartered, which are increasingly sophisticated
- with dynamically positioning, a result of lower charter
rates for modern vessels in 1999.
Because of the development of the Internet and of deregulation,
the cable market remains in excellent health
North Sea supply vessel market
AHTS > 10,000 bhp
PSV > 2,000 dwt
Jan 96 Apr 96 Jul 96 Oct 96 Jan 97 Apr 97 Jul 97 Oct 97 Jan 98 Avr 98 Jul 98 Oct 98 Jan 99 Apr 99 Jul 99 Oct 99
and several construction projects are under discussion.
Clients are either cable or fibre optic systems manufacturers
that seek to fulfill the terms of their own “turnkey” cable
laying contracts or well-known shipowners that have
obtained long-term charters from these contractors.
In this sector, the Cable & Wireless Global Marine fleet
has been consolidated and increased, after acquisition
by the US telecommunications giant Global Crossing.
The company has ordered new units and concluded
long-term charters (from five to eight years) for five units
belonging to AP Moller, four of which are newbuildings
yet to be delivered.
FDS,
construction/pipelayer
vessel, 10,000 ft
water depth,
dynamically-positioned,
under construction at
Samsung for SAIBOS
(Saipem/Bouygues
Offshore)
T h e o f f s h o r e m a r k e t
S H I P P I N G A N D S H I P B U I L D I N G M A R K E T S 2 0 0 0
81