Responding to a growing demand from the oil & gas sector against a background of record low petroleum prices, GAC South Africa has availed of the market situation by adding lay-up and warm stacking to its portfolio of services.
According to GAC, ports in South Africa and its neighbour Namibia offer a viable alternative as they combine space to accommodate lay-ups with cheaper costs seeing that more and more vessels are standing idle, with owners and operators seeking cost-effective options to lay them up until suitable employment is found.
“With the markets being in the state they are, an ever increasing amount of our customers are looking at affordable lay-up options. Though not good news for the market, it is an opportunity for GAC to offer a service where there previously was none,” GAC South Africa’s Managing Director Eric Barnard says.
Ports at which GAC is offering its new service include Cape Town, Ngqura (Coega), Durban and Saldanha Bay in South Africa, as well at the Namibian port Walvis Bay.
“There is more to a lay-up or warm stacking than simply dropping anchor and turning the engines off,” GAC stressed, adding that its package of support services includes among other things approval of lay-up arrangements, safety and security matters, preservation and maintenance, vessel and hull inspections.