Maersk Supply Service sheds two anchor handlers due to oversupply in OSV market

Maersk Supply Service has sold two of its older anchor handler tug and supply (AHTS) vessels due to the current market situation and the global oversupply of offshore supply vessels.

Maersk Supply Service said on Wednesday that two of its older assets – Maersk Advancer and Maersk Asserter – were divested as of 12 June 2020.

The vessels have been sold to an international buyer and will be modified for use in a non-competing industry.

Chief Commercial Officer of Maersk Supply Service, Carsten Gram Haagensen, said: “As a response to the recent downturn in the oil and gas industry, we have re-evaluated our fleet composition and future fleet deployment. As we expect insufficient commercial opportunities for Maersk Advancer and Maersk Asserter, we have concluded that a sale of these assets is the most attractive solution.

“With this, we continue to take active steps to right-sizing the supply side of the market that the OSV industry needs for a sustainable recovery”.

In 2016, Maersk Supply Service set out to reduce its fleet in response to the global over-supply of offshore support vessels.

The divested vessels have been either recycled or modified by their new owners to compete outside of the offshore supply vessel segment.

In total, 26 PSV and AHTS vessels have since 2016 left Maersk Supply Service’s fleet. After the recent sale, 41 vessels are in the fleet.