Miclyn Express Continues Newbuilding Spree

Miclyn Express Offshore (MEO) has exercised options held for the purchase of two additional 90tn bollard pull AHTS. These vessels are the same design as the two vessels previously ordered by MEO’s Thailand joint venture, Uniwise Offshore.

The vessels will be constructed over an 18 month period in Chinese shipyard Wuchang Shipbuilding Co. Ltd on attractive payment terms. The vessels are designed to support larger jack-up rigs and construction barges that are entering MEO ’s core markets.

An agreement has also been entered into with a Singapore Shipyard for the construction of six new Crew/Utility Vessels, with an option to acquire an additional four. The first two vessels will be delivered in December 2013, followed by delivery of a vessel in both April and July 2014, with the final two scheduled for delivery in December 2014.

The Company has also secured preferential pricing with an option to acquire four more vessels in 2015. In line with its fleet renewal strategy, MEO has also entered into an agreement to sell one of its older Crew/Utility Vessels, Express 20 , to an Italian counterparty for a disposal gain.

MEO’s Chief Executive Officer, Diederik de Boer said “ these vessel purchase agreements represent the continued execution of our fleet strategy, namely growing our OSV fleet in areas of the market where we see demand and renewal of our Crew/Utility Vessel fleet to maintain our high utilisation levels and market leading position in South – East Asia and the Middle East.”

The company also announced that the MEO Rover, a 2,000 DWT Platform Supply Vessel under construction in the Company’s Batam Shipyard, has been awarded a three year charter with Seascape Surveys (Seascape), a business unit of Mermaid Maritime Public Company Limited, for the provision of ROV and full subsea support services.

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Press Release, July 12, 2013