North Sea OSV stacking frenzy can have its benefits. For some…

Approximately one hundred offshore support vessels are currently sitting idle in ports located on the banks of the North Sea, both in Norway and UK.

However, one offshore supply vessel owner seems to be reaping the benefits of the widespread offshore vessels stacking frenzy caused by the drop in oil prices.

Namely, Nordic American Offshore (NAO), a New York-listed offshore vessels supplier, has reported a rise in dayrates for several of its platform supply vessels.

In a statement on Monday, the company said that the spot market – short-term charters – has improved in the last few weeks, due to fewer PSVs currently available as dozens of vessels have been laid-up because of the challenging market conditions.

Herbjorn Hansson, Executive Chairman Nordic American Offshore said: “All our ships operate in the spot market, where rates have hovered around $5,000 per day. As an example, this week we negotiated a rate for one of our PSVs about four times that level for a short voyage.

Hansson did not say which vessel managed to get the attractive fee, nor did he reveal the identity of the client. Data on Westshore.no, shows that one of the company’s vessels has been hired on Monday, but no dayrate has been revealed. The vessel in question is NAO Protector, the client GDF.

While Hansson is pleased with the spot deals obtained, he is also cautious: “It would be too optimistic to expect rates to continue to be this strong, but we welcome every contract we sign at these levels.”

Nordic American Offshore has eight platform supply vessels in operation, with two more under construction in Norway for delivery in April and June 2016.

Offshore Energy Today Staff