Prosafe scraps three, cold stacks one flotel

Safe Britannia; Image: Prosafe
Safe Britannia; Image: Prosafe

Prosafe, an operator of semi-sub accommodation units known as flotels, has decided to scrap three of its oldest units, and to cold stack other units starting with the Safe Astoria.

The company said on Wednesday that it would scrap its 1982-built Jasminia, the 1977-built Hibernia and Safe Britannia, built it 1980.

Prosafe’s Safe Astoria was built in 1983, and converted to an accommodation vessel in 2004/2005 at Keppel FELS Shipyard in Singapore.

After its contract ended at the end of 2015, the Safe Britannia was demobilized out of Mexico in March, while the Safe Jasminia, that remained off hire in the fourth quarter of 2015, and the Safe Hibernia were being prepared for cold-stacking in the US.

Prosafe explained that, through these measures, the company was seeking to reinforce its position and contribute to a necessary restructuring of the industry while also reducing cost.

The company stated it was currently in dialogue for potential employment of uncontracted vessels, including Safe Notos. Prosafe added it expects to deliver an EBITDA in 2016 of between $170 mill and $220 mill depending on the outcome of these contract discussions.

Given recent shifts in the company’s contract portfolio, Prosafe said it was working with the yard to find an amicable solution regarding the delivery of the Eurus and thereby reduce actual 2016 capex compared to above figure.

In addition, Prosafe will likely contest parts of the additional costs incurred on the Safe Scandinavia Tender Support Vessel (TSV) conversion project done at the Westcon yard in Norway. The TSV was completed in March and mobilized to the Oseberg Øst installation in the North Sea to start drilling support operations for Statoil.

Offshore Energy Today Staff