Tidewater buys two under-construction PSVs

Troms Offshore Supply AS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tidewater Inc., has informed that Tidewater has entered into agreements to purchase two PSV Vard 08 vessels under construction, hulls no 791 and 792 at the Vard Vung Tau yard in Vietnam.

The vessels have a length overall of 81,70m and a breadth of 18,00m with a deck area of 830 m2. The two ships will primarily be positioned for operations in the North Sea and arctic waters and will be managed by the Troms team in Norway. Delivery dates are expected in January and April 2015.

Both sister ships are based on innovative environmentally friendly design and equipment and will be delivered with the class notation Clean Design. In addition to the customary supply ship services, these ships will be prepared for North Sea and Barents Sea operations through the Ice C class notation and also carry firefighting and oil recovery equipment in accordence with NOFO 2009, Stanby rescue in accordance with NMD for up to 200 persons.Troms Offshore believes that these ships will play an important role in the rescue and emergency planning in Northern Norway and in the Barents Sea.

Mårten Lunde, the CEO of Troms Offshore, stated: “We are delighted with Tidewater’s purchase of the two vessels which supports our strategy of becoming a leading supplier of PSV services in the North Sea and arctic markets. This investment will enable us to grow the company and will create further employment opportunities both onshore and offshore. This will benefit the northern region as we predominately recruit our personnel from this area. We are thankful to our parent company Tidewater, which acquired Troms Offshore last summer, for supporting our growth strategy and enabling us to invest into modern tonnage and qualified personnel. We have taken delivery of several vessels from the Vard group in Norway and are confident that their yard in Vietnam will deliver vessels with equivalent quality as those constructed in Norway.”

Troms Offshore Supply AS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tidewater Inc., which is the leading provider of Offshore Services Vessels (OSVs) to the global energy industry. The company has its head office in New Orleans.

Troms Offshore operates a fleet comprising 12 ships from its home port in Tromsø in Northern Norway. The Company owns five large Clean Design PSVs each with a deck area in excess of 1,000 m2 and one medium size PSV with a deck area of 850m2. Based on its experience and competency in operating in challenging arctic waters, Troms Offshore focuses on expanding its position as a leading provider of offshore supply services in Northern Norway and in arctic areas.