23 November 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The recent consolidation between GulfMark and Tidewater has created the largest offshore support vehicle, OSV, fleet in the industry.
The development is seen as a positive for the market.
“With Tidewater’s steadfast and unyielding attitude towards the scrapping of non-performing vessels, this is a good chance for the market to reduce some of its oversupply,” according to VesselsValue. “Hopefully with this new entity taking the lead, other market players might follow suit”, VesselsValue added in a statement by Associate Director, Claudia Norrgren.
It added that “consolidation in today’s market only works if lenders are willing to take haircuts and provide an opportunity for these companies to start afresh with a clean balance sheet”.
According to VesselsValue, “in the case of Solstad Offshore, they undertook restructuring and consolidation as well. However, without a clean balance sheet, problems are only going to resurface further down the road.
“Bourbon is another major player who have struggled to service their debt and are actively looking for financiers. Kicking the can down the road is not a viable option in this market”.
