Bourbon keeps 100 supply vessels stacked in H1 

By Jite Eriabie 

Bourbon kept 100 offshore supply vessels in lay-up in the first half of 2017 as revenues fell.

Bourbon said that it continued its proactive stacking policy in the first half of the year with 100 supply vessels in lay-up.

“The offshore PSV market continues to be affected by significant overcapacity and strong pressure on daily rates,” the company said.

For the shallow water offshore vessel segment of its business the utilization rate in the first half of the year was just 37.9% compared to 66.9% in H1 2016. Revenues for the segment in H1 2017 dropped 54.7% year-on-year to $76.2m.

However, some improvement was seen Q2 2017 compared to the first quarter of the year. “After hitting a low in the first quarter, activity recovered in the second quarter, mainly driven by Egypt and the end of the monsoon season in Asia. The segment recorded revenue growth of 5.3% and a rise of 4.3 points in utilization rates between the first and second quarters of 2017,” Bourbon said.

For its business as a whole in the first half of 2017 Bourbon’s revenues were down 8.7% at EUR459.5m compared to the second half of 2016.

Looking ahead the company said: “In this context, utilization rates can be expected to stabilize in the subsea and crew boats segments. The deepwater offshore and shallow water offshore segments will see a slight upturn in activity, however at prices that are expected to remain under heavy pressure due to the continued impact of vessel overcapacity on the market.”