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16 • MarineNews • May, 2006

Just 17 years ago, Bourbon was a dri- ving force in the food processing and sugar production businesses, and the marine industry was not even a blip on its radar. By 2000, the company was well into its planned transition to a marine- dominated company, with food processing comprising just 21 percent, while marine services had grown to 27 percent. Fast forward to 2006, and the company that made its mark in food has wholly rein- vented itself into one of the leading vessel owners serving the offshore oil and gas business, becoming a 100 percent marine services company.

Bourbon CEO Jacques de Chateauvieux and other key company executives recent- ly visited with reporters in Houston to dis- cuss the company's aggressive newbuild- ing plan - dubbed Horizon 2010 - that out- lines the company's growth plan for the coming four years, including a planned fleet investment of nearly $1.8 billion in new Offshore Service Vessels.

In assessing the near and long-term future of the offshore business, de

Chateauvieux said the company sees "strong and continued demand" for oil, as declines in production output from exist- ing offshore wells will pressure the oil majors to step up efforts to find new reserves. The company projects that the world's production of oil will increasingly come from offshore sources, rising from 34 percent today to 39 percent by 2010, and increasingly that share will come from deepwater developments, based largely on the fact that 65 percent of new discoveries are coming from deepwater searches.

The investment in new vessels and a host of new personnel is not being con- ducted blindly. According to a recent report from Douglas-Westwood, there will be 110 floating production units installed between 2005 and 2009, a 59.4 percent increase compared to the years 2000-2004. In addition, according to

Infield and Bourbon, there will be approx- imately 2,121 subsea installations between 2004-2008, a 71 percent increase over the four year period between 1999- 2003. Thus Bourbon projects an overall 12 percent annual turnover growth for the company, driven by an anticipated 20 per- cent turnover growth, per year, in its off- shore division.

Fast-Track Growth

At the turn of the century the company announced plans to become a pure marine player, and in the years between 2002 and 2006 its Offshore division grew with 53 supply and 39 crew boats; its Towage and

Salvage division added four tugs and two sea going tugs, and its Bulk division added three bulk carriers. At the end of 2006, Bourbon will own a modern, new generation fleet of 264 vessels, which includes 192 for its Offshore Division, 66 tugs for its Towage & Salvage Division, and six bulk carriers for its Bulk division, all built and deployed worldwide.

Bourbon, which builds and operates its vessels worldwide, views the offshore market with particular regard, and esti- mates that an aging generation of vessels servicing the shallow draft oil and gas market, combined with accelerating demand for a new generation of vessels capable of operating in increasingly deep waters has created a historic market opportunity. "Today, anything that floats, makes money. In the future, only those with low costs will be successful," said de Chateau- vieux. To this end, the company is invest- ing in a fleet of modern vessels with the capacities and capabilities to serve evolv- ing needs of offshore operators. This year alone, the company expects to receive 30 new vessels to its stable.

Les Abeilles, the towage and salvage division, is active in three main segments: harbor towage, terminal towage and coastal environment. In late April, the company announced plans to expand its fleet, saying that it had ordered 12 new harbor tugs, including a series of eight vessels from the Piriou Shipyard in Con- carneau, France, and four from Damen in

China.

Yves Rastoin, Chief Executive Officer of Les Abeilles, a division of Bourbon, said: "Under Bourbon Horizon 2010 strategic plan, we reaffirmed our goal to expand the towage and salvage business.

With these 12 vessels, Les Abeilles is meeting the demands of its clients and adapting to the challenge posed by larger

LNG tankers and mega-container ships, as well as strengthening its position in inter- national bid tenders."

Eight of the new tugs will serve the Les

Abeilles fleet in the major French ports.

Measuring 98.5 x 33 ft., the more compact template for this series contributes to bet- ter maneuverability enabling greater oper- ational efficiency. The tugs, equipped with Azimuth Stern Drive propulsion and a new design, are designed to offer 15 per- cent more bollard pull capacity than earli- er models, raising capacity from 57 to 65 tons. This choice is an effective response to the changes in towage operations resulting from an increase in the size and tonnage of the vessels towed. The eight new tugs will also be equipped with fire- fighting capacity.

Deliveries are scheduled between Octo- ber 2007 and the end of 2008. 56 New PSVs

In late April Bourbon started putting the meat to the bones of its Horizon 2010 plan, announcing that, since January 1, 2006, it had placed the first series of orders for 56 modern offshore oil and gas supply vessels for $808 million. These 56 vessels are in addition to the 27 supply vessels already under construction at

December 31, 2005.

The deliveries and commissioning of these vessels will be staggered from the final quarter of 2007 until the first half of 2009, and include: • 4 PSV Ulstein P105 ordered from the

Zhejiang shipyards in China. These 4 ves- sels are sisterships of the Bourbon Peri- dot, delivered in 2005. 298.5 ft. long with a deadweight of 4,900 tons, these Plat- form Supply Vessels (PSV) will be equipped with diesel-electric propulsion, will be classed DP2 and will be pre- equipped to receive a 100 ton deep sea crane. 8 GPA 670 PSVs ordered from the

Zhejiang shipyards in China. This order follows an initial order of 10 vessels of the same type, five of which are already in operation. With a length of 239.5 ft. and deadweight of 3,200 tons, the PSVs in this series will be equipped with diesel-elec- tric propulsion and classed DP2. 5 AHTS ordered from the Bharati shipyards in India. This series of Anchor

Handling Tugs Supply vessels (AHTS), with 11,000 HP and a bollard pull of 125 tons, is identical to the series of five units, four of which were recently delivered by

Keppel in Singapore (Bourbon Artemis,

Bourbon Aladin, Bourbon Apsara, Bour- bon Alexandre). Classed DP1 and equipped with a FiFi 1 anti-fire system, these AHTS offer optimum services for the towage, anchor handling operations of drilling rigs and tanker lifting at offshore terminals.

Bourbon:

Building an Offshore Powerhouse

Bourbon CEO Jacques de Chateauvieux

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