Page 74: of Marine News Magazine (November 2011)

74MNNovember 2011In October, MarineNews ? Joe Keefe caught up with BOURBON?s Chief Executive Officer, Christian Lefèvre. As BOURBON?s CEO since January 1, 2011, Lefèvre has aggressively set about furthering BOURBON's busi- ness strategy which focuses on the offshore oil and gas marine services sector. The newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer has hit the ground running and has BOURBON on a steady course to achieve the promise of the ?BOURBON 2015 Leadership Strategy Plan.? A total of 423 vessels ? 251 crew / 70 deepwater PSV & AHTS (or OSV)/ 17 subsea / 85 shallow draft ? with an average age of just 5.6 years are at his disposal as he tries to improve on already enviable position as one of the world?s most prominent offshore services providers. Follow along as he explains how, where, and why. You recently said ?We have arrived at the end of a downturn that has lasted since late 2008, andthe market for modern offshore vessels is now turning around.? Are the rates for your modern and fully compliant vessels yielding better ratesthan lesser fleets or is the economy still weighingon this sector with many idled boats? LookingAhead: what do you see?We can see today that most of the idled equipment is of 1970?s-1980?s build, so most of that excess capacity, is old tonnage. In terms of shallow water equipment (less than 2000 DWT; less than 10,000 BST), we now operate 85 modern shallow water OSV?s and we are enjoying average day rates with our modern equip- ment of about $12,800 per day. And during this peri- od ? the first half of 2011, we (BOURBON) reached a utilization rate of 87.5 percent. In contrast, the daily average being paid for older tonnage was only $8,000 per day. Today, clients are prepared to pay a premium for better, newer tonnage, especially those utilizing diesel electric and other premium equipment. Tell us briefly about your recent financial performance ? 6 months and one year back.These were much improved numbers, yes? Our performance for the first half of this year, in com- parison to last year, has indeed much improved, 16 One on One withChristian Lefèvre CEO, BOURBONCEO, BOURBONChristian Lefèvre??we are now tightly focused on the OSV market and we will follow its growth and its renewal market. I believe that the best hedge is to have a young, modern fleet and good, trustworthy relations with clients.? MN#11 (66-81):MN 2011 Layouts 11/2/2011 1:57 PM Page 74