Page 56: of Marine News Magazine (November 2017)

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GULF COAST OUTLOOK

York Stock Exchange. The company announced on October 16th that in- who elected to retire from his role as said then that its greatly de-leveraged dustry icon Larry T. Rigdon will serve director, president and CEO of off- balance sheet positions it for long- as interim president and chief execu- shore service vessels (OSV) owner and term success. tive of? cer (CEO) of Tidewater Inc. operator effective October 15, 2017.

Separately, another bit of unexpected while a search committee seeks a per- GoM demand for OSV’s has been excitement was stirred up when it was manent successor to Jeffrey M. Platt, pummeled in the industry downturn that began three years ago, Tidewater executive vice president Joe Bennett in Houston said last month. “Tidewa- ter's exposure to Gulf of Mexico activ- ity is, and over the last several years has been, relatively small, however,” he said. “Our GoM operations amount to less than 10 percent of our con- solidated revenue and, in some cases, much less than 10 percent. We're op- erating about ? ve or so OSV’s in the

Gulf these days, whereas we had 15 to 20 there ? ve to ten years ago. Both then and now, that's a very small per- cent of our consolidated operations.”

Bennett added, “We, like many oth- er local operators, have vessels in stack that can return to service as the market recovers.” With more than 300 OSV’s and other workboats, Tidewater sup- ports offshore oil with towing and an- chor-handling vessels for drilling rigs and boats that move supplies and staff.

The company provides assistance for pipe and cable laying, pollution and ? re control and seismic work.

In early October, GulfMark Offshore – with 66 platform supply, anchor- handling tug supply and other vessels in the Americas, North Sea and Southeast

Asia – also exited bankruptcy. Gulf-

Mark ? led for Chapter 11 on May 17, the same day that Tidewater did. Signif- icantly, when GulfMark entered bank- ruptcy, nearly half of its vessels were idle.

In June, Seacor Holdings in Florida spun off Seacor Marine in Houma, leaving the latter focused on offshore services. According to Seacor Marine, on a total U.S. ? eet basis--mainly in the

GoM and including idle vessels – its utilization was 13 percent in the quar- ter ended June 30. Average day rates

November 2017 56 MN