Page 58: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2004)

Farstad: North Sea Utilization Rates Down

Farstad Shipping ASA is an Aalesund,

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PSVs. In December Farstad received two new PSVs from Ulstein Verft AS.

Immediately after delivery Far

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MV Tamesis is a new generation Mark IV RoRo ship with a groundbreaking design. The Mark IV

RoRo provides 35 percent more covered capac- ity for specialized RoRo cargo than the previous

Mark III design. to start a long-term contract for Esso in

Australia. Far Splendour has started a five-year contract for Peterson

Supplylink in Holland.

Farstad Shipping has through its Joint

Venture (BOS) in Brazil, three AHTS under construction at Brazilian yards for delivery in 2004/2005. These vessels have all got long-term contracts to

Petrobras.

The demand for supply vessels in the

North Sea has decreased during the fourth quarter and the number of vessels on long-term contracts was by the end of the year down to 122. The spot market has varied between 27 vessels and 39 vessels, and has resulted in a total demand for vessels in the fourth quarter of I6l vessels on average. The average for the year was 179 vessels. The supply side in the North Sea has seen a contin- uing departure of vessels and even though a number of new vessels were delivered from yards in the North Sea area during this quarter, the fleet still ended at 182 vessels. The average uti- lization ratio was as low as 86 percent, resulting in a low rate level during the quarter. The prospects for the North Sea are uncertain for the rest of the year. If the rate level is to recover, the activity has to increase and the fleet will have to be reduced.

In Australia/the Far East the level of activity has remained good, but the sup- ply side is increasing and the rates are coming under pressure. In addition there is now a temporary lower activity level due to the monsoon season in the

Southeast Asia during the first quarter.

The activity in the Mediterranean and

West Africa is increasing, but a large part of the departure of vessels from the

North Sea has been to these areas, and it is uncertain how much the fleet in these areas can increase in the time to come.

However, a larger part of the world's fleet is more than 20 years old, so a renewal will be required. This together with an expected increase in activity on a world basis and a reduced activity in new building, give expectation of a bal- ance between supply and demand during the year.

Maritime Reporter & Engineering News