Fourth quarter pick-up

摘要

For those Asian-based managers that have held the optimistic view that 2011 will end positively, the increase in demand during September in Southeast Asia has gone a long way towards justifying their reasoning. Almost all types of vessels have seen a distinct upswing in demand, with brokers reporting that AHTS vessels of 5-7,000 bhp size are most sought after. Over the last few months there has only been a marginal increase in rig activity, although newbuild rigs entering the fleet later in 2011 will predictably increase the demand for medium-sized vessels. At present, however, the number of jackups that are still being cold-stacked has meant that the utilisation for those still active in the market has been optimised, keeping a sizeable proportion of the vessel fleet utilised. Deepwater exploration in Brunei and Malaysia has seen demand for a few larger AHTS vessels and a number of PSVs, but all are relatively short-term requirements.