OSV demand was flat in April, and it is expected to remain relatively flat in May. In July Shell is expected to finish its programme with drillship Noble Globetrotter, and OSV demand could slump into August with plenty of spare tonnage becoming available. OSV day rates remain high because vessel owner costs have been rising through higher maintenance costs and significantly higher labour costs. While pay for Dynamic Positioning Officers has skyrocketed to nearly double (USD 850 per day), vessel owners have found it hard to replace even third mate positions. Vessel owners are looking at their first year of strong PSV day rates in many years. Starting in early 2021 we started seeing OSVs getting reactivated for delivery to new owners, often outside the oil and gas industry. The resale costs for some older PSV that have dynamic positioning (DP1 or DP2) is low enough to make them commercially viable for use in regional port and offshore services outside of oil and gas. In late 2021 a few PSVs 1,000-3,000 dwt started getting reactivated to support operator in the US Gulf and Guyana. Some vessels were put to work supporting the effort to restore storm damaged production in the US Gulf. Reactivation costs are still very high, in the range of USD 2-3 million for vessels that have been laid up for a few years. While some OSV managers would like to make more PSVs available, labour remains a cap on OSV capacity for the moment.
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