Maersk Supply Service to Divest up to 20 Vessels

Maersk Supply Service Maersk Supply Service, a part of Danish shipping and offshore energy conglomerate Maersk Group, is divesting up to 20 vessels over the coming 18 months and reducing its crew pool by 400 offshore positions. The company said that the divestment plan is a response to vessels in lay-up, limited trading opportunities and the global over-supply of offshore supply vessels in the industry. One of Maersk Supply Service’s prime objectives is to attempt to restore the supply demand balance in the offshore supply market. This is why the vast majority of the divested vessels will be recycled or modified by their new owners to compete outside their present segments, CEO of Maersk Supply Service, Jørn Madsen, said. Maersk Supply Service will flag its four Stingray new-buildings to the Isle of Man registry. A commercial hub will be established in the United Kingdom consolidating ownership and operation of the company’s project vessels. This includes the Stingray vessels and five existing project vessels that will also be flagged to the Isle of Man registry. As a consequence of the fleet reduction and the flagging of existing project vessels to the Isle of Man registry, around 400 crew members will be made redundant as a necessary step to safeguard the future of Maersk Supply Service, Madsen added. The redundancy process is expected to be finalised by the end of September 2016.