Norway’s Rem Offshore is to lay up a further three platform supply vessels (PSVs), managing director Arild Myrvoll has said.
The move would bring the total of number of Rem-owned vessels in lay-up to seven, Myrvoll said in an interview with Norway’s Sunnmørsposten.
Some 68 PSVs are currently laid up in the North Sea region, according to most recent estimates by broker Westshore. Some 46 and 32 vessels are currently trading in Norway and the UK respectively.
The PSVs Rem Supporter and Rem Server will be removed from the trading fleet immediately, whereas Rem Mermaid will be laid up once its current contract is concluded later this quarter, the MD said.
Between 70 to 80 employees will be made redundant as a result, but Rem is reportedly trying to move them to other vessels where possible.
Myrvoll said it was hard to make such decisions, but said the company is not able to cover its current crewing expenses.
Rem posted NOK 929m ($113m) in write-downs of the value of its vessels and other assets between January and August, of which NOK 899m ($109.5m) was realised in the second quarter.
In its second-quarter results, Rem called its current cash position “satisfactory”, which is some good news ahead of its upcoming merger with Solstad Offshore, which will create a 62-vessel fleet.
In the interview with Sunnmørsposten, Myrvoll said the merger would be formally adopted pending final approvals at an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for October 10.
