Viking Supply Ships has decided to lay up anchor handling tug supply vessel Odin Viking with immediate effect.
with immediate effect.The move comes as a “direct consequence of the poor market conditions” according to Viking, and the company will now commence negotiations with employees and unions to assess the crewing situation going forward with “the ambition to minimize lay-offs.”
Late September Viking laid up three platform supply vessels, all of which were crewed by an external ship manager.
Viking had implemented a cost reduction program to reduce annual operational costs by NOK40m ($4.7m), and will now look at further reductions in order to save an additional NOK70m ($8.25m) as the weak market continues.
Earlier in the day Siem Offshore announced the layup of two AHTS vessels, leaving just three of the company’s ten AHTSs operating in the North Sea spot market.
