Admitting that times remain tough for many in the industry, Esben Poulssen, the new president of the Singapore Shipping Association, has pushed forward a raft of initiatives to try and help out.
As well as seeking to grow Singapore’s ship finance credentials and get the government to ink more double taxation agreements Poulssen said at a briefing last night SSA is pushing authorities to reduce port dues for offshore vessels, the hardest hit sector in shipping at the moment.
The volume of offshore support vessels being laid up is growing around the world amid the declining overcapacity and a severe overcapacity of OSVs. According to Mike Meade from Singapore’s M3 Marine, an offshore brokerage, even in the unlikely event of the entire global rig fleet working, there would be still be a surplus of OSVs. Utilisation rates for OSVs have slid 40% this year.
