Swissco, Singapore-based marine services firm, has embarked on a fleet expansion programme to position itself for increasing activity levels in the offshore marine market.
The company has 14 vessels under construction for the vessel chartering segment, seven of which will join in the second half of this year and six in 2014. The new vessels include medium to large anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels and crew boats.
“We are seeing heightened activity levels in the offshore marine sectors, particularly in the Southeast Asian countries as oil majors expand exploration and production programmes,” said Robert Chua, executive chairman of Swissco.
“We believe the demand is sustainable and have therefore negotiated with our preferred shipyard for the construction of more vessels,” he said.
Swissco, which builds its vessels at subcontracted yards in China, announced on Tuesday that it has secured charter contracts worth SGD8.24m for three crew boats working in Southeast Asia.
In addition, Singapore-listed Swissco will take delivery of one new crew boat in July this year.
Apart from enlarging its existing fleet, Swissco has also recently taken part in a special purpose vehicle for the construction of a mid-to-shallow water jack-up rig to enhance its fleet profile. The jack-up rig is expected to be deployed in the waters of Southeast Asia or the Middle East in 2015.