Offshore support vessel orders soar for DNV

Hunt for oil resources fuels building boom and DNV’s increasing share for all types of offshore support vessels.

2008-05-20

With over 300 Offshore Support Vessels (OSV) of various types on order worldwide, DNV has secured the lion’s share in this rapidly expanding market.

“The offshore sector is booming,” says Per Wiggo Richardsen, communications manager for DNV Maritime. “Over the past two years, more than 300 new offshore support vessels have been contracted to DNV class – maintaining our leading position with regard to all types of offshore support vessels.”

According to Richardsen, the orders secured are for owners worldwide. "More than 50 per cent of all contracts signed in 2007 were signed to DNV class. For the complete orderbook as of spring 2008, almost 40 per cent of all new OSVs are to DNV class. A major part of these vessels are to be completed at Norwegian yards."

Most of the vessels include a number of innovative solutions that DNV has helped develop and introduce to the market. Examples like the X-bow and new bridge design can be mentioned. About 50 per cent of the vessels ordered will have DNV’s ‘Clean Design’ notation.

The OSV market has experienced several years of sustained growth on the strength of high global demand for exploration and development. Limited vessel availability and high day rates has led to an unprecedented orderbook with over 600 offshore support vessels of various types on order worldwide.

Commenting on DNV’ performance in other sectors, Richardsen says that 2007 proved to be a successful year in terms of newbuilding orders, with 740 vessels (corresponding to almost 30 million gross tons) ordered to DNV class – an all-time high

“In addition to the OSV market, DNV holds a leading position when it comes to classifying tankers. Some 30 per cent of the record high order book for oil tankers are to be classed by DNV,” says Richardsen and adds, “But 2007 will first of all be remembered as the ‘bulker year’. Every third ship and almost every second gross ton that was contracted to DNV class last year was a bulk carrier.”

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