The Normand Maximus subsea construction vessel is en route from Romania for final outfitting at the Vard Brattvaag yard in Norway.

Normand Maximus, which was built at Vard in Romania, will become the largest construction vessel in the Solstad fleet.

The vessel will have a 550-ton top tension vertical lay-system that will enable it to conduct installation of large diameter flexible pipes in ultradeepwater environments.

After delivery in second-quarter 2016, Normand Maximus will work for Saipem on an eight-year charter agreement.

Aberdeen-based IMES has secured new contracts worth $1.14 million. It has landed a three-year contract for the provision of lifting inspection services on behalf of Fugro, covering four vessels.

In addition, IMES has been awarded a three-year contract by subsea inspection, repair maintenance company Harkand.

It will provide lifting inspection, wire rope inspection and nondestructive testing services for three vessels in Aberdeen and other U.K. ports.

Douglas-Westwood has forecast the market for the operation of work-class ROVs to total $14.2 billion over the period to 2019.

In its seventh World ROV Operations Market Forecast, author, Antoine Paillat, said, “This represents a 19% increase on the previous five-year period; however, near-term we see some difficult conditions with weaker dayrates and lower levels of utilisation for the work-class fleet. We expect the global ROV market to significantly contract in value terms in 2016 (-6.3%) and then plateau in 2017, due to the current oil price downturn.”

The conclusions of the report highlight the current market challenges with weaker dayrates and lower levels of utilisation for the work-class fleet.

Offshore