Otto Marine Seeks Insolvency Protection From Singapore High Court

Offshore shipbuilder Otto Marine Ltd. is seeking insolvency protection from the High Court in a bid to salvage the company and stave off liquidation.

Otto Marine, saddled with almost $900 million in debt, filed to be placed under judicial management in the High Court on Feb. 20 as it seeks to recover.

Otto Marine has been delisted from the Singapore Exchange, and its application for an interim judicial manager will be decided in a hearing on March 12, The Straits Times reported.

Executive Chairman Yaw Chee Siew is part of a group that is the single biggest creditor of the company, with $208 million at stake. Without the court’s relief, the group will likely face an imminent financial collapse, Yaw said in the application.

“I cannot be expected to continue shouldering the financial burden and injecting fresh capital into the company,” he wrote.

New Contracts For Solstad Farstad

Solstad Farstad ASA landed a six-month contract in late February to operate the Normand Flower construction support vessel for Fugro Netherlands Marine BV in the North Sea. The contract goes into effect at the end of March.

The company also agreed to terms with Spirit Energy for two platform supply vessels. Sea Titus will support Paragon B391 for one month beginning in March, followed by a 12- to 13-month drilling campaign conducted by Noble Hans Deul. Far Sitella will begin its support for Paragon B391 in March as well and continue for about 23 months.

In addition, an undisclosed client awarded Solstad Farstad a contract for the Sea Spider platform supply vessel beginning in February for about 70 days. The work involves one well, with two optional wells in the U.K. North Sea.

Corvus Energy Secures Deal To Power Three More Hybrid PSVs

SEACOR Marine and Rolls-Royce have selected Corvus Energy to provide lithium ion-based Orca ESS (energy storage systems) for three hybrid platform supply vessels (PSVs).

SEACOSCO, a joint venture of SEACOR and China COSCO Shipping Group, purchased the vessels and will retrofit them into hybrid vessels. Typical vessel operations will use the ESS for spinning reserve during critical times such as dynamic positioning and to provide support for peak shaving, which will allow the diesel engines to be more efficient.

The Orca ESS will reduce the environmental footprint of offshore operations and cut costs for fuel and engine maintenance.

The contract means the Orca ESS will be providing battery power to 100% of the hybrid PSV fleet in the Gulf of Mexico.

KW Lands Contract for Second Pressure Vessel For Siemans Subsea

KW Designed Solutions will supply a second pressure vessel to Siemens Subsea for production testing of its new DigiTRON fiber-optic connector. The system’s internal tooling will allow mate and demate testing of the connectors while under pressure.

In addition, the new vessel’s working capacity length will be 600 mm longer than the first pressure vessel that KW provided Siemans Subsea.

—Joseph Markman