The Heavy Marine Transport Market Segment is dedicated to the specialised heavy marine transport market associated with the offshore oil and gas industry. The dry transportation of offshore oil and gas production, drilling and terminal structures is a highly specialised activity with considerable inherent risk. These units are the largest physical entities regularly moved between nations and can be individually valued in excess of US$1 billion. The safe and effective transportation of these units has therefore developed into a niche sector of the shipping industry with a raft of specialist vessels.
On the supply side, a few major heavy transport vessel operators manage either custom built semi-submersible vessels or converted tankers. Concurrently, the lower segment of the supply side is characterised by ocean tugs, launch bage operators and heavy cargo ship shaped vessels. I would like to aim to mainly focus on the higher end of the market in this report since crane vessel progressively looking for alternative measures to transport and install their structures due to tight capacity and high cost for crane vessels. The success of recent floatover installations and floating dry on transportation are gradually changing the picture as more and more oil and gas operators are considering heavy transport vessels as a valuable substitute for transport and installation contracts.
Major indicators in the macroeconomic environment surrounding the oil and gas industry and the recent surge of project tendering leads expect that the heavy transport market has solid prospects ahead. If final investment decisions related to terminal projects materialise, most likely the current supply will struggle to meet the expected surge in future demand. This combined with the attrition of some assets will likely create a relatively undersupplied market at the midterm of the forecast period for the higher end of the supply segment(open stern semi-submersible vessels).
On the demand side, current intense competition amongst the vessel operators in the Heavy Marine Transport market will effect the potential reflecting day rate fluctuations. Thus, some good level of expansion in the market from current vessel operators such as Dockwise, COSCOL, and OHT bringing in new vessels falling within the higher end of the market.
Eventually, we may forecast total demand to grow at a faster rate than supply. Vessel operators with the expertise and assets capable of accommodating the fast changing nature of the oil and gas industry will likely capitalize on this anticipated upturn in the Heavy Marine Transport market. In case we would like to look for the future development in our market powers.