Brazil’s Grupo CBO is expanding its offshore ship fleet with resale deals and charters to bolster its domestic operations.
The company has acquired two resale platform supply vessels (PSVs) from John Fredriksen’s Seatankers Management in recent months.
The 4,900-dwt CBO Wiser, formerly the Sea Hornbill, joined the fleet on delivery from Fujian Mawei Shipyard in China in January, following the acquisition of the sister CBO Energy (ex Sea Heron) in 2021.
The pair were originally ordered by Nam Cheong International way back in 2013 for $31m each.
They were part of a series of four vessels acquired by Seatankers for $19m each in 2018.
The two others eventually joined the private Fredriksen group’s fleet.
The CBO Wiser is currently being mobilised to Brazil.
Grupo CBO paid $17.9m each for the pair.
The owner is also bringing over two large PSV from the North Sea, according to Norwegian broker Seabrokers.
The 5,500-dwt Rem Mistral (built 2012) and 5,400-dwt Siddis Sailor (built 2007) have been sourced from Rem Offshore and Meling & Co in Norway on three-year bareboat deals, with two one-year options available.
Work in place
Grupo CBO already has work lined up for both vessels upon their arrival in Brazil this quarter.
On the anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) side of the market, Grupo CBO has also just secured a 320-day contract for the 19,035-hp AH Valetta (built 2010) with Karoon Energy.
The vessel will go on hire in March to provide support for Karoon’s drilling campaign with the Maersk Developer rig.
In April 2021, Germany’s United Offshore Support (UOS) clinched a two-year deal to operate an anchor-handler tug supply vessel for Grupo CBO.
An unnamed UOS ship was fixed to service end-client Petrobras, the domestic oil major.
Grupo CBO operates 41 vessels in total.
