MH moves into shipping
Marine Harvest and Deep Sea Supply have agreed to establish a 50/50 joint venture (JV) to build, own and operate aquaculture vessels.
The companies believe there is significant room for efficiency improvements across the value chain, ranging from reduction in newbuilding cost to more cost-efficient operations. Over the past few years aquaculture vessels have increasingly become an integrated part of the value chain.
Marine Harvest currently charters 44 vessels with a combined cost of approximately €100 million per year, while the deal expects to enter into contracts for the construction of aquaculture vessels which will be chartered by Marine Harvest upon delivery. Current discussions indicate a substantial reduction in newbuilding cost and the possibility of competing for external contracts.
Operational platform
Deep Sea Supply is a leading owner and operator of supply vessels and has a proven track record of building and operating vessels in a cost efficient way. The deal will see management agreements including technical management, ship management and other corporate services. Deep Sea Supply has the operational platform in place required by the JV to meet its strategy of safe and efficient operations of aquaculture vessels.
The two companies aim to consolidate the industry to achieve economies of scale – to streamline production and reduce cost. The deal will explore any opportunity that may improve building cost or operating cost, including taking advantage of the current imbalance in the offshore service vessel market through potentially converting surplus offshore vessels into aquaculture vessels if project economics are favourable.
