Swiber ditches defunct vessel for $14.56m

Proceeds will be used to pay off DBS bank debt.

Swiber Holdings announced that Swiber Atlantis Pte. Ltd. (SAPL), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, has entered into a memorandum of agreement with WAG SPV I, LLC in relation to the proposed disposal of a vessel known as Sea Horizon.

Sea Horizon has been mortgaged in favour of DBS Bank Ltd. as security for the Swiber’s obligations under certain banking facilities extended by DBS.

The vessel was built in 1977 and is the oldest Swiber’s fleet of eleven (11) barges.

Pursuant to surveys and investigations, the vessel is out of class, meaning that certain aspects of the Sea Horizon do not currently conform to the classification standards imposed by its relevant classification society, the American Bureau of Shipping.

Significant rectification works amounting to an estimated minimum of US$0.6 million would be required to be carried out in order to bring the vessel up to class.

The vessel is currently chartered to Meadsea Services B.V. (an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Swiber) and sub-chartered to Swiber Offshore Construction Pte Ltd (SOC) (a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of Swiber), but has been put in “Off-Hire” status as of 20 June 2016 at a shipyard in Singapore, where it has since remained.

The consideration for the proposed disposal shall be US$10.25m (S$14.56m) payable on completion of the sale and will be satisfied in cash.