POSH and TeraSea form a powerful alliance

Singapore based PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH), through its EPIC division, announced on 5 March 2013 the formation of a joint venture company ‘POSH TeraSea Pte Ltd’, combining with TeraSea Pte Ltd. POSH will contribute to the joint venture a fleet of five specialised anchor handlers of between 12,000 bhp and 13,500 bhp and TeraSea is to contribute four 16,300 bhp modern deepwater anchorhandlers still under construction.

TeraSea Pte Ltd is a dynamic new company formed by two of the world’s leadingoffshore and transport contractors, Ezion Holdings and Seabridge Marine, based in Singapore. Building on more than three decades of industry experience, TeraSea is poised to set a new standard of excellence in international long distance towing, positioning and salvage. The ‘much advertised’ fleet of four new 200 tonnes bollard pull tugs will be the most advanced in their class, designed specifically for deep sea towing. With a leadership team of pioneers in FPSO towage and positioning and the highest calibre shore and marine personnel, TeraSea is fully equipped to deliver innovative, effective and safe towage solutions.

Mr Scott Lindsay, chairman of TeraSea announced: “TeraSea is pleased to form this joint venture with POSH. POSH EPIC division, with its experienced crew and management team, is arguably the world leader in FPSO towage and positioning, with an unparallelled track record for its safety standards and timely deliveries. The new vessels will further cement its position as the market leader.”

Mr Peter Lee, CEO of TeraSea and a well known figure in the industry added: “The joint venture operates vessels of three different categories of bollard pull, and this will provide our customers greater flexibility in configuring their bollard pull requirement.”

Known as the ‘Raptor’ class, the new tugs are being built by Universal Shipbuilding Corp of Japan at their Keihin shipyard in Yokohama. The first vessel, TeraSea Falcon, is nearing completion. Vessels of 75.3m in length, the tugs will be classed by ABS +A1 to undertake deep sea towing, anchorhandling, offshore support, fire fighting and oil recovery. Two Wartsila 12V32 main engines, each developing 8,159 bhp, will drive four blade controllable pitch propellers rotating in fixed nozzles to achieve an estimated bollard pull of 200 tonnes. TeraSea Falcon will be followed by the TeraSea Hawk, Eagle and Osprey.

The joint venture company POSH TeraSea will be led by its president and director, Mr Eric Ng, a director of the POSH EPIC division with more than 30 years of experience in the offshore oil and gas industry. Mr Ng said: “Oil majors are demanding higher safety standards, as well as younger and more powerful vessels. The addition of four additional 16,300 bhp newbuilds into the fleet is a testament of our commitment to continuously upgrade our fleet to meet the increasing demands of the oil and gas industry.”