Sovcomflot cancels redelivery of Polarcus vessel, extends charter by two years

Dubai-based offshore survey company Polarcus has announced that Russian state-run owner Sovcomflot will keep survey vessel Vyacheslav Tikhonov despite announcing its intentions to return the vessel earlier this year.

Sovcomflot has withdrawn a notice of redelivery it exercised in March for the vessel and exercised an option to extend the bareboat charter for two years.

A subsidiary of Polarcus has chartered the vessel to use as a source vessel for a wide-azimuth project in the Americas in the fourth quarter.

Both parties have redelivery options during the extended hire period with Sovcomflot’s first redelivery option being exercisable with effect from completion of the charter-back for the wide-azimuth program.