A huge orderbook, existing oversupply and gutted demand means the market for offshore support vessels (OSVs) will be out of balance through 2020, according to Pareto Securities Asia chief executive David Palmer.

Many market analysts have publicly set vessel recovery targets for after 2018, which makes Palmer’s one of the lengthiest estimates for today’s severe downturn.

With the global industry deprived of exploration-and-production (E&P) spending, the crashed rig market has put an “armada” of ships out of work — to the tune of 732 stacked OSVs and a further 1,250 idle vessels, he says.

“There