Offshore supply vessel owners risk falling into the "insanity' of a "newbuilding frenzy" if they maintain a traditional boom-and-bust mentality when managing the current market upturn.

This is the warning from Keith Fletcher, managing director of Fletcher Shipping, which runs Norwegian owner SD Standard Drilling's platform supply vessel fleet.

Outlining his hypothesis, Fletcher says some companies are being left hamstrung in the current market: under pressure from lenders to fix ships often at soft rates on medium to long-term deals to deliver earnings.