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Bourbon to invest $92.4m in digitalisation of supply vessel fleet

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Market leading offshore marine player Bourbon is reorganizing its business into three units under a new action plan #BourbonInMotion and investing EUR75m ($92.4m) in the digistalisation of its Bourbon Marine & Logistics fleet.

The new strategy will see Bourbon divided into three distinct businesses – Bourbon Marine & Logistics, Bourbon Subsea Services and Bourbon Mobility.

Each entity will have its own strategy with management structure reporting to the board of directors.

Setting out a key priority under the action plan Bourbon will gear up the fleet of marine & logistics division for the digital revolution investing EUE75m in connecting 132 modern supply, vessels which the company has dubbed its “smart fleet”.

Meanwhile Bourbon will dispose of 41 out 65 vessels from its traditional fleet, or “non-smart fleet”, with expected impairment losses in the company’s 2017 financial statements. The company expects a net loss of EUR600m for 2017, compared to a net loss of EUR279.6m in the previous year.

"As the market cycle has bottomed out, BOURBON must focus more than ever on operational excellence, fleet utilisation rates, cost reduction program and free cash flow preservation,” said Gaël Bodénès, ceo of Bourbon.

“However, we need to go even further, because market overcapacity is driving prices down sustainably and we believe that tomorrow will look very different from yesterday. The crisis has highlighted the need to change our model and this is what the #BourbobInMotion plan is all about."