Charles Fabrikant and partners’ start in shipowning 27 years ago was in the wake of an infamous industry-wide downturn, which allowed them to buy their first 36 offshore support vessels (OSVs) for a song.

The fire-sale price averaged out at only $1.38m per ship and now the company is one of the largest OSV owners, with a tangible book value on the group of $1.2bn.

That