Task Subsea, a new subsea services company set up by former Hallin Marine boss John Giddens and M3 Marine's Mike Meade, officially kicked off yesterday with the launch of diving support vessel Southern Star.

The vessel, built at China's Fujian Mawei Shipyard, will commence operations in Southeast Asia in January on a five year bareboat charter.

During the launch ceremony, Giddens commented, "At the outset we decided to build a technically advanced, cost effective vessel whilst working closely with the charterer from the start.

"Those decisions have been vindicated by the economic challenges that face our industry today as a result of low oil prices and the general slowdown in the marine industry."

On whether more new vessels are on the way for Tasik Subsea, Meade said, "Tasik will order further units when the market conditions are right, which is not now."

However, new orders may not be too far off. Meade said that the pure play diving support vessel sector numbers only around 80 vessels globally, with over 50% of the fleet being over 30 years old.

"With each vessel being bespoke the market can absorb new tonnage. Further, the order book for this class on paper numbers nearly 20 units however during this crisis we have only seen half that number being made effective," Meade explained.