I wrote yesterday's discussion of OSVs not for its own sake (it is not likely that I managed to warn off anyone who was genuinely considering an investment in this loser of an asset) -- but to make a point about supply. The supply of X in general is not "the amount of X that is present on the face of the earth at a particular time." It is "the amount of X that will be brought to market and sold to a buyer at any given price along a range of possible prices." This is what is expressed as the Supply line on a S-D graph. You see a supply curve on the graph above. The quantity of such vessels (in terms of hours in use -- because the vessels are generally chartered by the oil companies working the rigs from the ship owners by the hour) that would be made available to a buyer (charterer) is the X axis. The price AT WHICH that quantity would be supplied is the Y axis. The line curves upward to the right -- that is, the higher the price/charter rate oil companie...
