Shipbuilding News April 2010

Bollinger delivers first of 234s

Bollinger Shipyards, of Lockport, La., has delivered the first of three 234-foot supply boats to BeeMar LLC, of Houston. The yard had previously delivered five 210-foot supply boats to the same customer. "We should have the other two in our fleet by mid-summer," said Darrel Plaisance, vice president of operations for BeeMar. 

All eight of these vessels feature Tier 2 Cummins engines. 

 

Halter adds to BoTruc fleet

VT Halter Marine, of Pascagoula, Miss., has delivered one of two DP-2 230-by-56-by-18-foot platform supply vessels to L&M BoTruc Rental, Inc., of Golden Meadow, La. The contract for both vessels was $45 million to $50 million. The second vessel will join the Bo-Truc fleet in the fourth quarter of 2010. BoTruc, one of the first suppliers of offshore vessels, also has had two of its 191-foot vessels repowered. The company generally does not name its vessels after family members and these two vessels will simply be called BoTruc 40 and BoTruc 41

 

Thoma-Sea building for Bordelon

Wes Bordelon, president of Bordelon Marine, in Lockport, La., has announced that Thoma-Sea Ship Builders, also of Lockport will build a 220-foot DP-2 supply boat for the company. No other details have been announced.

 

Kvichak Industries to build foil-assisted patrol boat

A third generation all-aluminum catamaran patrol boat is under construction at Kvichak Marine Industries, of Seattle. Based on a Kvichak design, the 57.7-foot vessel has multi-mission capabilities, including fast response patrol boat, survey boat, crew boat and general marine purposes.

Called Gen III, the vessel will be powered by a pair of Scania 691-hp engines enabling the vessel to travel at 31.5 knots fully loaded and will include a Northern Lights 12-kW genset. Delivery is October 2010. No customer was announced. 

 

Allied delivers Crosby Spirit

Allied Shipyard Inc., of Larose and Golden Meadow, La., has announced the repower and delivery of Crosby Spirit to Crosby Tugs Inc., of Galliano, La. Crosby has a fleet of 86 tugs and pushboats. Allied repowered the vessel with Caterpillar C-18 Tier 2 engines, the second tug to receive this propulsion package for Crosby this year. 

 "We were able to get 100 extra horsepower out of this pushboat, now 1,200 hp, with the new engines and bigger propellers," said Kurt Crosby, owner of Crosby Tugs. 

 

Dakota Creek working on third Candies IMR

Dakota Creek Industries, of Anacortes, Wash., is working on a third Inspection, Maintenance and Repair (IMR) vessel for Otto Candies LLC, of Des Allemands, La. Dakota Creek has built Grant Candies and Ross Candies during the past two years.  Now they have Cade Candies under construction. "It will be a sister ship to the Ross Candies that is a little longer and more powerful than the Grant Candies," said Brett Candies, vice president of sales and traffic for Candies. "As with the other two vessels, Dakota Creek will finish all but the top side equipment, which will be done here at our Candies Shipbuilders yard in Houma, La.," Candies added. 

 

Gulf Craft finishing second 190 for Seacor

The second of the four 190-by-34-foot crew/supply vessels Gulf Craft LLC, of Patterson, La., is finishing for Seacor Marine, of Houston, will be delivered in May, according to Scotty Tibbs, comptroller for Gulf Craft. 

The DP-2 vessels will hold 97 passengers and a crew of eight. Power is five KTA-50 engines by Cummins with a total hp of 9,000. A pair of Cummins 99-kW gensets is also a part of the engine package. A 400-hp retractable bow thruster will aid maneuverability. 

The vessel will feature 3,164 square feet of cargo space on the rear main deck.

 

Nassco lays keel for T-AKE 

General Dynamics Nassco, of San Diego, Calif., has laid the keel of the 12th ship of the Lewis and Clark series of dry cargo ammunition ships (T-AKE). It will be named after the inventor of the Sidewinder missile, William McLean.

Construction of the vessel began in September 2009. Delivery to the Navy is expected in the third quarter of 2011. USNS William McLean will be used by the Navy's Military Sealift Command to stage U.S. Marine Corps equipment.  

 

Two Bollinger Shipyards work to redeliver ATB

Bollinger Shipyards Inc., of Lockport, La., used two of its 12 shipyards to rework both a barge and a tug simultaneously to convert them into an articulated tug/barge unit. 

Barge B. No.235 was taken out of service and delivered to Bollinger's Amelia shipyard, where the Intercon connection system was installed along with a full ballast system. Regulatory docking and permitting was also done. It was returned as a 483-by-80-by-36-foot ATB asphalt-capable tank barge. 

At the same time, the tug J. George Betz was delivered to the Bollinger Algiers facility, where the Interon coupler system was installed and the vessel's electronics suite upgraded and regulatory docking and permitting accomplished. The 127-by-37-by-20-foot tug has 6,140 hp and will be able to lock onto the barge via the Intercon coupler system.

In other Bollinger news, the shipyard held a keel laying ceremony for the first of the 154-foot Sentinel-class patrol boats for the U.S. Coast Guard. The April 9 ceremony featured Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, U.S. Sens. David Vitter and Mary Landrieu and U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen. 

 

Chesapeake Shipbuilding launches tug 

The fourth of six tugboats being built by Chesapeake Shipbuilding, of Salisbury, Md., was launched in March. 

Owned by Vane Brothers of Baltimore, the 94-by-32-foot tug was named Quantico Creek and features twin Caterpillar 3512 diesel engines rated at a total of 3,000 hp and a single-drum JonRie hydraulic winch.

Charles Burton, the third of the six tugs, was delivered a few weeks before Quantico Creek was launched.

 

Newport News shipyard fires seven for drug use

Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News, Va., shipyard has fired seven workers after a weeklong company investigation showed drug use, sales or possession by those employees on company property. Many of the workers were associated with the shipyard's training center.

The union representing the majority of the hourly workers, United Steelworkers of America Local 8888, is assisting several of the workers to file grievances against the company. The probe is ongoing and should be completed shortly, a union spokesperson said.

 
 

About the Author:

Larry Pearson has been covering the maritime industry since 1981. His work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including Marine Log, Diesel Progress, WorkBoat, Professional Mariner and American Ship Review. He published his own magazine, Passenger Vessel News, from 1991 to 1998. A graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in journalism and a minor in mechanical engineering, he lives in the New Orleans area.

By Professional Mariner Staff