Update
INlAND • COASTAl OFFShORE • DEEPSEA
Artist’s rendering of dump scows that will be built at BAe Systems in Mobile, Al
biz NOTES p+S fileS for inSolvency
U.S. Gulf shipyards get boost from GlDD
G
reat Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp., Oak Brook, IL, has signed a contract with shipbuilder Signal International, Inc., Mobile, AL, for the construction of a 15,000-cubic-yard-capacity trailing suction hopper barge and 14,000-horsepower tug. Together, the two units will function as an articulated tug and barge (AT/B) trailing suction hopper dredge that will be the largest hopper dredge in the U.S. Great Lakes has also contracted with BAE Systems in Mobile, to build two new high-capacity material dump scows for delivery in 2013 with an option to build two additional units also with delivery in 2013. The scows will be used primarily on capital deepening and coastal restoration work on the East and Gulf coasts. These two new scows,
with a cost of $17 million, will each have a carrying capacity of 7,700 cubic yards of dredged material. Signal International will perform the detail design and construct the AT/B dredge in Orange, TX, based on a patent pending engineered design and performance specification provided by Great Lakes. The aggregate cost of the initial dredge is expected to be $94 million (see Rethinking the Platform Supply Vessel” on p. 8 for more details). The new dredge, with a hopper capacity of 15,000 cubic yards, applies well-known and proven AT/B technology to hopper dredging. The dredge will feature two 36-inch suction pipes and will be able to dredge at depths of up to 125 feet. Even with a maximum
load it will only have a draft of 28 feet, the best carrying-capacity-to-draft ratio in the U.S. dredging industry. The recently enacted RESTORE act provides for funding to ensure the important Gulf Coast coastal and barrier island restoration is performed as expeditiously as possible. The Great Lakes dredge will be a key tool in performing the restoration of the eroded land mass in the Gulf Coast States. Additionally, the vessel’s ability to cost-effectively deepen and maintain navigable waterways will bolster the United States’ competitive position in world trade, as U.S. ports move forward with deepening plans to accommodate the larger vessels, which will sail through the expanded Panama Canal to be completed in 2015.
Despite having a relatively full order book, P+S WERFTEN found itself filing for insolvency. The company is the latest in a long line of German shipbuilders making the filing. The move came days after the German Federal Chancellor declared there would be no m o r e f e d e ra l aid to help tide the shipbuilder over as it attempted to negotiate a restructing plan. Commenting on the filing, CEO of P+S WERFTEN, Rüdiger Fuchs says, “We have explored all options in our attempts to reach a solution,” however it became clear that it was “not possible to reach an out-of-court solution supported by all stakeholder groups.” According to reports, the yards’ employees will receive three months net wages.
Surveyor gets jail time for lying to U.S. coast Guard A MIAMI-BASED SHIP surveyor was sentenced late last month for lying to the U.S. Coast Guard and for falsely certifying that inspections had been performed on two ships in 2009. The inspections were supposed to confirm that the ships were seaworthy and did not pose a threat to the crew or the environment. The surveyor, Alejandro Gonzalez, 60, of Miami-Dade County, FL, was sentenced 6 MArine loG SEPTEMBER 2012
in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida to 21 months in prison. On May 24, a federal jury found Gonzalez guilty of lying to a Coast Guard inspector and a federal agent about the dry docking of the M/V Cala Galdana, a 68-meter cargo vessel, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in April 2009 and December 2009. Coast Guard inspectors in San Juan discovered the vessel taking on water in August
2008 and requested the last dry docking of the vessel. Gonzalez repeatedly claimed that the vessel had been dry docked in Colombia in 2006. Evidence at the trial proved conclusively that the vessel was never in Colombia during 2006. Gonzalez was also convicted of falsifying documents for the cargo vessel M/V Cosette. As the surveyor on behalf of Bolivia, Gonzalez certified the ship as safe for
sea while the vessel was docked in Fort Pierce, FL, in November 2009. When the vessel shortly thereafter arrived in New York Harbor, Coast Guard inspectors discovered exhaust and fuel pouring into the engine room, endangering the crew and the ship. For his action, Gonzalez was convicted of making a false statement and obstructing a Coast Guard Port State Control examination. www.marinelog.com