WorkBoat June 2019

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IN BUSINESS ON THE COASTAL AND INLAND WATERS

JUNE 2019

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KMD Marine’s 800-hp towboat Ponca on the Intracoastal Waterway JUNE 2019 • VOLUME 76, NO. 6

in Sunset Beach, N.C. Photo by Mark D. Head

FEATURES 26 In Business: Potomac Fever Potomac Riverboat continues to invest in new vessels and expands its services in the Washington, D.C., area.

28 Vessel Report: Machine IQ Reducing accidents are a big selling point of AI systems.

32 Cover Story: Yearbook • Shipyards are staying busy with new work • For tugs, the quest for even more power and efficiency continues • Inland barge companies work through tough operating conditions • Another strong year for passenger vessel operators • The offshore energy market appears to be strengthening, but it has yet to reach the bottom line

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BOATS & GEAR 34 On the Ways • Derecktor Shipyards launches $2.8 million hybrid freighter • First vessel in almost 40 years for Interlake Steamship underway at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding • Washburn & Doughty to build Tier 4 tugs for Moran • Damen launches two passenger/vehicle road ferries for BC Ferries • Vigor building a pair of 55' pilot boats for Los Angeles

36 Light Keeper LED lights are getting smaller, brighter and more efficient.

AT A GLANCE 8 8 9 10 10 12 14

NEWS LOG 16 16 17 18 17 24

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On the Water: Open door policy — Part V. Captain’s Table: Hold rec boaters to higher standards.

Energy Level: The oil market and the Trump effect.

WB Stock Index: Stocks rise 4% in April.

Inland Insider: Book contains interesting towboat pilot narratives.

Insurance Watch: Proactive risk management can pay off.

Legal Talk: Be careful when ending maintenance and cure benefits.

Inland waterways industry seeks new cost-sharing funding formula.

Court ruling delays Interior’s offshore leasing plan.

Marad grant awarded to Louisiana container on barge service. $746 million icebreaker contract awarded to VT Halter.

Coast Guard warns mariners over marijuana use.

New Coast Guard memorial dedicated in New Jersey.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

DEPARTMENTS 2 6 54 59 60

Editor’s Watch Mail Bag Port of Call Advertisers Index WB Looks Back

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Editor’sWatch

Just the good news

O

POWER FORWARD

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the 2019 edition of the largest commercial marine tradeshow in North America.

Registration for the 2019 Show opens this summer!

ur annual Yearbook report on the industry that we publish each June (see page 38) usually contains positives and negatives.

Though some (especially those still waiting for the offshore sector to crank it up again) may disagree, I see only positive signs this year.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room — the offshore market. Many in the oil and gas sector say that not much has changed in the five years since the downturn began. While that may be true when looking strictly at the bottom line, several industry chiefs say the outlook, even in the short term, looks bright.

In his May earnings call with analysts, Todd Hornbeck of Hornbeck Offshore Services said that “a recovery should begin to take shape” by midyear. Hornbeck sees several positive signs, such as rigs being mobilized and working across the Gulf of Mexico, the number of final investment decisions (FIDs) projected to be at its highest levels since 2013, and a growing backlog of rig contracts, some extending into 2020.

The other main industry sectors that we cover, now that inland operators are in a better position, all appear to be on firm ground.

Shipyards outside the Gulf are busy, and even in that region, business has improved. Gulf yards are no longer waiting for that next big offshore service vessel contract. Instead, they continue to diversify, which is key to their survival.

“Bidding has been robust,” Chris Vaccari of Gulf Island Shipyards, Houma, La., said late last year, “and none of it oil and gas.”

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The tug sector remains active, upgrading the fleet in response to new demands in the market. The need for more bollard pull and lower emissions is fueling a trend in the tug market toward hybrid power.

On the inland waterways, tank barge operators enjoyed strong demand to move several commodities such as crude oil, refined petroleum products and biofuels.

And the ferry sector is an especially strong part of a booming passenger vessel market that’s building, refurbishing and expanding on inland and coastal waters. We continue to see positive signs everywhere.

dkrapf@divcom.com

WORKBOAT® (ISSN 0043-8014) is published monthly by Diversified Business Communications and Diversified Publications, 121 Free St., P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112-7438. Editorial Office: P.O. Box 1348, Mandeville, LA 70470.

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3/6/19 8:45 AM

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EDITOR IN CHIEF

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www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Series 9100 Digital Communication System installed on the new 13M ZH-1300 OB Interceptor demo boat from Zodiac Hurricane

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Six ways to improve New York’s NYC Ferry

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ecently, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer hammered the city’s oversight of the NYC Ferry and blocked the city’s purchase of 19 new vessels. The Citizens Budget Commission documented an alarming per-ride operating subsidy of $10.73.

Ferries support growth on our former

industrial waterfront, strengthen our emergency preparedness and create jobs plus recreational and educational experiences. They reduce traffic congestion and enhance the city’s image as a place to live, work and visit so it’s imperative that we fix the problems.

Here are six ways to improve NYC Ferry: • Change the oversight. The city’s Economic Development Corp., which

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planned and manages the service, should step aside as the lead agency and turn the job over to experienced professionals. The city’s Department of Transportation operates the Staten Island Ferry, the world's busiest passenger-only ferry service. It should oversee NYC Ferry.

• Revise the fare structure. The former East River ferry cost $4 on weekdays and $6 on weekends, operating on a modest $1.63 per-ride subsidy.

NYC Ferry should be priced with trip length a factor, rather than matching the subway fare.

• Charge tourists more. Residents of Venice can buy low-cost monthly passes for the city’s vaporetto service on the main canals. Tourists must buy more expensive day passes, as they should on NYC Ferry and the Staten Island Ferry.

• Modify the schedules. Slowing operating speeds by 5% to 10% would save fuel, ease crew fatigue and reduce breakdowns, maintenance and capital replacement costs.

• Require concessionaires to own the ferries. One model that could be emulated is the National Park Service, which is restricted to 10-year concession agreements and mandates that winning bidders must buy assets from operators they replace.

• Integrate ferries with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as private ferry operators have requested for the past two decades.

The city has invested heavily in NYC Ferry. The payoff should be great. To succeed, it must be modeled after systems that have worked and be operated only by experienced maritime professionals.

Editor’s note: Fox serves on the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association board. He was a founding partner of New York Water Taxi and president of Interferry, an international trade association.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

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On the Water

Open door policy — Part V

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By Joel Milton

Joel Milton works on towing vessels.

He can be reached at joelmilton@ yahoo.com.

hen reading the tight narrative in the NTSB’s marine accident report about the 1,800-hp towboat Ricky J. Leboeuf (https://www. ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/ MAB1704.pdf), you’ll quickly sense the inevitability of the tragedy.

The ingredients included major flood conditions, multiple warnings, the policies and procedures in place, the entire crew’s apparent awareness of all the elements in play and their presumed preparedness to meet the challenge.

And yet it all added up to an F-minus in execution when everything was on the line. And that’s the nature of the downstreaming game. Once you are fully committed to the maneuver, whether it was right or wrong to even attempt it, you either execute or you don’t. There are no partial successes in such critical circumstances. It’s important to note that aborting successfully while still under control because you don’t like what you see is OK. It’s a sign of experience and wisdom.

Captain’s Table Spring means boating safety

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By Capt. Alan Bernstein

Alan Bernstein, owner of BB Riverboats in Cincinnati, is a licensed master and a former president of the Passenger Vessel Association. He can be reached at 859-292-2449 or abernstein@ bbriverboats.com.

8

ith the spring navigation season and the annual celebration of Safe Boating Week, I thought it would be timely to talk about boating safety.

Over the past several years, I have grown increasingly concerned by the lack of general boating knowledge by recreational boaters. The abuse of alcohol and other substances while operating recreational watercraft further complicates this growing problem.

As a mariner since 1970, I have witnessed incidents and avoided many others that involve recreational boaters and commercial vessels. Based on my experience, I believe that an untold number of accidents have been avoided because of the knowledge and proficiency of licensed mariners.

At the same time, U.S. commercial vessel operators continue to attain high levels of safety through rigorous training and far-reaching government regulation.

So, shouldn’t recreational boaters also be held to a high standard of proficiency and knowledge?

The following is an example of a lack of wisdom. “According to interviews with other crewmembers, the relief captain was fully aware of the risks associated with performing the downstreaming maneuver in the prevailing conditions, the company’s SMS policy and requirements that were in place to manage the risk, and caution advisories issued by both the company and VTS Houston/Galveston. Yet the relief captain decided to attempt the maneuver despite the risks and without consulting the vessel’s captain or the company port captain, as required by company policy.”

So, you ask, why are there no direct answers?

It’s because the “relief captain refused to be interviewed by both the NTSB and the Coast Guard, thus investigators could not determine what factors, reasoning, and logic he considered before attempting the maneuver without implementing or adhering to any of the established safety precautions.”

It’s not really surprising. What was he possibly going to say? As for reasoning and logic, it’s doubtful there was any. For no apparent reason he threw caution to the wind and made an impulsive decision to go for it — a decision that cost someone his life.

For the good of the boating public nationwide, it would be a positive step forward if all recreational boaters were required to have some form of license or at a minimum carry proof that they have passed a training course which, among other things, covers the rules-of-the-road. While I recognize that this might be difficult to administer, it would be a positive step forward that would help to avoid future accidents.

Our nation has taken solid steps to regulate motor vehicles. States are responsible for testing and issuing licenses to citizens in order to operate motor vehicles. So, have we reached the point that the same should be done for recreational boaters? Should they be better educated and possibly regulated more stringently? I believe the U.S. has reached this point and it is necessary to begin discussing how we can most efficiently improve the proficiency of recreational boaters and, as a result, protect everyone who operates on the water.

Whether aboard a towboat, a commercial passenger vessel or a recreational vessel, our waterways are for everyone to use and enjoy. But we must make a national investment in safety by broadening the education and training of the recreational boating community. www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

18-Aug 18-Sep Oct-18 WORKBOAT GOM INDICATORS 18-Nov Dec-18 FEB. '19 WTI Crude Oil 56.95 Jan-19 Baker Hughes 22 19-FebRig Count IHS OSV19-Mar Utilization 30.7% U.S. Oil Apr-19 Production (millions bpd) 12.1

Energy Level

Sources: Baker-Hughes; IHS Markit; U.S. EIA

Oil and the Trump effect

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APR. '18 67.61 18 25.5% 10.6

*Estimated

GOM RIG COUNT

By Bill Pike, Correspondent

GOM Rig Count

A

year ago, President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran and restored economic sanctions on the country in November. He simultaneously granted six-month waivers to eight countries to continue importing limited quantities of crude oil from Iran.

Although the global oil market expected Washington to extend the waivers for five of the countries, the Trump administration said that any country that continues to import oil from Iran will be subject to U.S. sanctions beginning on May 2. When combined with other factors, the decision to eliminate Iranian oil exports has caused oil prices to jump since the start of the year.

As of April 26, WTI prices have surged about 40%, with Brent prices up approximately 34%.

This has been good news for many sectors of the oil and gas industry. The offshore service vessel sector’s April 2019 OSV term utilization stood at 30.3%, up from 25.5% in April 2018, according to IHS Markit.

But there is cause for concern.

The unrest in Libya could result in a disruption in the country’s oil supply.

While the country has not experienced a disruption of supply yet, Stephen Brennock, oil analyst at PVM Oil Associates, told CNBC via email that he suspects “it is a matter of when not if.

Needless to say, the oil market is currently experiencing a supply deficit and any further reduction in supplies from Libya and Iran would cause the market to overtighten and prices to overshoot.”

Maybe, in the short term. But then there is OPEC (or OPEC+, an alliance of OPEC and non-OPEC members that will likely act together on this issue).

OPEC+ is working to keep 1.2 million bbls. per day (bpd) off the market through June, following a collapse in crude prices at the end of 2018, according to a CNBC analysis. If OPEC+ con-

MAR. '19 59.29 23 31.4% 12.1*

16 18 18 23 24 APR. '19 1965.66 22 21 2330.3% 2112.2*

30 25 20 15 10

4/18

4/19

5 0

1

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3

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tinues to withhold oil from the market, it will stimulate the current price surge and drive other producers to increase their supply, lowering the oil price at

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

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the cost of OPEC+’s market share. It is likely, therefore, that OPEC+ will be spurred to increase oil exports.

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WorkBoat Composite Index Stocks up 4% in April

T

he WorkBoat Composite Index was back in the black in April after losing ground in March. For the month, the Index gained 81 points, or 4%, with gainers topping losers by more than 2-1.

Transocean was down 10% during the month but was bullish about the market during its April 30 first quarter conference call. Over the past STOCK CHART

early stages of a recovery in the ultradeepwater markets around the world,” Jeremy Thigpen, Transocean’s president and CEO told analysts.

“Focusing in on the markets around the world, in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for the first time since the start of the downturn, we are engaged in conversations with multiple customers around upcoming projects which would require incremental rigs in the region,” Thigpen said. “Additionally, since announcing that we were recently awarded the industry’s first ultra-deepwater 20,000 PSI drilling work, we have been approached by other operators to explore similar opportunities.”

Thigpen added that industrywide, “as confidence grows in our ability to exceed drilling plans and reduce break-even levels, our customers are increasing the number of economically viable targets they are considering for activity.” — David Krapf

15 months, the world’s second largest offshore drilling contractor added five high specification harsh environment semisubmersibles and nine high specification ultra-deepwater drillships to its fleet.

Thus, “we believe that we are uniquely positioned to continue to benefit from the recovery in the harsh environment markets and to take advantage of what we believe to be the Source: FinancialContent Inc. www.financialcontent.com

INDEX NET COMPARISONS 3/29/19 4/30/19 CHANGE Operators 328.75 328.64 -0.11 Suppliers 3349.07 3491.42 142.35 Shipyards 2594.51 2778.55 184.03 Workboat Composite 2020.30 2101.35 81.05 PHLX Oil Service Index 94.73 92.96 -1.77 Dow Jones Industrials 25928.68 26592.91 664.23 Standard & Poors 500 2834.40 2945.83 111.43 For the complete up-to-date WorkBoat Stock Index, go to: workboat.com/resources/tools/workboat-composite-index/

PERCENT CHANGE -0.03% 4.25% 7.09% 4.01% -1.87% 2.56% 3.93%

Inland Insider

Collection of brownwater pilot narratives is a winner

By Ken Hocke, Senior Editor

I

t took author, photographer and artist Melody Golding more than 10 years to put together her new book, “Life Between the Levees: America’s Riverboat Pilots.” During that decade, she interviewed more than 100 river pilots. The book is a collection of their first-person narratives along with 130 of the author’s, sometimes stunning, photos.

This is more than a compilation of interesting, historical and often laugh-out-loud recollections of “river rats.” It’s a love story from the wife of Golding Barge Line’s Steve Golding.

In fact, the book is dedicated to him.

She writes, “This book I affectionately dedicate to my husband and true-life river man, Steve Golding, without whose expertise, unending support, and encouragement, it would never have been written.”

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The book includes stories from the 1920s until today, with remembrances from towboat, tug and passenger vessel pilots, the oldest of whom was born in 1917 and the youngest in the 1980s.

The early pilots experienced the transition from steam to diesel, while the youngest grew up in the era of GPS. Perhaps the book’s most endearing quality is the authentic storytelling of these pilots. One gets the sense the stories would be told the same way in a barroom or at a kitchen table.

One tells the story of Capt. Gene Neal, who started his career in 1956.

At 15, he worked during his summer vacation aboard a boat called the Templeton, owned by Capt. (no first name given) Templeton. “He was a tremendous size man. He was tall and wide and thick … so big he couldn’t get on the boat like other people. The last time I remember him getting on a boat, he went down on the old wharf

barge. He was so big they had a seat made for him on this crane, and it would pick him up and then sit him over on the front deck of the boat.”

Life Between the The book Levees: America’s is a great Riverboat Pilots companion to have around

By Melody Golding to pick up and University Press of read an entry Mississippi, $50 or two at a time.

“I traveled thousands of miles to interview my pilots and went all over the Inland Waterway System to many towns and ports in my quest,” Golding writes in her foreword, “climbing aboard vessels, and carrying my backpack, cameras, recording gear, and lifejacket. It has been well worth the trek.”

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

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Insurance Watch Risk management resources

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By Chris Richmond

Chris Richmond is a licensed mariner and marine insurance agent with Allen Insurance and Financial. He can be reached at 800-439-4311 or crichmond@ allenif.com

our insurance premium is directly affected by your claim history. Proactive use of training opportunities available through your insurance company or a maritime association can save you a lot of money.

Loss control is a big item for insurance companies. Call it enlightened self-interest. By helping you minimize claims (which in turn keeps your premium down), the insurance company keeps money in its own pocket. Whether the information is provided to you in person, online or in print, your insurance company can provide you with practical solutions to help create a safer workplace and reduce accidents.

While your company’s health and safety officer may be dealing with a potential safety issue for the first time, most likely your insurance company has seen this before and is happy to offer some suggestions and training. Don’t be afraid to reach out and engage these very valuable resources. The com-

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mon refrain of “I don’t want my insurance agent to know about this,” is not going to protect you after a claim has occurred. In fact, the exact opposite can be the case, where an on-site inspection can lead to better and safer practices which help prevent claims and in turn help keep your premium down.

And don’t forget about resources available to you outside of your insurance provider. Many state maritime associations offer training at minimal charge. Industry experts instruct classes which can be very relevant to your operation.

A quick look at my own state’s maritime association shows it offers classes in: • OSHA 10 Training Maritime Industry • Hydraulic Trailer Safety Training • Waterfront First Aid • Crane Safety • Fork Truck Driving One bonus to this type of workplace education is the benefit it provides your workforce — a safe workplace. We all know the challenges with securing a strong and dependable workforce. This seems to be a particular challenge in the marine industry these days.

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Legal Talk

Terminating maintenance and cure benefits

A

By Daniel J. Hoerner

Daniel J. Hoerner is a maritime attorneywith Mouledoux, Bland, Legrand & Brackett LLC. He can be reached at 504-595-3000 or dhoerner@mblb. com.

fundamental right of seamen is maintenance and cure benefits.

A shipowner owes the seaman these benefits without regard to fault if he is injured or becomes ill while in the service of the vessel. It provides the seaman with a daily living allowance and reasonable and necessary medical treatment for the duration of his recovery.

Maintenance and cure ends when a seaman reaches maximum medical improvement (MMI).

This is when the seaman recovers from an injury or his condition permanently stabilizes or cannot be further improved with additional medical treatment. MMI is a medical, not legal, determination.

When the nature or extent of an injury or illness is in question, the vessel owner or employer can have a seaman evaluated by a doctor of its choice to assess their condition and address what if any

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treatment might be needed. Often, the treating physician and the vessel owner’s doctor disagree on the appropriate course of care for an injury or illness. However, the vessel owner/employer should proceed with caution before relying solely on the opinion of one doctor over another in deciding to terminate maintenance and cure.

Courts are very protective of a seaman’s right to maintenance and cure. The law recognizes that any ambiguities or doubts regarding the entitlement to these benefits must be resolved in favor of the seaman. If benefits are terminated without “unequivocal justification,” the vessel owner can face a host of additional liabilities. The general maritime law recognizes that a shipowner can be held liable for compensatory damages for any harm the seaman suffers as a result of an unreasonable denial or termination of maintenance and cure.

If the vessel owner is found to be “arbitrary and capricious” or “willful or callous” in its denial of benefits, it can be liable for punitive damages and attorney’s fees, in addition to having to pay maintenance and cure and any additional compensatory damages.

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NEWS LOG NEWS BITTS COURT RULING PAUSES TRUMP OFFSHORE LEASING PLANS

Corps of Engineers/Mark Wise

S

A catamaran barge transporting a shell for the tainter gate dam of the Olmsted Locks and Dam project in 2012.

Inland advocates renew push for lock and dam funding

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ith the White House and lawmakers talking about potentially $2 trillion in new infrastructure spending, barge operators and users of the inland waterways are urging Congress to adopt a new cost-sharing formula that would make more money available for lock and dam construction.

The Inland Waterways Trust Fund, which pays for new lock and dam construction, is currently financed through a 50-50 match between diesel tax revenues paid by the inland barge industry, and funds from the U.S. Treasury. Money is then dispersed to priority construction projects along the inland river system managed by the Corps of Engineers.

In 2014, through the Water Resources Reform and Development Act, that formula was revised to a temporary 15% contribution from industry and 85% from federal funds. The goal was to speed completion of the Olmsted

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Locks and Dam on the Ohio River, which was greatly over budget and behind schedule largely due to funding lapses from Congress. At the same time, the barge industry agreed to a 45% increase in the diesel fuel tax to further boost the IWTF. “This policy change led to significant progress,” said Peter Stephaich, chairman and CEO, Campbell Transportation, Houston, Pa., and chair of the board of directors of the Waterways Council Inc., a Washington-based waterways advocacy group funded by the barge industry.

Olmsted opened last August, he said, and construction has resumed on three other priority navigation projects along the Lower Monongahela River in Pennsylvania, the Kentucky Lock and the Chickamauga Lock in Tennessee. In addition, a major rehabilitation of the LaGrange Lock on the Illinois Waterways was started.

tung by a federal court decision in Alaska last month, Trump administration officials are putting a hold on ambitious plans to greatly expand offshore oil and gas leasing.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on April 25, recently confirmed Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt said new leasing plans for the East and West coasts and Alaska will likely be delayed while a March 29 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason winds its way through the appeals process.

Sitting in Anchorage, Alaska, Gleason ruled that former President Obama’s 2015 and 2016 withdrawals of offshore lands from leasing consideration could only be revoked by an act of Congress.

Critics including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, argue Gleason erred in concluding that President Trump does not have constitutional authority to reinstate lease areas, and urged the administration to pursue appeals up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

“By the time the court rules, that may be discombobulating to our plan," Bernhardt told the Wall Street Journal.

The pause was not unanticipated, said Randall Luthi, president of the National Offshore Industries Association.

NOIA wants Interior to still evaluate the option of moving ahead with a proposed plan. “A hard stop negates months of environmental and economic analysis that could be used to move the plan forward,” said Luthi.

East Coast drilling opponents welcomed news of a delay.

“If a new five-year plan is being delayed, so should any permits for seismic airgun blasting.” said Frank Knapp Jr., president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce.

— Kirk Moore

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

But now that Olmsted is finished, the funding formula will return to its original 50-50 split, and this has barge operators and their customers worried that progress toward modernization of the aging inland waterways system will again slow down.

Speaking April 10 before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing, Stephaich urged Congress to adopt the same 25%-75% cost-share model that is now used for construction funding for deep-draft ports.

“With Olmsted soon to be in the rearview mirror, and the Lower Monongahela project expected to be funded to completion this fiscal year in the fiscal 2020 appropriations bill, it is time to start looking toward the next round of inland waterways modernization investments,” said Stephaich, whose company operates 50 towboats and over 1,100 barges along the Ohio River.

NEWS BITTS MARAD AWARDS $3.2 MILLION FOR LOUISIANA CONTAINER ON BARGE SERVICE

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he Maritime Administration awarded the ports of Baton Rouge, La., and New Orleans a $3.2 million Marine Highway Program grant for container on barge (COB) service between the Louisiana ports.

The grant will support the ports’ existing container on barge service, allowing them to purchase vessels that will increase the viability of the service. As Louisiana’s chemical industry continues to grow, the demand for more inland transportation has increased. The barges are essential to increasing the capacity of the shuttle, intermodal efficiency, and reducing costs.

The existing container on barge service currently moves approximately 16,800 FEUs (40' equivalent units) between Memphis, Tenn., Baton Rouge and New Orleans. – Ken Hocke

He said there are currently 15 other high priority projects awaiting construction. Without a policy change, only about $230 million a year would be available for inland modernization, and at this level many of the priority projects would not begin construction in the next 20 years. He called this “an unacceptable situation.”

With a formula change, Stephaich

May 20-22

said the inland navigation program would be able to operate at or above $400 million a year, similar to the level under Olmsted.

“This would accelerate project delivery on the portfolio of critical inland waterways projects,” he said.

At the end of April, Democratic leaders in Congress sat down with President Trump for a discussion of in-

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frastructure needs that both sides called highly productive. The administration had not yet taken a position on how fuel taxes may fit in, and more talks were planned for late May. — Pamela Glass

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he Coast Guard’s long drive to recapitalize its icebreaking capability took a major step forward with the award in April of a $746 million contract to VT Halter Marine Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., for the first polar security cutter (PSC).

The full program could be worth $1.9 billion with the exercise of options to build two additional PSCs, replacements for the 399'×83'6"×31' Polar

The Coast Guard icebreaker Healy conducting joint operations with the Canadian icebreaker Louis St. Laurent in 2009.

NOAA

U.S. Coast Guard awards $746 million icebreaker contract to VT Halter Marine

Star, the last of two heavy icebreakers built in the mid-1970s. The initial contract is for engineering and detail design of the PSC class as well as procurement of long lead-time materials and construction of the first ship.

PSCs will support a wide range of Coast Guard missions including search

and rescue, maritime law enforcement, environmental response, and national defense missions. VT Halter reportedly beat out two other bidders for the contract — Bollinger Shipyards and a partnership between Philly Shipyard and Fincantieri Marinette Marine.

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In the fiscal year 2019 budget, Congress appropriated $655 million to begin construction of a new polar security cutter this year, with another $20 million appropriated for long-lead-time materials to build a second. Construction on the first PSC is planned to begin in 2021 with delivery planned for 2024. However, the contract includes financial incentives for earlier delivery.

If all options are exercised, work will continue through November 2027.

Within days of the contract award the Coast Guard released its new strategic plan for the Arctic, portraying international competition in the high north at levels not seen since the Cold War, driven by both geopolitical change and the region’s shifting climate.

The strategic plan calls for preferring cooperation over competition – but clearly identifies rivals as Russia, with its longstanding commercial and military establishments in the Arctic,

and China as a new player claiming “near-Arctic” status with interests in trade routes and resources.

“China, a non-Arctic state, continues to expand its influence and seeks to gain strategic advantage around the world. China has challenged international law in the East and South China Seas, built islands, and claimed territorial status to suit its national interests,” the report notes. “China’s pattern of behavior in the Indo-Pacific region and its disregard for international law are cause for concern as its economic and scientific presence in the Arctic grows.”

Canada, Denmark and Norway have made new investments in ice-capable patrol ships, as the U.S. lagged in rebuilding its polar fleet. Meanwhile, changing climate is driving the new strategic competition, the report says.

“The warming of the Arctic has led to longer and larger windows of reduced ice conditions. In 2018, Arctic

sea ice remained younger and thinner, and it covered less area than in the past.

The 12 lowest summer minimums in Arctic ice extents in the satellite record have occurred in the last 12 years,” the report notes. “The number of cruise ships, ranging in capacity from 150 to 1,700 passengers, transiting the Arctic continues to rise dramatically, from 120 per year in 2008 to 290 in 2016. Commercial vessel traffic through the region will continue to grow. These routes require access through the relatively narrow and shallow Bering Strait, increasing the risk of a grounding or collision during peacetime and of the strait becoming a strategic choke point during times of conflict.”

Despite apprehension over the future with China and Russia, the Coast Guard plan envisions a multilateral, cooperative future in the Arctic, noting the service’s traditionally productive relationships with its Canadian, Rus-

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“Against the backdrop of great power competition, the polar security cutter is key to our nation’s presence in the polar regions,” said Adm. Karl L. Schultz, commandant of the Coast Guard. “With the strong support of both the Trump administration and the United States Congress, this contract award marks an important step towards building the nation’s full complement of six polar icebreakers to meet the unique mission demands that have emerged from

Coast Guard officials issued a new warning to mariners over marijuana use.

increased commerce, tourism, research, and international activities in the Arctic and Antarctic.”

— David Krapf and Kirk Moore

Coast Guard issues warning on legal marijuana use

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he Coast Guard has a message for mariners about to smoke a joint or use CBD (cannabidiol) oil: Don’t risk your job over it — no matter where you live.

The growing number of states where some form of marijuana is legal prompted the agency to issue a bulletin recently reminding everyone that marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

Ten states and the District of Columbia have approved recreational marijuana for adults, and more than half of all states have OK’d medical marijuana.

“Along with criminal concerns, testing positive for marijuana or any other dangerous drug triggers serious consequences for mariners, including termination of employment, removal from safety sensitive duties and revocation of merchant mariner credentials,” the Coast Guard said. “Even in circumstances where the Coast Guard settles marijuana use cases, mariners are still required to complete rehabilitation and show a year or more of negative drug tests before returning to service.”

Coast Guard and Department of Transportation (DOT) tests identify as dangerous drug users anyone with significant amounts of THC — which produces the high — metabolized into www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Pixabay

sian and other counterparts.

“U.S. interests are best served by working with the eight Arctic nations to ensure common interests, such as maritime safety, environmental stewardship, and sovereignty. The Coast Guard will partner with the Arctic nations, as well as partners and allies with Arctic interests, to keep the Arctic a conflictfree region where international law and respect for sovereignty are upheld,” the report states.

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“While CBD itself will not cause a positive DOT test, CBD products commonly contain psychoactive THC in sufficient amounts to cause a positive drug test,” the Coast Guard said. “Unless and until the drug testing system changes, the best decision a mariner can make is to avoid using marijuana or any products derived from marijuana … The threat to maritime transportation and risk of career disaster are both too great to take the chance.”

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he names of more than 1,700 Coast Guard enlisted who died in the line of duty are inscribed on a granite monument dedicated April 27 at the Coast Guard Training Center Cape May in New Jersey.

The names date to 1915, the year the Revenue Cutter Service and Life Saving Service were merged to create the Coast Guard. Their names, ratings and dates of death include men and women lost in war, and those who gave their lives saving others.

“That is our brand, that is our ethos in action,” said Capt. Owen Gibbons, commander of the training center.

The first memorial to all those lost was eight years in the making with the Coast Guard Enlisted Memorial Foundation, a small volunteer group that with help from Coast Guard leadership raised $450,000.

Foundation president Tom Dougherty, a retired chief petty officer, said the first idea came after the loss of petty officer Shaun Lin, who died during a 2010 law enforcement exercise on the James River in Virginia when he fell while trying to transfer from a 25' small boat to a cutter.

A core of volunteers organized in 2012 began raising money for American Bronze & Stone, Englewood, N.J., to build the memorial. “The openness of the memorial also allows company commanders to bring their recruits here” and instill the ethos of the service, Dougherty said. — K. Moore www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Coast Guard

their systems.

THC can stay lodged in fatty tissue for up to 30 days, or longer for habitual users, Mark Meeker, assistant general counsel at American Maritime Safety Inc., a White Plains, N.Y.-based consortium that administers drug and alcohol testing compliance programs for maritime operators, told WorkBoat. Smoking marijuana leaves inactive THC, which is detected in commonly used urine tests. Blood tests can detect active THC.

Potomac Riverboat Company

Potomac Fever Passenger vessel services ride wave of development in D.C. area.

By Pamela Glass, Washington Correspondent

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he nation’s capital is known as a government town, and the Potomac River just happens to run through it. Without a commercial port on this historic waterway, there’s not much maritime activity here, unless you count paddling around the Tidal Basin, taking a cherry blossom cruise or watching Congress pass an occasional maritime-related bill.

But the Potomac Riverboat Company has found its niche building a passenger vessel business that focuses on sporting events, water taxi services and private charters that meet the growing demand for water transportation in the Washington, D.C., area.

The company’s seven bright yellow water taxis connect Washington and its suburbs with berths at National Harbor, Gaylord Convention Center, Georgetown, Alexandria, Mount Vernon and Nationals Park for baseball games. Its sternwheeler, Cherry Blossom, one of the few working vessels of its kind in the U.S., offers private charters.

EXPANSION, GROWTH Expansion is part of Potomac Riverboat’s business model, encouraged by a burst of waterfront

26

development around Washington and the region’s phenomenal growth that has forced planners to look to the river as a partial solution to the area’s crippling traffic congestion. Clogged highways and overtaxed public transportation systems have made Washington one of the worst cities for commuting in the nation.

In response, Potomac Riverboat has invested $10 million in new vessels and expanded its services. Over the past two years, it added four new 149-passenger, 1,000-hp, 87' high-speed catamarans built by Metal Shark in Louisiana and expanded its water taxi network to more waterfront locations in the suburbs.

Ridership hit 300,000 last year and is expected to exceed that number in 2019, with a mix of commuters, local and out-of-town sightseers, sports fans headed to baseball and soccer games, and those going to events on the National Mall.

On a recent sunny spring morning aboard the 100' Lady Josephine, one of two 11-year-old boats built by the defunct SkipperLiner in Lacrosse, Wis., the passengers were mostly visitors out for a river view of the famed cherry blossoms. www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Pamela Glass

Potomac Riverboat has invested $10 million in new vessels and expanded its services.

Potomac Riverboat Company

Pamela Glass

Founded in 1974 as Potomac Boat Tours, the company was acquired

by Chicago-based Entertainment Cruises in 2016, which also operates sightseeing cruises on the local vessels Odyssey II, Spirit of Washington, Spirit of Mount Vernon, and private yachts National Elite and Capital Elite. Entertainment Cruises is the largest dining cruise company in the U.S. with 48 vessels along the East Coast and in Chicago.

At present, Potomac Riverboat’s operations are seasonal, from March through December. When the Potomac isn’t frozen and there are national events going on at the Mall during the winter months, vessels are put back to work. Boats were busy, for example, during the 2017 and 2019 Women’s March and President Trump’s inauguration in 2017.

“Every vessel is versatile. It can do multiple runs and routes,” said Capt.

Dave Whanger, director of operations.

Operating in the D.C. area has its challenges. Agreements must be made with various municipalities, private developers, the military or the National Park Service for docks. The river is sometimes clogged by debris and winter ice, and it is subject to tidal flooding, shifting tides and no-wake zones.

And D.C. is not an easy place to find trained mariners. “This is not a big marine city like Norfolk, New York or Baltimore, so we’ve created an internal pipeline as the best way to find people and grow them internally,”

Ridership hit 300,000 last year and is expected to exceed that number in 2019.

Whanger said.

Last February, he contracted with a local maritime school to teach a Coast Guard-approved 100-ton master’s license course to 10 of his senior deckhands. “As long as we have the personnel with qualified sea time, we plan to offer this annually,” he added.

This spring is the second full season with all the new taxis operating on the expanded routes, Whanger said. “The taxis are performing great. Last year we had a lot of logs and debris in the river, but there was a major cleanup done to get the debris out of the river this year.”

In addition to the new routes, the company is launching its first dogfriendly Canine Cruises around the seaport of Alexandria, Va. Pets are welcomed free onboard with a paying passenger. The company is also revving up its taxi service to Nationals major league baseball games.

Further opportunities are on the

Many of the company’s passengers are local and out-of-town sightseers.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

horizon, with a new soccer stadium opened along the waterfront, expected growth in tourism, and continued development of the successful District Wharf, D.C.’s newest waterfront neighborhood that is two years old and offers a mix of hotels, residential and retail space, and a theater. There’s also talk of offering water taxi services from nearby National Airport, and possibly adding a dock as part of the renovations of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Meanwhile, local law enforcement and emergency response teams have tapped the company to be part of Washington’s emergency evacuation planning in case of a disaster, and the local fire department trains on their boats.

Washington-area governments also continue to explore investments in ferry services as a way to ease road congestion, with studies completed or underway. Several studies have indicated that the future is promising for commuter water taxi service along the Occoquan, Potomac and Anacostia rivers. But many hurdles remain, especially making the services more cost competitive with the region’s trains, subway and road tolls, creating transportation links from ferry stops, and convincing commuters to swap their cars for a boat ride.

“If we can put 100 people on a boat, we’d be removing 100 cars, and that’s a great service to the roads,” Whagner said. “And besides, it’s a nice way to get home.”

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Artificial Intelligence

Machine IQ

AI developers sell on safety and efficiency.

DARPA

The Navy autonomous vessel Sea Hunter underway in the Pacific Ocean.

By Kirk Moore, Associate Editor

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hen overtired and overextended, even the most experienced and wellequipped mariners can make mistakes.

Examples range from fuel spills when coastal tow operators doze off, to ghastly bluewater accidents like the Navy destroyer Fitzgerald collision with a containership in 2017 that killed seven sailors, despite all the technology on both vessels.

Researchers and companies that are developing artificial intelligence (AI) systems for the maritime sphere are already fielding complete packages to reduce the danger of accidents. Those can enable remote control or autonomous operation of workboats, with missions like security and surveying that can be conducted by an unmanned vessel with human supervision.

In a world where automation eliminates jobs on land, many mariners on the deck plates look skeptically at the promises of AI. Its proponents say it will make their lives safer and more productive.

“A trained captain is very good at operating a vessel. What a human is not good at is keeping focus over a long period,” said Michael Johnson, founder of the maritime AI company Sea Ma-

Metal Shark unveiled its first autonomous patrol/security vessel in fall 2018.

chines based in Boston and Hamburg, Germany.

“A human can track about four things simultaneously,” Johnson said at the 2018 International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans. “Whereas an autonomous computer system is bringing in up to 100 targets, simultaneously looking at the chart, simultaneously looking at the AIS and the (vessel) motion data, so it’s processing a lot more. That’s where it’s bringing real productivity, real value into your operation.

“It needs experienced mariners. We’re not taking away command of the vessel, the human operator remains in control,” said Johnson. “What autonomy does is, it manages a lot of the control, as well as the situational awareness.”

BLUEWATER AI TRIALS Development is ramping up to bluewater operations. In early 2019 the Office of Naval Research’s 132' trimaran Sea Hunter became the first ship to successfully navigate autonomously from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and back.

A joint project between ONR and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the twinwww.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Metal Shark

Sea Machines

Sea Machines now markets complete autonomous/remote control systems for workboats.

The Sea Hunter, a new class of unmanned naval surface ship developed by the Office of Naval Research and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, completed a voyage from San Diego to Hawaii and back, becoming the first ship to navigate the transit autonomously.

DARPA

screw Sea Hunter was conceived as an unmanned platform for minesweeping and anti-submarine operations.

That’s a huge step from a 2016 ONR demonstration in Chesapeake Bay that used autonomous technology to control rigid-hull inflatable boats in a combat simulation.

The Sea Hunter was designed by Leidos, the Reston, Va., science and technology company that started as defense contractor SAIC in the 1960s, and built

by Vigor Industrial at its Portland Ore., facility.

Testing started in 2016, and the Pearl Harbor-San Diego transits were accomplished without a single crewmember onboard, except during brief boardings from an accompanying escort vessel’s crew to check electrical and propulsion systems. Leidos now has a potential $43.5 million contract to build and test the Sea Hunter II, now under construction with delivery

expected in 2020.

Designated a medium displacement unmanned surface vessel (MDUSV), the Sea Hunter is designed to travel for long periods of time at speeds up to 27 knots and execute a variety of missions at a fraction of the cost for a manned ship.

“The recent long-range mission is the first of its kind and demonstrates to the U.S. Navy that autonomy technology is ready to move from the devel-

opmental and experimental stages to advanced mission testing,” said Gerry Fasano, president of Leidos Defense Group.

On the civilian commerce side, Sea Machines is working with A.P. Moller-Maersk to test perception and situational awareness technology aboard a newbuild ice-class containership in northern European waters.

Another startup, Orca AI, Tel Aviv, Israel, is testing its autonomous navi-

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gation system with Ray Car Carriers Ltd. on its pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) fleet.

Orca AI founders Yarden Gross and Dori Raviv started their careers in the Israeli military, with firsthand experience operating in crowded waters of the Mediterranean Sea. It will be some time before mariners believe they will benefit from having a computer helping them, Gross acknowledged.

“It’s going to take time. It’s not there yet in terms of ship owners and ship operators,” said Gross. “Our plan is to build a system that enhances the ability of the crew to navigate the ship.”

The system takes in radar, an automatic identification system (AIS), and a global positioning system (GPS) along with digital visual imaging for low-light and infrared, with the goal of safety in congested waterways and anticipating every potential hazard.

As Orca builds its system, the AI

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Sea Machines

Artificial Intelligence

The Sea Machines SM300 control package can be installed on newbuilds or retrofitted to existing workboats.

learns more — a process that developers call “machine learning.”

“What we’re doing in the meantime is collecting many scenarios in the maritime environment” so the machine can handle real-world situations, said Gross.

COLLISION AVOIDANCE Orca AI explicitly links its marketing to collision danger in congested waterways. Of roughly 3,000 collisions annually worldwide, about 75% are attributed to human error, the company says.

The system adds a layer of sensors to detect danger in crowded waters where small fishing boats and coasting vessels don’t have AIS, said Gross. Asia and the waters around Japan where the 2017 collision between the Navy destroyer Fitzgerald and a containership occurred are where Orca AI is looking for clients, along with the North Sea and English Channel.

Detailed reporting on the Fitzgerald collision by ProPublica, the Navy Times and others portrayed an overworked crew contending with faulty radar, no AIS feed on the bridge and insufficient data. Gross said he’s been there.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Artificial Intelligence

Orca AI

“In the navy we used to operate these machines all the time, AIS, radar. They’re very complicated systems,” he said. “With what we’re doing, we’re not going to pile data on you. It’s going to provide insight.”

The new technology is being built, in a digital process not unlike training a human mariner.

“You need a lot of data from the sensors to feed the algorithm,” said Gross.

Those experiences build the system.

“It’s predicting the situation. The next time it’s faced with a similar situation, it knows how to behave,” he said.

Orca AI is building its system to help mariners in congested waters avoid collisions with Orca AI algorithms working at sea better tracking and situational awareness of hazards. transfer that data to the company’s Gross. “It’s like an autopilot.” central algorithm to update the entire “I’m not sure you’re going to see an The technology appears to be maksystem, said Gross. Over time, that autonomous containership, ever,” said builds a brain experienced in the needs ing big strides. But even its advocates Gross. “When an autonomous system of a fleet and crews. say it will take years for the industry, takes over the ship, it’s a much more “We’re not taking control of the maritime nations and international complicated regulatory system.” ship. We’re assisting the crew,” said laws and regulations to adapt.

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Stevens Towing Company specializes in moving large specialized cargo by water. For this project of delivering an enormous Air Force One exhibit for public tours from Rhode Island to Maryland, the tug Island Trader was up to the job. Stevens repowered the Island Trader in 2014 with Volvo Penta D16 650-hp engines. With more than 20,000 hours on them, the D16s are still going strong.

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CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY AT WORKBOAT YARDS

On TheWays

Derecktor launches hybrid freighter for Harbor Harvest

A

$2.8 million first of its kind hybrid freighter that will deliver fresh produce and locally made foods between Connecticut and Long Island was launched April 12 at Derecktor Shipyards, Mamaroneck, N.Y. The Captain Ben Moore, a 63'×21.3' aluminum catamaran, is similar to two earlier Incat Crowther-designed vessels Derecktor built for marine educators and researchers in the region. The latest boat was built for Harbor Harvest, a Norwalk, Conn., company that marine engineer and designer Robert Kunkel created to connect family farms to urban and suburban markets. The Captain Ben Moore actually has room for 49 passengers if the boat needed to be used for marine education or a research project.

“I was born in the Bronx and my father had a butcher shop, so I partly grew up on that sawdust,” said Kunkel, who also spent his youth in New York’s Hudson River valley where relatives had farms.

Long before the rise of interstate highways, “two or three hundred years ago, all the farms were built on rivers or harbors, because that’s where the transportation was to get to market,” said Kunkel. “I’ve been trying to put in coastal shipping under U.S.-flag for 10 years.” Restoring that connection makes sense in the increasingly congested New York metro region, he said.

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New 63' aluminum catamaran was built to connect family farms to urban and suburban markets.

The Captain Ben Moore underwent dock and sea trials in May and was expected to enter service June 1. It was scheduled to begin operation with a series of marketing trips around New York City and Long Island.

Powered by a pair of Cummins QSB6.7 diesels generating 1,373 hp at 2,400 rpm and lithium batteries connected to a BAE Systems HybriDrive, the boat’s quiet operation makes it environmentally attractive — and a good neighbor when it glides into heavily populated waterfront communities.

With a top speed of 15 knots, the vessel has 300 sq. ft. of open cargo area, 100 sq. ft. of covered space, and 140 sq. ft. of walk-in refrigeration. Total capacity is 12,000 lbs., or the equivalent of three to five produce delivery trucks, according to Kunkel.

Kunkel and his company, Alternative Marine Technologies, began working with Derecktor in 2016 to develop the design. “We started to look at it when the California drought came, and people realized that we used to get a lot of this produce grown right here in the Northeast,” said Kunkel.

Speaking at the State University of New York Maritime College in September 2018, Kunkel explained how the conwww.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Derecktor Shipyard

ON THE WAYS

Bay Ship building Great Lakes bulk carrier for Interlake Steamship

F

incantieri Bay Shipbuilding, Sturgeon Bay, Wis., is building a U.S.-flagged Great Lakes bulk carrier for Interlake Steamship Co. It will be

Interlake Steamship Company

cept of Harbor Harvest aims to reduce pollution and highway congestion, while linking sustainable local farms to consumers.

“There’s $9 billion worth of produce between the mid-Hudson Valley and Connecticut,” Kunkel said, but many farm families “can’t make more than $50,000 a year.”

While working to set up his company’s Norwalk storefront location, Kunkel said he learned from truckers that worsening traffic in the New York metro region has extended daily round trips from upstate farms to the city or Long Island to nine to 12 hours. The Captain Ben Moore will be able to make the 15-mile transit from Norwalk to Long Island’s North Shore in an hour under quiet electric drive. Fuel is carried in two 600-liter (158.5 gal.) tanks in each hull, with 1,000 liters (264 gals.) tanks for fresh water and wastewater.

About seven farms in Long Island and Connecticut are working with Harbor Harvest, and Kunkel said he hopes to grow the business with a successful first season.

“One of the things that’s difficult is no one wants to get into contracting until the boat is in the water and operating,” he said.

The other delay has been setting up the infrastructure to support the service and dealing with rigorous local land use and zoning regulation in Connecticut and Long Island.

But the U.S. Maritime Administration is a big supporter, part of its effort to develop short-sea shipping on the East Coast. A $1.8 million grant from Marad has allowed Harbor Harvest to contract for options on future vessels to expand the business. — Kirk Moore

The Paul R. Tregurtha was built for Interlake Steamship in 1981, the last newbuild for the Great Lakes operator until now.

the first river-class, self-unloading vessel newbuild in more than 35 years.

Interlake Steamship, Middleburg Heights, Ohio, operates the largest privately held U.S.-flag fleet on the Great Lakes, with nine vessels that carry bulk cargoes. It’s newest vessel, the Paul R. Tregurtha, was built by American Ship Building Co., Lorain, Ohio, in 1981. The 1,013'×105'×56' ship has a capacity of 68,000 tons and is the longest vessel on the Great Lakes.

“When we approached a historic project of this magnitude — building our company’s first ship since 1981 — we knew it was critical to choose the right partners,” Interlake President Mark W. Barker said in a statement announcing the contract. “Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding is the shipyard that has the experience and skill to execute on our long-term vision. We’ve had a long and positive relationship of partnering” with the yard.

Bay Ship has handled four repowers, five exhaust gas scrubber installations, and regular maintenance and regulatory drydockings on Interlake vessels.

Interlake, Fincantieri and Bay Engineering are jointly designing the 639'×78'×45' bulk carrier, complete with advanced vessel and unloading systems automation.

The new self-unloading bulk carrier will have a unique cargo hold arrangement and cargo hatch covers designed for maximum cubic space and the ability to handle difficult cargoes. The vessel will incorporate a flap rudder as well as bow and stern thrusters for high-level maneuverability.

The vessel will have 7,800 shaft

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

horsepower produced by two 16-cylinder EMD Tier 4 and IMO Tier III diesel engines. The diesels will be connected by a single-screw, 18'dia., Kongsberg controllable pitch propeller, giving the vessel a top speed in excess of 15 mph.

For electrical power, the vessel will have one 940-kW ship service diesel generator, two 2,500-kW shaft generators and one 274-kW emergency generator.

“We are excited to construct this historic large-scale bulk carrier on the Great Lakes for Great Lakes operation,” Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding’s vice president and general manager Todd Thayse said.

The ship is scheduled for delivery in mid-2020. — David Krapf

Washburn & Doughty building Tier 4 tugs for Moran

I

f you’ve got something good going then stick with it. That certainly seemed to be the philosophy of the Moran Towing Corp. when it signed contracts for its next ship assist and escort tugs.

Jensen Maritime Consultants in Seattle is doing the design work for the 86'×35'×15'10" tugs, which will be built by Washburn & Doughty Associates, East Boothbay, Maine. “There are two under contract,” said Jonathan Parrott, senior naval architect at Jensen Maritime, “and options for others.”

The new tug is the latest in a series of Jensen-designed 86 footers for New Canaan, Conn.-based Moran, with three of those having been built 35

by Washburn & Doughty. (Beyond that, Washburn & Doughty has built 38 tugs for Moran since the 4,200-hp Marci Moran was launched in September 1999.)

“They really like the existing boats,” said Parrott, “so we are trying to minimize changes. (We’ve) basically taken that design and upgraded to Tier 4.”

Whereas the earlier tugs had pairs of 2,500-hp MTUs and Schottel Zdrives, the new tugs are going with a pair of Tier 4 rated 2,550-hp Caterpillar 3512Es matched up with RollsRoyce Z-drives. Parrott estimates that combination should produce a 68- to 70-ton bollard pull.

Moving up to Tier 4 power meant the below deck space at the transom was altered to accommodate urea tanks, and the main deck was raised 12" “so we could fit the scrubber units and all the extra stuff in the engine room,” Parrott said. And adding

Jensen Maritime Consultants

On TheWays

86' tugs are being built in Maine.

camber to the deck plating will allow it to shed water, thus avoiding pooling water that could freeze.

A Markey Machinery DEPC-48 electric hawser winch with Markey’s proprietary render/recovery controls and 50-hp variable frequency drive will be up forward. It will have a linetension display system and, because “Moran wanted it,” a stainless steel

brake drum for corrosion resistance and more efficient braking, said Scott Kreis, vice president of sales at Markey.

Back aft will be a Markey CEW60, 15-hp two-speed electric capstan.

“Moran owns more of those two machines than any other Markey customer,” said Kreis.

— Michael Crowley

BOATBUILDING BITTS

Damen Shipyards

amen Shipyards Galati has launched two 81-meter (265.6') passenger/vehicle road ferries for the Canadian ferry operator BC Ferries (British Columbia Ferry Services Inc.). The new boats will enter service next year. Once operational they will be capable of carrying up to 300 passengers and crew, and 47 vehicles. The ferries have been built to Damen’s Road Ferry 8117E3 design. The ferries will serve the Northern Gulf Islands off the coast of Vancouver, replacing vessels that are now over 50 years old.

At a cost of $2.2 million, Colonna’s Shipyard, Norfolk, Va., renovated the 240'×63' dinner/cruise vessel Odyssey III for Entertainment Cruises. The pas-

36

266' ferries are scheduled to enter service next year.

Cummins

D

Washington, D.C., passenger vessel refurbishment.

senger boat features a sleek, low profile superstructure designed to pass under the Potomac River bridges in and around Washington, D.C. The renovation included upgraded amenities such as the remodeled dance floor and bar space, new carpets, new fixtures and finishes. Twin electronically controlled Cummins Tier 3 QSK19 diesel engines, producing 600 hp at 1,800 rpm each, replaced the old 540-hp engines The new diesels connect to the boat’s props through Twin Disc MGX-5170DC gears with 4.5:1 reduction ratios. Ship’s service power now comes from two Cummins QSK19-powered 530-kW generators.

In April, Lake Assault Boats, Superior, Wis., delivered a new 26' custom-built fire rescue boat to the Waco Fire Department, Waco, Texas. The new vessel provides a wide range of emergency response services

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Vigor building new pilot boats for Los Angeles

V

Vigor

New pilot boats are being built to handle normal to extreme environmental conditions.

will feature a twin chine heavy weather hull form and multiple heavy fender systems facilitating safer pilot transfers in challenging weather. An articulated rescue davit will provide man overboard recovery. The overall layout is designed to maximize the available horsepower and performance from a Tier 3 (non-catalyst) level engine.

Main propulsion will come from twin Caterpillar C-18 ACERT diesel engines, producing 803 hp at 2,100 rpm each, that meet current California Air Resources Board (CARB) commercial harbor craft emission requirements. The Cats will connect

New fire/rescue boat will patrol Lake Waco and sections of the Brazos and Bosque rivers.

on Lake Waco (a 12-square-mile body of water located within the city limits) as well as a section of the Brazos and Bosque rivers. The boat was purchased through Lake Assault Boats’ listings on GSA (General Services Administration) Advantage Schedule 84 that includes marine craft. According to the Waco Tribune Herald, the boat cost $240,000. Main propulsion comes from a pair of 225-hp Honda outboard engines. The hull features a 63" hydraulically operated bow door that opens to 90° and can safely be deployed and operated at slow speeds. The new boat’s firefighting system includes a Hale Attack Max fire pump rated at 550 gpm and powered by a dedicated 35-hp marinized engine. Two TFT portable Hemisphere series monitors (one with a fog nozzle and a second with a smooth bore tip) are on board. Water is supplied through a 4" intake into a sea

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

to 5-bladed, fixed pitch, nibral props through ZF 665A-1 marine gears. The boats will have a cruising speed of 24 knots and a top speed of 27 knots.

Capacities will include a crew of two, 660 gals. of fuel oil and 66 gals. fresh water. Ship’s service power will come from a Northern Lights M844DW3 genset, sparking 16 kW of electrical power. In the wheelhouse will be a Furuno electronics suite.

Vigor will build the boats in Washington state and expects to complete construction by late summer 2020.

— Ken Hocke

chest.

Armstrong Marine, Port Angeles, Wash., has delivered the Seawolf, a 35'×13' aluminum catamaran, to the Kodiak Legends Lodge on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

The boat carries passengers to Uyak Bay to fish. Main propulsion comes from twin Yamaha 300-hp outboards paired with SeaStar Pro steering. Seawolf can accommodate up to 10 passengers and two crew. The boat features an extended T-transom, head, and interior heating. The walk around/walk through cabin, hydraulic drop bow door, transom and fish cleaning/bait station are designed to maximize and optimize wildlife viewing, beach landings, and loading and unloading.

Armstrong Marine

Lake Assault Boats

igor is building two aluminum 55'4"×16'5" pilot boats for the Port of Los Angeles.

Designed by Camarc, the new vessels will be built to handle normal to more extreme environmental conditions. The smaller Camarc pilot boat design currently used in Europe, Australia and South America delivers the same consistent performance as the larger boats used in the U.S. midsize market, Vigor officials said.

“Camarc has optimized this design to incorporate the significant seakeeping and safety of the larger pilot boats,” said Art Parker, Vigor sales manager.

“The American midsized market has needed a world-class pilot boat at an acceptable acquisition and maintenance cost. This is without a doubt a proven breakthrough design.”

The 61,000-lb. displacement boats

35' passenger vessel is operating in Alaska.

37

O

il prices have improved since the beginning of the year, but OSV operators and other Gulf of Mexico service companies are still waiting for stronger signs of a recovery (see page 48). Business has been steady at shipyards, especially those that have diversified since the energy downturn (see below). For tug operators, it’s bigger tugs with new, lower emissions engines (see page 39). Inland barge operators are returning to their traditional economic model of slow, steady growth as they continue to work off equipment overcapacity (see page 42). And passenger vessel operators continue to enjoy strong demand and healthy advance bookings (see page 46).

Steady stream of newbuilds are keeping shipyards busy

By Ken Hocke, Senior Editor

T

hose who believe that the shipyard industry is suffering because of the continued downturn in the oil and gas industry need to move on. Boatyards are no longer waiting for that next big offshore service vessel

38

contract. Instead, diversification is key to survival.

“Bidding has been robust,” Chris Vaccari of Gulf Island Shipyards, Houma, La., said late last year, “and none of it oil and gas.”

There are no big offshore service vessel contracts coming in the near future. One or two vessel contracts for specialized multipurpose supply vessels are more the norm, but even those are few and far between. Work-

Boat’s 2018-2019 Construction Survey listed just three OSVs delivered in the last 12-month period. Just three years earlier, the number was 51.

The next multiboat OSV contract may actually come from the budding U.S. offshore wind industry for crew transfer vessels (CTV).

With groundbreaking possible on the first major U.S. project by year’s end, wind companies should already be looking toward designs being used in www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Ken Hocke

YEARBOOK

Skilled shipyard workers are a valuable commodity across the U.S.

GOVERNMENT WORK There are plenty of multiple boat contracts out there — mostly from the Navy and Coast Guard.

Gulf Island is building a steel hulled 262.8'×59'×24.61' towing, salvage and rescue ship (T-ATS). The Navajo will feature an ABS-classed DP-2 system, a bollard pull of 160 metric tons and a working deck area of almost 6,000 sq. ft. The contract includes options for seven additional vessels which could bring the value of the deal to $522.7 million. The new boat, which will have a 21' draft, is scheduled for delivery by 2021.

Main propulsion will come from twin Wärtsilä 8L32 diesel engines, producing 6,217 hp at 750 rpm each.

The mains will connect to Wärtsilä 37,00-mm (145"), controllable pitch, 4-bladed props through Wärtsilä marine gears. The propulsion package will give the Navy vessel a running speed of 13 knots.

Vaccari said these boats will be used in areas where commercial boats fear

Blount Boats Inc.

Europe, builders said at April’s IPF19 wind conference in New York.

“The big demand for CTVs is during construction, and you will need them long before you think you will” for early stages of moving generators and other equipment as well as workers, said Ian Bryan, interim managing director of CWind, a builder in the United Kingdom and major supplier to the European industry for a decade.

The list of types of contracts boatbuilders are seeing is varied and encouragingly long.

The Atlantic Pioneer was the first crew transfer vessel built for the U.S. offshore wind energy industry.

to tread — war zones. “You better have something that can go out there and get your ship if its disabled,” he said.

Dakota Creek Industries, Anacortes, Wash., is building four newly designed yard tugs for the Navy, which currently plans to deploy the new tugs at U.S. military bases in the Pacific Northwest Region and Yokosuka, Japan. They are designed to perform ship-handling duties for the full range of Navy surface warships and submarines. For this purpose, the tugs are equipped with an array of underwater fendering as well as typical resilient style fenders for handling surface ships.

Main propulsion for the Robert Allan Ltd. Z-Tech design tugs will come from two Caterpillar 3512E engines, each rated at 1,800 hp at 1,600 rpm, and each featuring a Schottel SRP 340 azimuthing stern drive unit with 2,100mm diameter fixed pitch propellers and an input power of 1,782 hp. The combination is designed to provide a bollard pull of 43 tonnes and a free-running speed of approximately 12 knots.

Metal Shark is as prolific a boatbuilder as there is in today’s market.

The company has two Louisiana yards

and multiple U.S. government contracts as well as multiple Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contracts.

One contract the yard is working on is the Navy’s next-generation patrol boat, the PB(X). The Navy placed an initial order for 11 of the new 40', welded aluminum pilothouse patrol boats. Under the terms of the award, potentially worth over $90 million, Metal Shark will build up to 50 PB(X) vessels for the Navy, along with trailers, spares and training packages, and technical support. The first two boats are set to be delivered in 2019.

In late April, the Coast Guard and Navy awarded VT Halter Marine Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., a contract for the design and construction of the Coast Guard’s lead polar security cutter (PSC).

The initial award is valued at $746 million. The contract also includes options for the construction of two additional PSCs. If all options are exercised, the total contract value will be $1.9 billion.

YEARBOOK: TUGS

For tugs, it’s still all about power and operating efficiency

Bollinger Shipyards Inc.

By Kirk Moore, Associate Editor

Bollinger Shipyards recently delivered the 154'x25'5"x9'6" Joseph Doyle, the 33rd fast response cutter (FRC) to the Coast Guard.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

The U.S. tugboat fleet is upgrading in response to new demands in the market. The arrival of 1,200'-plus ultra large container vessels (ULCVs) coming through a widened Panama Canal, Tier 4 air emission standards, and the growing liquefied natural gas 39

On top of all that is Subchapter M, the Coast Guard’s inspection regime for towing vessels, now kicking up a notch with another July 22 deadline this summer, when operators must have certificates of inspection for 25% of their vessels.

The need for more bollard pull and lower emissions is pushing a trend toward hybrid power — combined dieselelectric drive systems that can run on lower power and no exhaust while in slow harbor transit or stationkeeping and use the same electric motors to kick in an extra boost when the tug needs to pull.

That could be a solution for designers and operators who face the conundrum of squeezing more horsepower into ship assist and escort tugs that are already hitting 100' hull lengths.

Nichols Brothers Boat Builders

NEW TECHNOLOGY The 100'×40' Valor tugboat design

by Jensen Maritime Consultants, Seattle, is the basis for a number of new-generation tugs. Versions built for McAllister Towing and Transportation Inc. achieve bollard pulls of 80 tons with a pair of Caterpillar 3516E engines turning nearly 6,800 hp.

Edging up closer to 90 or 100 tons might be done with a hull 10' longer and even larger Tier 4 engines, said Jay Edgar, vice president of engineering services with Jensen’s parent company Crowley Maritime Corp. But hybrid systems could get there with bringing

Seamen’s Church Institute

export business are converging to drive the building of stronger and more efficient tugs.

The first Tier 4 tugboats on the U.S. East Coast, the Capt. Brian A. McAllister and Rosemary McAllister, were christened in New York in July 2018.

more horsepower inside the same hull envelope, he said.

“With the new hybrid technology, we’re finding we can stay with the high-speed diesel technology,” said Edgar. Adding the electric drive provides the extra oomph for bollard pull when needed and stretches fuel and maintenance expense.

Jensen’s first effort in that realm is a Valor-based hybrid tug for Baydelta Maritime, San Francisco. Delivered April 16 by Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Freeland, Wash., the 100'×40' Delta Teresa sets a new benchmark as the first hybrid tugboat on the West Coast and the first to use Rolls-Royce propulsion units in the U.S. to take power from electric, diesel or both.

The seventh tractor tug Nichols Brothers has built for Baydelta, the first hybrid is powered by two Cat 3516C Tier 3 diesel engines each putting out 2,675 hp at 1,600 rpm, and by two 424-kW electric motors. The Z-drive system of two Rolls-Royce 255FP

Baydelta Maritime’s Delta Teresa is the first West Coast hybrid tug.

40

units, can accept power from the diesel engines, electric motors or from both power sources. The electric motors are powered by three Cat C9.3 300-kW, 480V 3-phase generators, plus one harbor generator, a C7.1 150-kW 480V, 3-phase.

The hybrid system permits the vessel to operate in different power modes — direct diesel, diesel-electric or fully electric. This concept will allow for fuel savings as well as reduced exhaust emissions, while supplying Baydelta with the same power and vessel characteristics needed for their operations.

During trials the tug’s performance met or exceeded all expectations. Free running speeds, under full power, of 14-plus knots were obtained along with almost 10 knots on electric motor power only.

The tug has seven berths. Deck equipment includes a Rapp Marine (a MacGregor company) electric hawser winch and a single drum tow winch, with the drivetrain connected with Rexnord-Centa carbon fiber shafts. In addition to the drive units and hybrid system, Kongsberg supplied the control system and main switchboard, electric motors and their control cabinets.

The flexible drive system will allow the tug to make transits and loiter at speeds up to seven or eight knots in its electric-only mode. In combined diesel-electric mode, the additional electric power input will lend an additional nine short tons of bollard pull for a total of 90 tons.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

EMISSION PRODUCT SOLUTIONS Small, Compact and Flexible

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They allow you to meet new standards without reinventing your vessel’s design plans.

12 Cylinder 12 M26.3 up to 1650 mhp commercial duty

The flexibility in rotating the mixing pipe as well as the reactor, including certain allowances to remote mount both from the engine, is extremely space friendly. In addition, the system provides a 25dBA reduction in noise which eliminates the need for an additional silencer.

The Baudouin 6 M26.3 is ideal for those requiring IMO III solutions and operating in international waters.

For information about emission product solutions, call 800-622-6747 or email enginesales@mshs.com.

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Robert Allan Ltd.

The arrival of Baydelta’s hybrid tug is significant with California ports seeking to dramatically lower workboat emissions. California is such a large market that it can set the bar nationally for performance expectations.

“The hybrid technology is where everybody is trying to go,” said Adam Jost, applications manager with Thrustmaster, Houston, a propulsion integrator whose display at the 2018 International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans was built around its hybrid drive offerings.

The Navy is likewise upgrading its tug fleet, with a new class of yard tugboats designed by Robert Allan Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia. Four 90'×38.25'×16.5' tugs are under construction at Dakota Creek Industries, Anacortes, Wash.

Jensen Maritime Consultants in Seattle is doing the design work for Moran Towing Corp.’s new 86'×35'×15'10" Tier 4 tugs which will be built by Washburn & Doughty Associates, East Boothbay, Maine. “There are two under contract,” said Jonathan Parrott, senior naval architect at Jensen Maritime, “and options for others.”

The new tug is the latest in a series of Jensen-designed 86 footers for New Canaan, Conn.-based Moran, with three of those having been built by Washburn & Doughty.

Dakota Creek is building four Robert Allan-designed yard tugboats for the Navy.

Robert Allan designs are also being built at Gulf Island Fabrication Inc. in Louisiana, which has nine more sister vessels lined up to be built along the lines of the 98'6"×42'8"×16'5" Mark E. Kuebler for Bay Houston Towing Co. The Z-Tech tug is powered by two Caterpillar 3516E Tier 4 diesels each producing 3,386 hp at 1,800 rpm, turning Schottel SRP 510 FP Z-drives for a bollard pull of 80 tons.

YEARBOOK: INLAND WATERWAYS

Barge industry makes headway despite the challenging weather

By Pamela Glass, Washington Correspondent

T

he inland barge industry witnessed several important milestones over the year with the opening of the much-delayed $3 billion Olmsted Locks and Dam project, debut of a new federal towboat inspection program, congressional approval of record funding to modernize aging river infrastructure, and a resurgence of demand to move steel products while coal continued to fall.

But by far the biggest story has been Mother Nature’s effect on the waterways. Barge operators always face challenges from the weather — ice, flooding, drought — but this time relentless rains produced devastating and long-lasting floods that were worse than anything experienced in recent years.

What made this year’s situation

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www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

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STRONG DEMAND Before the bad weather hit, the inland industry was having a pretty good year. Tank barge operators found strong demand to move crude oil, refined petroleum products and biofuels 44

from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast in the last few months of 2018, with the Department of Energy reporting a 26% increase in these shipments over the previous year.

“Overall, barged volumes of petroleum and biofuels moving from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast reached their highest level since the second quarter of 2014,” RTN reported in March, with crude oil shipments leading the way mostly due to higher supplies from Canada and North Dakota.

Movement of refined products such as barged ethanol and residual fuel oil was also strong, RTN said. In addition, RTN noted a number of new methanol production plants being built along the Lower Mississippi River.

Based on this solid market, Houstonbased Kirby Corp., the nation’s largest tank barge operator, became even bigger, purchasing Cenac Marine Services for $244 million. This acquisition added 63 30,000-bbl. inland tank barges, 34 inland towboats and two offshore tugs to the Kirby fleet.

When reporting the company’s 2018 fourth quarter results, President and

Iowa Emergency Management

unique is that a record snowfall in the Midwest and Plains, combined with extreme cold that limited the snow melt and long spells of freezing temperatures in spots that were already heavily saturated with water, caused severe flooding and significant river transportation disruptions.

Flooding continued to affect barge traffic into the spring, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that these conditions will continue through much of the inland system through May. Ongoing high water forced lock closures, including the complete shutdown in February of the Ohio River at the Smithland Lock, reductions in barge flotilla sizes, limited or no transit under bridges, and navigation restrictions to daylight hours and slower horsepower operations on some segments of the rivers. Barge operators have seen their costs increase and demand for their services fall, while having to adjust their fleet operations to accommodate navigation restrictions.

In addition, maximum draft for oceangoing vessels transiting the Gulf through the mouth of the Mississippi River at the Southwest Pass were restricted due to shoaling, which meant fewer shipments of grains, soybeans and other agricultural commodities were leaving the U.S. “All of these conditions are not only making shipping unpredictable; they also are continuing to keep spot freight rates elevated across nearly all markets,” River Transport News reported on March 25. Even when barging returns to normal operating conditions, RTN said “it will take several additional months for the barge fleet to reposition itself into what otherwise would be considered a normal operating pattern. As this occurs, barge rates should subside.”

Anne Mulhall, Corps of Engineers

The pushboat Steve Golding and its tow pass through Olmsted Locks and Dam on July 25, 2018.

Levees failed along the Missouri River in Fremont County, Iowa, in March 2019.

CEO David Grzebinski said continued growth was expected in customer demand “driven by petrochemical plants and pipelines from the Permian Basin (a large oil and natural gas producing area that straddles Texas and New Mexico) that will bring additional volumes to the Gulf.”

The dry barge market also did well.

Despite continued drops in the coal market as more coal-generated plants close across the U.S., and a dip in soybean exports due to trade disputes with China, the industry picked up new business from the steel industry, salt used for ice control, export coal and alumina.

Seacor Holdings, for example, reported strong operating results for its inland transportation services, “notwithstanding the reduced export of soybeans in 2019.”

In its first quarter results released in April, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.based operator said bulk transportation revenues actually benefited from the adverse weather and difficult operating conditions on the inland waterways.

It resulted in higher freight rates and increased utilization (due to demurrage and storage days) for the barge pools. The barge pools also benefited from strong charter rates for Seacor’s fleet of barges supporting frac sand movements. The increase in revenues outpaced the higher operating expenses that resulted from the difficult operating conditions.

Moving steel and its components was a notable bright spot, as the once sagging industry enjoys a resurgence. This sector is expected to continue to be strong for barging as U.S. Steel has an-

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

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46

YEARBOOK: PASSENGER VESSELS

Demand remains strong for ferries and other passenger vessels

By Dale K. DuPont, Correspondent

W

ith almost a month to go in its season, the Cross Bay Ferry’s ridership of 46,309 already surpassed the previous sixmonth run total of 40,854. This year’s goal was 50,000, “and we’re going to be pretty close to it,” said Capt. Matt Miller, president of HMS Ferries Inc., New Albany, Ind., which operates the St. Petersburg/Tampa, Fla., fast catamaran between November and April.

The Florida service is tentatively scheduled for two more years, depending on local government funding, which Miller is optimistic about.

HMS also has the distinction of operating the Gee’s Bend Ferry – the first zero-emission, all-electric passenger/ vehicle ferry of its type in the U.S. The 95'×42'×5', Alabama-owned steel vessel was converted at Master Marine, Bayou La Batre, Ala., and re-entered service in early April.

NEW BOATS Two other operators marked significant milestones as well. Red and White Fleet, San Francisco, introduced the 128'×30' sightseeing vessel Enhydra, the largest hybrid powered passenger vessel built in the U.S. under

Coast Guard Subchapter K rules. And to handle growth on commuter runs between New Jersey and New York City, Seastreak launched the 600-passenger, 150'×40' Commodore, the highest capacity Subchapter K fast passenger vessel built in the U.S. Propelled by people seeking relief from overcrowded roads, the ferry sector is an especially strong part of a booming passenger vessel market that’s building, refurbishing and expanding on inland and coastal waters. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard crackdown on illegal charters is yielding results both in fines and public awareness, and Congress is trying to tighten regulations on duck boats after last year’s fatal accident on a Missouri lake.

One of the hottest destinations is Alaska where Phillips Cruises & Tours is doubling its fleet to four this season. The Anchorage-based company had the former New York Harbor ferry Bravest transformed into a 286-seat ecotourism vessel at Yank Marine Services, Tuckahoe, N.J. The 127'×32.8' high-speed aluminum catamaran will join the 137'×34' fast catamaran Klondike Express offering the 26 Glacier Cruise on Prince William Sound.

Phillips also is debuting the 12-passenger, 80'×21'×4.5' yacht Sound Endeavor for more intimate day or overnight charters on the sound.

“There’s definitely a trending growth in the Alaska tourism market,” said spokeswoman Lisa Kruse.

The Great Lakes also are attracting more attention. American Queen Steamboat Co., which has concen-

The Gee’s Bend Ferry, the first zero-emission, all-electric passenger/vehicle ferry of its type in the U.S.

HMS Ferries Inc.

nounced plans to dramatically expand its raw steelmaking capacity. Similarly, Nucor Corp., Charlotte, N.C., plans to build two steel mills at different sites along the Ohio River in Kentucky to take advantage of river transportation.

“U.S. Steel and Nucor’s recent announcements are only the latest in a string of steel industry-related good news events that hold the potential to increase barge demand for the shipment of steel raw materials and finished products,” RTN said.

The inland industry also scored some wins in Congress. It was successful in fending off challenges to the Jones Act, achieved major increases in funding to complete several river lock and dam projects, and after many years of trying, finally won passage of a law that sets uniform national standards for ballast water discharge. It ends a patchwork of state, federal and local ballast requirements, and puts the EPA in charge of setting national standards.

The Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2018 “represents both a win for the maritime industry, which needed the national uniformity that only federal regulations can guarantee, and for the marine environment, which will benefit as the highest standards economically achievable are implemented nationwide,” said Thomas Allegretti, president and CEO of the American Waterways Operators (AWO), which represents the tug and barge industry and lobbied for the change.

In two other major developments, the long-delayed Olmsted Locks and Dam project along the Ohio River in Illinois, which began construction 30 years ago and encountered many funding hiccups along the way, opened for business in August. Barge operators report great improvement and fewer delays in the passage of barges through that important stretch of the river.

Secondly, towing companies began compliance last July with Subchapter M, an important new federal towboat inspection program aimed at improving safety on the nation’s 5,500 towing vessels.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Kirk Moore

Phillips Cruises had the former New York Harbor ferry Bravest transformed into a 286-seat ecotourism vessel at Yank Marine Services.

trated on river cruising, purchased the Bahamas-flagged Victory I and Victory II — 202-passenger vessels that were the original Cape Cod Light and Cape May Light — to expand its reach to the lakes and possibly farther. Victory Cruise Lines will be a sister brand of American Queen.

On Lake Superior, Apostle Islands Cruises new passenger/tour boat is entering its first full season. The 64.8'×28'x8' Archipelago delivered last summer by Sentinel Boat Co., Wetumpka, Ala., has a top speed of 26 knots, so operators will add another trip to their lineup. A 3 ¼ hour tour can now be done in 2 ½ hours.

“Business is great,” said Dan Boucher, owner of the Bayfield, Wis., company. “We needed to add capacity to our company as well as modernize our company.”

A related company, Pictured Rocks Cruises, Munising, Mich., was expected to take delivery of a similar vessel from Sentinel in mid-May, bringing their fleet to six.

Visitor numbers to both areas have increased significantly the last few years. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore’s attendance went from 184,000 in 2016 to 253,000 last year, National Park Service figures show. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore grew from 777,000 to 815,000 over the same period.

A proliferation of illegal charters, especially in Miami and Chicago, prompted the Coast Guard to target pleasure boats loaded with partying passengers. Toward the end of March, for example, the Miami sector stopped eight vessels for alleged safety viola-

tions that carry tens of thousands of dollars in fines for not having certificates of inspection, licensed captains, drug and alcohol programs or stability letters. Two Miami area boat owners earlier this year were the first to be criminally convicted of repeatedly running illegal charters.

The charters have grown thanks to the rise of online advertising and ridesharing apps that boat operators use to reach customers. At least one incident ended in a customer’s death.

The stepped up enforcement is “definitely having an impact,” said Capt. Bob Bijur, director of operations for Biscayne Lady Yacht Charters, Miami, and a Passenger Vessel Association (PVA) board member.

“Customers are calling and asking for more detailed information,” such as whether they’re Coast Guard certified, he said. And there’s an increase in the small charter market — 20-40 passengers. People “who might have gone on an illegal yacht are inquiring and actually booking.” The enforcement has benefitted the industry from both a safety and economic perspective, Bijur said.

In general, “The growth of the industry is good. There are more and more opportunities for tourism down here,” he said, and they’ve seen more corporations returning to events onboard.

Overnight cruising also keeps expanding. In October, American Cruise Lines, which has a fleet of 11 U.S.built ships, launched the American Song, which it calls the first modern riverboat in U.S. history. American Harmony, the second of five in its Modern Riverboat Series, was expected

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

to begin service in August on the Mississippi River. The third riverboat, American Jazz, is under construction at Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Md., and expected out in 2020 also on the Mississippi. The Guilford, Conn.-based line and Chesapeake share common ownership.

New Albany, Ind.-based American Queen has built its fleet of riverboats buying and overhauling existing vessels. Its fourth vessel is being retrofitted at Gulf Island Fabrication Inc.’s Houma, La., location. The 24-year-old, 257'×78'×14' casino boat Kanesville Queen is being stretched 60'. The 245-passenger American Countess is expected to start cruising on the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee rivers in 2020.

And the Delta Queen’s owners finally won congressional approval to get the historic steamboat sailing again.

Also, in Congress calls for stiffer regulation of duck boats continued as Missouri’s new Republican senator Josh Hawley took up where former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill left off. They want 20-year-old National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations to be mandatory.

The legislation comes after the deadliest duck boat accident ever last July near Branson, Mo., that killed 17 people.

The Missouri accident is the worst since 13 people died in 1999 when the duck boat Miss Majestic sank on Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs, Ark. The NTSB then said the Coast Guard should require the military style amphibious vessels to have enough reserve buoyancy to float even if flooded.

If not, they should install new canopies that don’t restrict escape. And if canopies have been removed and reserve buoyancy is inadequate, passengers should be required to don life jackets before leaving the dock.

Hawley’s legislation also limits weather conditions in which duck boats can operate. The Missouri boat entered Table Rock Lake despite National Weather Service warnings of severe thunderstorms.

47

Some Gulf OSV operators say recovery is still two years away while others are more optimistic.

YEARBOOK: OFFSHORE

By David Krapf, Editor in Chief

W

hen describing the past year in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas market, we can again report that it is depressed.

Activity levels are still near record lows. And although the price of WTI crude rose 32% in the first quarter to over $60 bbl., it has not returned to the highs of 2018. This has stifled a strong recovery and has been driving sustained depressed activity levels in the U.S. Gulf.

Offshore service vessel operators were not sounding an optimistic tone when they spoke to WorkBoat in March.

Peter Laborde of Laborde Marine, New Orleans, said, “the market is still at the bottom of the trough. Recovery is 18 months to two years away.”

Jackson Offshore Operators’ vice president and chief operating officer Matt Rigdon estimated that it would be three or four years before business returns to normal levels.

“In deepwater, the market has been flat since mid-2018, at approximately 20 vessels,” he said. “In my opinion, any significant increase in vessel numbers is unlikely this year. Perhaps we will add one vessel but there won’t be a boom. We don’t think the market will return to normalcy until 2022, 2023.”

IHS Markit’s Richard Sanchez said that oil prices do not appear to be strong enough to draw additional activity. Sanchez looks for only one rig to be added in 2019. “The workboat industry is not very exciting now,” he said.

But several industry executives sounded a more optimistic note during their first-quarter conference calls in late April and early May. “Looking at the larger picture for offshore exploration, development and production activities ... the drivers of 48

Jackson Offshore Operators

It's still depressed offshore, but there are some optimists

our business, we’re seeing the same things that many other service companies are reporting,” Todd Hornbeck, chairman, president and of Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc., said during the company’s May 2 earnings call.

“Capital budgets of our customers have increased with several majors also announcing increased exploration budgets.”

Hornbeck said that the number of final investment decisions (FIDs) in 2019 are projected to be at its highest levels since 2013. “What we see from the ground level is a marked positive shift in sentiment that underscores our view expressed on our last two calls that a recovery should begin to take shape” by midyear, he said.

Hornbeck sees other positive signs, such as rigs being mobilized and working across an area generally comprised of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the Mexican Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the northern slope of South America excluding Brazil.

Also, the Louisiana-based OSV operator reported during the third quarter of 2018 that approximately 10 to 12 incremental floaters could begin work by the first half of 2019 in the Gulf of Mexico region. Hornbeck confirmed that 10 of those units have commenced work or will commence work this year, most in the first half of 2019.

“In addition, we are observing a growing backlog of rig contracts, some extending into 2020 for these exploration units,” Hornbeck said. He estimated that another five or six incremental floaters will work in the Gulf of Mexico region this year.

“So there should now be approximately 15 to 16 incremental floaters working or available to work in the greater Gulf of Mexico region by the end of this year.”

“Focusing in on the markets around the world, in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for the first time since the start of the downturn, we are engaged in conversations with multiple customers around upcoming projects which would require incremental rigs in the region,” Jeremy Thigpen, Transocean’s president and CEO told analysts during the company’s April 30 earnings call. “Additionally, since announcing that we were recently awarded the industry’s first ultra-deepwater 20,000 PSI drilling work, we have been approached by other operators to explore similar opportunities.”

“In the face of an uncertain though improving environment, our operations performed well during the first quarter,” Anthony G. Petrello, Nabors Industries Ltd.’s chairman, president & CEO, told analysts during the rig operator’s May 1 conference call. “Our quarterly rig count in the quarter was up slightly, outperforming the broader market. Beyond the Lower 48, in the first quarter, we had more rigs working in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico combined than in any quarter over the past three years.”

The company’s quarterly revenues beat consensus estimates. Petrello said the positive results were driven by “pricing and margin improvement in Lower 48 and increased activity in U.S. offshore and Alaska.”

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t’s night sometime during World War II and a wooden boat is rowing through the darkness.

Every now and then a small light is dropped in the water next to a mine. The light has a range of a quarter mile, so those on shore don’t see it but when the Americans launch their attack they know where the mines are and “can come in fast,” said Vernon McDermott Sr., president, McDermott Light & Signal, Ridgewood, N.Y. McDermott’s father built those lights, the first lights to come out of the nascent McDermott light business. They were soon followed by a light for submarines that had been damaged and couldn’t come off the bottom. The light with an attached telephone was sent out of the torpedo tube and up to the surface.

These days it’s all LEDs from McDermott Light. One of the company’s newer LED lights is a portable “Not Under Command Light.”

McDermott said that it “seems to be catching

McDermott Light & Signal

By Michael Crowley, Correspondent

When the boat loses power and you need to see your way around, McDermott Light & Signal’s standby light provides up to 20 hours of light.

50

on.”

When a tug is, say, pushing a dredge and can’t maneuver, either a red-white-red light or two red lights warns others “to stay away from me. I can’t control what I’m doing,” said McDermott. Since the light is portable, simply attach it to a flange and plug it in.

McDermott notes that while the Coast Guard’s Rule 27 allows any form of light to be used, compared to an LED light, “other forms of light are so inefficient as far as its drain. An LED light can last 10 years. You don’t have to change it every 30 days.”

For about the past eight years, McDermott Light & Signal has been the only company to make LED standby lights for barges that haul concrete.

When the barge is at the dock and guys are vacuuming out the concrete and the power shuts off, the LED lights stay on and will remain on for 20 hours. “The power goes out and they’ve got light.”

McDermott Light’s newest standby light is for a tugboat’s interior. “It’s for the hallways,” said McDermott and is currently being tested by the Coast Guard.

ORCA GREEN MARINE Orca Green Marine hasn’t been around as long as McDermott, only since 2002, but it had the first Coast Guard-approved LED navigation light in the world, said Megan Matthews, the company’s founder and CEO. That tri-colored light was introduced in April 2004. It was quickly followed by an all-around LED anchor light whose first customers were Navy SEALS operating in the South Pacific.

On all of OGM’s LEDs, Matthews does the design work, the prototyping and personally builds the first 100 to 150 lights for each new light model.

Beyond that, an ISO 9001 certified manufacturer in Texas had been solely responsible for building the LED lights.

But that just changed. The company announced in April that Weems & Plath in Annapolis, Md., will be responsible for manufacturing and distributing OGM navigation lights. www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

RF INTERFERENCE AND LEDs

Orca Green Marine's Q Series TriColor/ anchor light.

That’s happening at the same time OGM is introducing its Q Series LED lights. The Q Series, instead of being sealed with epoxy, has O-rings and gaskets that make it watertight. The housing is Type-3 anodized aluminum. “It will last decades rather than a couple of years,” noted Matthews.

Since the Q Series isn’t sealed closed with epoxy, they “are upgradable as technology continues to evolve,” said Matthews.

LED technology is evolving. LED lights, she said, are “getting smaller, brighter, cooler and much more efficient than even three to four years ago.”

In the fall the Q Series lights will have the option to be upgraded from a 3-pin cable to a 5-pin cable. Then if the need arises a light can be turned from its normal function to an SOS signal.

“If you need to hail the Coast Guard, you could have all OGM lights flashing SOS,” said Matthews. LEDs work well for that kind of signaling because,

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ast year the Coast Guard received reports of LED lights potentially interfering with VHF-FM radio frequencies, AIS and DSC reception. The service said in a marine safety alert that “radio frequency (RF) interference caused by these LED lamps were found to create potential safety hazards.”

It is possible LED lights by themselves aren’t the cause of the RF interference. In the article “LED Interference; an old problem still searching for a solution” in the January/February 2019 issue of Marine Electronics Journal, Joe Hersey wrote that “light emitting diodes do not emit RF energy.” The culprit is the electronic LED driver, which is “necessary to regulate the current and The Coast Guard received reports that maintain specific luminosity as input volt- radio frequency interference caused

by LED lights was creating potential ages vary and the LED heats up.” safety hazards.

The LED driver can be highly efficient but it’s downside, said Hersey, “is the generation of radio interference at higher frequencies.”

You would think that an LED light minus the driver shouldn’t have the RF interference issue. At least that’s the experience of McDermott Light & Signal.

“There’s no interference. Not on my (LEDs),” said Vernon McDermott Sr. It wasn’t always that way. Fifteen years ago, McDermott remembers a tugboat operator telling him he would be talking on his VHF and the reception was fine, but when he turned his LED lights on he lost the radio connection.

The problem was the LED driver, or what McDermott refers to as a buck inverter or boost inverter.

“We don’t use them on any of our lights because I don’t trust the quality,” he said. “I learned the hard way. I made some with buck inverters 15 years ago.”

LEDs from McDermott Light use a conventional voltage regulator that generates only plain DC voltage. The LED is so immune from developing RF interference that “you could lay the light on the (VHF) antenna” and there would not be an issue, McDermott said.

Orca Green Marine (OGM) LED lights do have the driver built into the LED board.

Megan Matthews of OGM remembers a pleasure boat customer calling and complaining

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51

Lighting

Imtra

that his OGM tricolor light was interfering with the VHF radio while on an overnight passage. She asked him to recreate the conditions at the dock. He couldn’t do it.

It turns out the only difference between trying to recreate the situation at the dock and the night the incident took place was “he had his autopilot on,” when underway, said Matthews, so the issue wasn’t the LED light. “A load on the battery, different connections, loose connections can induce RF, but it won’t show until you turn on the light. But people automatically think it is the light.”

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when compared to other lights, they “can turn off and on very quickly.

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IMTRA If it’s an LED searchlight you are looking for, Imtra Corp., New Bedford, Mass., may have what you need.

The company branched out into LED exterior lights in 2016 by partnering with the Swedish company Luminell with the CLite2, a dual-headed searchlight.

This coming fall Imtra will introduce the single-head CLite1.

A benefit of LED searchlights compared to traditional searchlights is once they are turned on you have 100% illumination. There’s no warm up. Both the CLite2 and CLite1 can be networked into numerous control stations, and a control panel indicates the direction of the searchlight. You can select five preset surveillance locations, and the searchlight changes to each location after a certain period of time. Both searchlights can be matched up with a Flir camera for nighttime surveillance.

Imtra’s second venture into exterior LED lighting occurred in 2017 with the Dutch company DHR for the DHR40, DHR60 and DHR80 LED navigation lights with aluminum housings.

All three modes are Coast Guard certified. A key feature is that all parts of the three lights — driver, circuit board and lens — can be replaced onboard a vessel. www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

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It is Andrie’s mission to empower our employees to serve our customers in a safe, cost effective & environmentally sound manner.

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MARINE GEAR & SUPPLIES

EMPLOYMENT

SHORE OFFSHORE SERVICES Has Immediate Openings                   

Derrick Barge Deck Foreman Leadermen Rigger Derrick Crane Operator Deck Crane Operator Tower Operator Welding Foreman Welder (6 GR Certified) Clerk Chief Engineer Chief Electrician Mechanic Oiler Electrician Steward Night Cook Galley Hand Tug Boat Captain Able Body Seamen

Working, Fishing, Towing, Supporting, Defending

OceanMedix®

Subchapter M §140.435 First Aid Equipment

The Source For Medical, Emergency & Safety Equipment - Since 2006 http://www.OceanMedix.com 1-866-788-2642

Commercial Vessel Medical Kits Coastal & Offshore Configurations Available in Three Sizes

www.shipinteriorsystems.com Complete Interiors, Every Marine Environment

 DESIGN  ENGINEERING  SUPPLY

Minimum 2 years offshore experience onboard a derrick barge required.

Applicants must have a valid TWIC card.

Email resume to:

jobs@shoreoffshore.com

Smith Marine Towing NOW HIRING!!!

NOW HIRING FOLLOWING: Captains with 100 ton license with towing endorsement

Keel Coolers Trouble free marine engine cooling since 1927!

THE WALTER MACHINE CO, INC Tel: 201-656-5654 • Fax: 201-656-0318 www.waltergear.com

Un-licensed Engineers/Mates/Deckhands with following trainings but not limited to: Safe Gulf, First Aid/CPR/Rigging/Fire Fighting/Water Survival

Apply in person at:

1116 Jackson Road, Amelia, LA 70381

Or email application/resume to:

HR@smithmarinetowing.com www.smithmarinetowing.com

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SEE MORE JOBS ONLINE workboat.com/resources/jobs/ www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

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PortofCall

Your Source For Employment, Equipment & Services MARINE GEAR & SUPPLIES

Marine Equipment

◆ Ship Launching Airbags ◆ Ship, Barge & Dock Fenders ◆ Anchors & Chains ◆ Wire Rope & Rigging ◆ Tow Plates & Tow Shackles ◆ -Skid ◆ Mooring & Aquaculture Buoys ◆ Winches & Capstans ◆ Dredge Pipe Floats & Hose

Ship Supply

BLUEOCEANTACKLE.COM ~ (754) 212-4892 SALES@BLUEOCEANTACKLE.COM

Now Manufacturing and Installing Fire Retardant Bunk Curtains

We are a Custom Manufacturer of Wheelhouse Tinted Shades & Crew Quarter Blackout Shades

We custom build every shade to fit each window in our facility.

They are Incredibly durable, driven by over-sized clutches and operated by a stainless steel pull chain.

We offer measurement and installation services in Southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. We carry $5,000,000 workers’ compensation, and liability insurance policies with U.S.L.&H. and the Jones Act.

Download our order form to purchase your shades today.

Contact: Edward Kass III | 504-615-5833 | ekass@solarboatshades.com | www.solarboatshades.com

Marine Mattresses Marine Industrial Bunk Beds Bunks and Curtains Lockers and Benches Polar Fleece Blankets/Towels

WWW.CAPITALBED.COM 56

BUNKS

CURTAINS ◼

800-579-0365

◼

BENCHES/LOCKERS

SALES@CAPITALBED.COM www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

For Port of Call advertising, email wjalbert@divcom.com or call 800-842-5496

MARINE GEAR & SUPPLIES Lake Superior Cabs, Inc. Building Pilot Houses, Equipment Cabs and Control Houses since 1992

8-500kW Marine Generators // Pull harder in the harshest marine environments // More copper and premium corrosion resistance // Superior motor starting and low operating temps // Better fuel economy and longer engine life // Easy to service and worldwide dealer support // Proudly made in America 1.800.777.0714 toll free www.merequipment.com

www.lakesuperiorcabs.com 121 W. Harney Rd Esko, MN Toll Free: 800-328-1823 Fax: 218-879-4640 Dean Myers LSCABS@aol.com

BARGE PUMPS

DATREX Maxflow Mesh Vests

PLACE YOUR AD HERE * * workboat.com/about/advertise/

IMO ROTARY SCREW ASPHALT PUMPS BYRON JACKSON TURBINE PUMPS BLACKMER ROTARY GEAR PUMPS OUR 110TH YEAR

THE MOST POWERFUL TOOL

1-800-40-PILOT Sales@PilothouseCharts.com www.PilothouseCharts.com

TANK TENDER

for removing coatings and rust

DUVIC’S PUMPS “Greater Downtown” HARVEY, LA 70059 Box 1237 • 504-341-1654 PH/FX

SERVICES ™

TANK THETENDER ORIGINAL

PRECISION TANK MEASURING SYSTEM! Accurate tank Accurate tank soundings have soundings have TANK TENDER ™ never been easier Accurate tank never been easier when one TANK when one TANK TENDER monitors soundings have upTENDER to ten fuel and monitors up to ten fuel water tanks. never been easier Reliable andnon-water tanks. Reliable nonelectric and easy when one TANK to install. electric and easy to install. ™

THE ORIGINAL PRECISION TANK MEASURING SYSTEM! TANK TENDER ™

TANK 1 TANK 2 TANK 3 TANK 4 PUMP

Push button in and hold, pump slowly.

Do not test with deck fill pipe full.

Pressure over red line may damage gauge. ™

HART SYSTEMS, INC. Gig Harbor, Washington

TENDER monitors

up to ten fuel and HART SYSTEMS, INC.

HART SYSTEMS, INC.

253-858-8481 FAX 253-858-8486 www.TheTankTender.com

water tanks.

253-858-8481 FAXReliable 253-858-8486 nonwww.TheTankTender.com electric and easy

TANK 1 TANK 2 TANK 3 TANK 4 PUMP

Push button in and hold, pump slowly.

Do not test with deck fill pipe full.

Pressure over red line may damage gauge.

to install.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat ™

HART SYSTEMS, INC. Gig Harbor, Washington

HART SYSTEMS, INC.

Rustibus® is designed to de-scale and power brush ship decks, hatch covers, tank tops, etc. free from paint and rust!

USA OFFICE Ph: 832-203-7170 houston@rustibus.com

Have you thought about the accomplishment you have made by obtaining a Captain’s License? The many hours of study and time at sea?

1-800-584-0242 57

PortofCall

Your Source For Employment, Equipment & Services SERVICES

HAVE YOU BEEN INJURED ON THE JOB? MB Brokerage Co. | MB Barge Co. | BG Fleeting Serving the Marine Industry Over 40 years

Chris Gonsoulin, Owner (850) 255-5266

cgonsoul@gmail.com

www.mbbrokerage.net

The George Law Firm - Maritime Law Group helps Injured Maritime Workers. Whether you are a Jones Act Sailor or covered by the LHWCA - Longshoreman and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, we are here to Fight For Your Rights and get you Back On Your Feet Again.

When You are Injured on the Job Call the Maritime Law Group 888-240-8510 24/7.

ARE YOU WORRIED YOU MAY LOSE YOUR MARINER’S LICENSE??

If you have Failed a Drug Test, Refused to Submit to a Drug Test or Have Been Charged with the Use or Addiction to Dangerous Drugs or Alcohol under 46 U.S.C. 7703, the U.S. Coast Guard will seek to revoke your License and Merchant Mariner's Document.

Don’t Give Up or Try to Fight the USCG Administrative Judges Alone!

We Successfully Defend Mariner’s Licenses and Merchant Mariner's Documents.

In most cases the Maritime Law Group can get Mariners working and back on the water in about a year!

LET US PUT OUR EXPERIENCE TO WORK FOR YOU! We serve the Entire United States and US Territories.

www.george-law.com ◼

888-240-8510 ◼

843-323-4383

Become a Certified and Accredited Marine Surveyor

Fishing Vessel Qualified. Complete course and examination for all vessel types and uses.

1-800-245-4425 or navsurvey.com

We Build the Ship First.

Production Lofting Detail Design 3D Modeling St. John’s, NL | Vancouver, BC | New Orleans, LA 709.368.0669 | 504.287.4310 | www.genoadesign.com

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www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

For Port of Call advertising, email wjalbert@divcom.com or call 800-842-5496

SERVICES

TRAINING

SMITH BROTHERS, Inc.

Maritime Institute of Technology

TUGS/BARGES FOR RENT

Barges sized from 8’ x 18’ to 45’ to 120’. Also “Shugart” sectional barges. “Truckable Tugs” here.

www.smithbarge.com Galesville, MD 20765 - (410) 867-1818

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PLACE YOUR AD HERE workboat.com/about/advertise/ Coast Guard & State Pilotage License Insurance Available Coverages; Legal Defense for CG, NTSB and State Pilot Hearings; Federal and State Civil Actions Reimbursement for Loss of Wages Group Coverage Also Available R.J. Mellusi & Co., 29 Broadway, Suite 2311 New York, N.Y. 10006 Tel. 1(800)280-1590, Fax. 1(212)385-0920, rjmellusi@sealawyers.com www.marinelicenseinsurance.com

2814 W 15th Street Panama City, FL 32401

850-­‐387-­‐1829

www.mitnavschool.com

USCG Approved Courses

facebook.com/mitnavschool

Basic First Aid, CPR & AED

Radar Renewal

USCG Application Assistance

Exam Prep (500 / 1600 / 3rd Mate)

Able Seaman w/ Proficiency in Survival Craft

T O A R (Towing Operator Assessment Record)

100 Ton Master (Upgrade)

Visual Communications (Flashing Lights)

200 Ton Master (Upgrade)

OUPV (Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels)

Celestial Navigation

Leadership & Managerial Skills

ADVERTISERS INDEX Advertiser / Page Aero Tec Laboratories Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Ahead Sanitation Systems Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 All American Marine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 American VULKAN Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 BAE Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Bloom Incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Blount Boats Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 C & C Marine and Repair LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Cascade Engine Center LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Conrad Shipyard, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 David Clark Company Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Duramax Marine LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CV3 Eastern Shipbuilding Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Engines, inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Force Control Industries Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Furuno USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Imtra Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 International WorkBoat Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 JMS Naval Architects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 John Deere Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

Karl Senner, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CV4 KEMEL USA Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Kohler Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Louisiana Cat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Llebroc industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 McDermott Light & Signal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Mitsubishi Turbocharger and Engine America, Inc . . . . . 13 Motor-Services Hugo Stamp Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 MTU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Pacific Marine Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Panolin America Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Philadelphia Gear, A Timken Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 R W Fernstrum & Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Scania. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Seakeeper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Simrad - Navico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Tandemloc, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Twin Disc Incorporated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CV2 Vigor Industrial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Volvo Penta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

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LOOKS BACK JUNE 1949

• The pressure to increase the capital stock of the Inland Waterways Corporation from $15 million to $31 million has intensified in Congress. This has served to downplay plans to force the federal government to divest itself of Federal Barge Line (FBL). The Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee has heard testimony on a bill that is sponsored by

most of the senators from Mississippi Valley states to increase the capital stock. The bill would also permit FBL to extend its routes to the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, including Chattanooga, Tenn., and Nashville, Tenn., and operate on the lower Ohio River. Chester C. Thompson of the American Waterways Operators protested the route extensions, pointing out that service provided by JUNE 1959 private barge • The days of the 700-foot Great Lakes super ore carrier is nearing, said Edgerton B. Williams, vice president of sales with the American Shipbuilding Co., Cleveland. He said he expects “a considerable number of such ships in the future” and hoped the construction program for the ships would be “an orderly one, extending over a number of years.”

• The American JUNE 1969 Waterways

• About 80% of the U.S. fleet is 25 years old, and the time is now for the U.S. to act. “We have arrived at the 11th hour, and we can only hope that this is sufficiently appreciated and that authorization will be given to American shipowners identical to that given to all our foreign competitors — to purchase ships in the world market if the requirements cannot be met at home,” 60

operators was currently adequate. AWO is not opposed to the capital stock increase if it is used to create new routes on newly completed inland waterways.

Operators has asked Congress to continue the exemption of seamen that work on shallow-draft inland waterway vessels from wage-hour provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

A.T. deSmedt, president of Isthmian Lines Inc., said in a paper presented recently to the Transportation Center at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. “While the new administration has given assurances that attention will be given to the condition of the merchant marine, no conceivable timetable could produce positive action from Congress within a year.” www.workboat.com • JUNE 2019 • WorkBoat

DURAMAX®

SHAFT SEAL SYSTEMS

Engineered for Optimum Sealing Performance.

The DryMax™ seal is a robust, environmentally friendly, water-lubricated stern tube seal system. Engineered to accommodate the most axial and radial shaft movement of any seal design while eliminating wear on the shaft.

Reversible DuraChrome™ mating ring gives 2X the life extending drydock intervals

Keeps seawater out of your vessel and your bilge dry. The DryMax™ engineered nitrile rubber ring rotates with the shaft and creates a hydrodynamic seal with the DuraChrome™ mating ring.

Superior sealing and wear life. The proprietary rubber polymer seal ring and the DuraChrome™ alloy mating ring have been engineered to provide optimal sealing and long wear life.

Virtually maintenance free. An inflatable seal is built into the housing allowing seal inspection and primary sealing ring replacement at sea without dry docking.

MADE IN U.S.A.

DryMax™ is ideal for vessels operating in both brown and blue water. It accommodates shaft sizes and stern tubes up to 36".

MADE IN U.S.A.

The DryMax™ seal is also available as a rudder stock seal.

For more information on DryMax™ Shaft Seal or to purchase contact: Duramax Marine at 440-834-5400 or go to DuramaxMarine.com

Duramax Marine® is an ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company

Products And Knowledge You Trust

p: 440.834.5400 f: 800.497.9283

Karl Senner, LLC is proud to supply a pair of REINTJES WAF 1173 Gearboxes onboard the M/V Cape Lookout, the second vessel in this six vessel series.

Onboard are two REINTJES WAF 1173 Reverse Reduction Gearboxes, equipped with Internal Hydraulic Shaft Brakes behind a pair of Cat 3516E Tier 4 diesel engines supplied by Thompson CAT.

Owner: Kirby Corporation Shipyard: Master Boat Builders Naval Architect: Guarino & Cox, LLC Congratulations to Master Boat Builders on 40 years of successful vessel construction!

504-469-4000

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KARLSENNER.COM