WorkBoat July 2015

much

Electronics • Government Boats • Austal USA ®

IN BUSINESS ON THE COASTAL AND INLAND WATERS

JULY 2015

Safety Drill

Five years after Deepwater Horizon, operators and others say safety is the priority.

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ON THE COVER

®

JULY 2015 • VOLUME 72, NO. 7

Gas flaring at the Deepwater Horizon site in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Photo courtesy of National Science Foundation

FEATURES 24 Focus: Roll Tide Partnering with the state of Alabama and local technical schools has helped Austal USA meet its personnel needs.

28 Vessel Report: Boat Cuts Federal funding for new small boats is drying up.

40 Cover Story: New Horizon Five years after Deepwater Horizon, officials say the safety culture offshore has changed for the better.

BOATS & GEAR 34 On the Ways

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Patti Marine christens new ATB tug for Moran Towing. Blount Boats lands contract for 69' offshore wind farm vessel. Eastern Shipbuilding launches second 302' MPSV for Hornbeck Offshore. New 69' tactical-response boat for NYPD Harbor Unit from Gladding-Hearn. Blessey Marine christens three new towboats in May. All-electric car ferry goes to work in Norway.

46 Well Equipped Marine electronics for workboats continues to evolve.

AT A GLANCE 10 10 11 12 14 15 16

On the Water: Learning from experience — Part I. Captain’s Table: The Louisville Maritime Person of the Year.

OSV Day Rates: Where oil prices will go is anybody’s guess.

WB Stock Index: Workboat stocks dip 1.2% in May. Inland Insider: Has coal finally bottomed out?

Insurance Watch: Is your boat a total loss?

Legal Talk: Two-part test for seaman status.

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NEWS LOG 18 18 19 19 21 22 22

Shell cited in NTSB report on 2012 Kulluk grounding.

AWO seeks Subchapter M inclusion for its Responsible Carrier Program.

Obama delivers commencement address to Coast Guard Academy grads.

Coast Guard boats targeted by handheld lasers.

Trailer Bridge files patent infringement suit against Crowley.

Feds give OK to Shell to drill off Alaska coast.

Crewman missing after Mississippi River towboat sinking.

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DEPARTMENTS

4 Editor’s Watch

8 Mail Bag 48 Port of Call 63 Advertisers Index 64 WB Looks Back

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/5/15 6:10 PM

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t’s been over five years since Deepwater Horizon, and in its wake was a lot of talk about making it safer to drill and preventing a similar disaster from occurring in the future.

Opinions differ on whether it is indeed safer to drill in the deepwater Gulf, but this much is clear: Oil companies want offshore service contractors who can prove that their businesses, vessels and people are up to the new safety culture and standards that have been created.

Offshore service vessel operators say that they see more demands for safety and management certification from customers. Matthew Rigdon of Jackson Offshore Operators said that with the oil companies subjected to high standards for permits, “that has trickled down to the boat operators.”

And Ben Billings, chief of the Offshore Marine Service Association, said the offshore marine service industry “is safer than it has ever been.”

How? Billings rattled off a list that includes new empowerment of OSV crews to think about and act on safety issues, fleet wide safety management systems, regular drills, training and assessments, vessel inspections and audits, financial safety incentives and information sharing incentives between companies.

Though opinions differ on whether it’s safer for BP to drill, it’s tough to argue with Billings’ assessment that OSV operators are safer than ever. *** There has been a big change in our editorial team. After 16 years as technical editor at WorkBoat, Bruce Buls has finally decided to begin his well-deserved retirement. During his

David Krapf, Editor in Chief

time at WorkBoat, Bruce beefed up our West/Northwest coverage of boats and shipyards from his Seattle-area base, and elevated the magazine’s technical expertise level. After taking a long vacation, Bruce plans on continuing to contribute to WorkBoat through stories and blogs that report on all the happenings out West. Let’s hope Bruce sticks to this plan.

With this issue, Kirk Moore joins our staff as associate editor and will do his best to try and fill Bruce’s big shoes.

Please join me in wishing Bruce the best of luck in retirement, and thank him for a great 16 years. He has left WorkBoat in a much better place.

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.

Annual Subscription Rates: U.S. $39; Canada $55; International $103. When available, extra copies of current issue are $4, all other issues and special issues are $5. For subscription customer service call (978) 671-0444. The publisher reserves the right to sell subscriptions to those who have purchasing power in the industry this publication serves. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, ME, and additional mailing offices. Circulation Office: 121 Free St., P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112-7438. From time to time, we make your name and address available to other companies whose products and services may interest you. If you prefer not to receive such mailings, please send a copy of your mailing label to: WorkBoat’s Mailing Preference Service, P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WORKBOAT, P.O. Box 1792, Lowell, MA 01853. Copyright 20 15

by Diversified Business Communications.

Printed in U.S.A.

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/8/15 1:58 PM

Leave your worries behind with the power and reliability of John Deere engines With expanded power from 56 to 559 kW (75 to 750 hp), John Deere PowerTech™ engines can take you wherever you want to go. Go to work with the confidence and satisfaction only John Deere propulsion, auxiliary, and generator drive engines can deliver.

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PUBLISHER

Jerry Fraser jfraser@divcom.com

EDITOR IN CHIEF

David Krapf dkrapf@divcom.com

SENIOR EDITOR

Ken Hocke khocke@divcom.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Kirk Moore kmoore@divcom.com Capt. Alan Bernstein • Bruce Buls • Michael Crowley • Dale K. DuPont • Pamela Glass • Max Hardberger • Kevin Horn • Joel Milton • Bill Pike • Kathy Bergren Smith

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Jenn Stein

ART DIRECTOR PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE

Doug Stewart

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Sokvonny Chhouk

PUBLISHING OFFICES

Dylan Andrews

Main Office: 121 Free St., P.O. Box 7438 • Portland, ME 04112-7438 • (207) 842-5608 • Fax: (207) 842-5609

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Subscription Information: (978) 671-0444 • cs@e-circ.net General Information: (207) 842-5610

ADVERTISING

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Wendy Jalbert 121 Free St., P.O. Box 7438 • Portland, ME 04112-7438 (207) 842-5616 • Fax: (207) 842-5611

wjalbert@divcom.com

ANODES

EASTERN U.S. AND CANADA EUROPE Kristin Luke (207) 842-5635 • Fax: (207) 842-5611

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WESTERN U.S. AND CANADA

PACIFIC RIM Susan Chesney (206) 463-4819 • Fax: (206) 463-3342

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GULF / SOUTHERN U.S.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA Jeff Powell (207) 842-5573 • Fax: (207) 842-5611

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ATLANTIC / CENTRAL STATES Adam Shaw

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ashaw@divcom.com EXPOSITIONS (207) 842-5508 • Fax: (207) 842-5509 Producers of The International WorkBoat Show, WorkBoat Maintenance & Repair Conference and Expo, and Pacific Marine Expo www.workboatshow.com

EXPOSITION SALES DIRECTOR Chris Dimmerling (207) 842-5666 • Fax: (207) 842-5509 cdimmerling@divcom.com

PRESIDENT & CEO

Theodore Wirth

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www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/8/15 4:34 PM

36' Sentry

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Waterways users should be more proactive

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’ve been reading WorkBoat for years, both in print and online, and occasionally there will be an article or opinion piece about the interactions between recreational and professional boaters. (“Close Calls, Rec boaters are putting commercial mariners on edge,” WorkBoat, March 2015, page 32.) Whenever I read these articles, two things come to mind.

A few years ago a traveling license preparation school came to Chattanooga. The instructor asked if I would swear in the new licensees. I was honored at the request. A portion of what I spoke to them about when they took the oath follows.

“By your completion of this goal you are actually casting off on a new voyage, a new journey. Henceforth your family, friends, and acquaintances will

turn to you for your knowledge. In their eyes you are now a source of authoritative information, you are their expert, and they will consciously or unconsciously learn from your behavior.

“The maritime laws of our nation apply to everyone to ensure the safe use of our waterways. But now, by accepting your credential, you will be held to a higher standard. The knowledge you have gained carries with it not only extensive legal obligations but moral obligations as well. It is the moral responsibility of all licensed mariners to help others to be better and safer boaters.

“As licensed mariners it is our collective responsibility to set and operate by a higher standard. To assist others who desire to learn, to be patient and courteous on the water, and to never operate in a careless or negligent manner.”

Second, about seven years ago in my 28th year as a licensed mariner, it

dawned on me that there is rarely an opportunity beyond a passing agreement over the radio for professional and recreational mariners to interact.

So I formed an unofficial local organization, the Chattanooga Mariners Association. The purpose is to enhance and further communication and camaraderie between commercial, recreational, and professional users of our waterways.

Since then, four to six times a year, I put in a lot of effort to bring these groups together for a meet and greet, dinner and a presentation. We’ve had speakers such as our local Chickamauga lockmaster, Coast Guard Nashville Marine Safety Office accident investigators, the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security, district representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers, and a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency recreational accident investigation officer. We now have about 150 members.

I have found that by being proactive instead of just complaining, that there is a greater amount of understanding and good will amongst the members — all regular users of our shared waterways. As a result, I believe our portion of the Tennessee River has become a better and safer place to work, play and live.

Pete Hosemann Hosemann Marine Services Chattanooga, Tenn.

WorkBoat encourages readers to write us about anything that appears in the magazine, on WorkBoat.com or pertains to the marine industry. To be published, letters must include the writer’s address and a daytime phone number.

Send letters to: MAIL BAG P.O. BOX 1348 Mandeville, LA 70470 workboat@cox.net fax: 504-891-4112

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www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/8/15 1:36 PM

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On the Water

Learning from experience — Part 1

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By Joel Milton

Joel Milton works on towing vessels.

He can be reached at joelmilton@ yahoo.com.

here are several ways that humans learn. One way to learn, as experienced mariners often like to remind people, is by experience.

Learning by direct participation, by doing, is typically viewed as the “best” way. Learning by experience certainly has many pluses and is absolutely necessary in my view, but it’s not always the best way.

How about learning from the experiences of others?

It so happens that the late Capt. Richard Cahill saw great value in learning from the actions and experiences of others. Why learn everything the hard way if you don't have to? So he wrote two seminal books on the subject. Collisions and Their Causes (1983) and its companion volume Strandings and Their Causes (1985) are among the very best of their kind. I was extremely fortunate to have been exposed to these books back in the early

Captain’s Table An unexpected honor

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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.

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received a great honor last month from the Port of Louisville Propeller Club when I was named the club’s Maritime Person of the Year.

I was presented with the award during the club’s National Maritime Day festivities. I was recognized for my work in organizing the Belle of Louisville’s 100th birthday last October. The Propeller Club also acknowledged my participation in the annual Kentucky Derby events “Thunder over Louisville” and “The Great Steamboat Race.”

I am proud to join a long and impressive list of capable maritime professionals who the club has recognized each year since 1984 for their contributions to the maritime industry and the inland river system.

I worked very hard to make sure that the Belle of Louisville’s centennial celebration was exceptional, but I didn’t expect to receive an award for

1990s. The books are a good way to learn from the failures of others.

This brings me to one of my all-time favorites from Strandings, the curious case of the Royal Majesty. The large, state-of-the-art cruise ship was equipped with all the navigational safety bells and whistles of her day when it grounded on Rose and Crown Shoal near Nantucket Island in 1995, over 17 miles off course. The Royal Majesty had departed from St. George, Bermuda. The watch officers had no clue where they were. It turned out that the antenna connection to the GPS receiver went bad about one hour after leaving port. This went undetected by the entire deck officer corps (every one of them, including the master) for days, right up until the moment of grounding. Oh, and the depth sounder that could have saved them was also turned off. The elevated level of negligence was truly impressive.

In Capt. Cahill’s own immortal words, “Although the master and his watch officers had ample seafaring background, it appears that none had gained much benefit from their experience.”

Remember that the next time someone brags about how experienced they are.

my efforts. Even though organizing the event was quite a challenge, the real reward for me was the opportunity to showcase a national treasure such as the Belle of Louisville. There is a special place in my heart for this historically significant riverboat. I did my best to steer the Belle of Cincinnati to victory during our annual river race, but it was only fitting that the grand Belle of Louisville won handily on her birthday.

I have been a mariner on the inland river system since 1970. I hold three merchant mariner licenses and have logged countless hours as a master of riverboats. I am proud of the many awards I have received over the years. I have served on many industry work groups and was president of the Passenger Vessel Association in 1988.

I am very honored to have been named Maritime Person of the Year by the Port of Louisville Propeller Club.

I have had a great career on the river, one that I didn’t anticipate. I look forward to many more years on the water and in service to the maritime industry.

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/5/15 5:29 PM

MAY 2015 DAY RATES, FLEET UTILIZATION VESSEL TYPE

OSV Day Rates Oil price guesswork

By Bill Pike

A

s low oil prices hang around, speculation about the duration and depth of the slide increases. Analysts and others seem puzzled: • Oil will probably continue to decline to as low as $30 bbl., according to Gary Cohn, president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “We’re probably in the lower, longer view,” said Cohn.

• Oil has the potential to reach $200 bbl. because of a lack of investment in new supply, said OPEC Secretary General Abdell El-Badri. He gave no time frame for when oil will hit that price.

• Shale oil will soon be needed to make up for production declines around the world, pushing U.S. prices as high as $65 bbl., the head of Astenbeck Capital Management said.

MAY '15

MAY '14

UTILIZATION MAY '15

MAY '14

SUPPLY (DWT) • In a 1,999 & below $ 9,462 $ 9,729 $15,283 74% 93% Bloomberg 2,000-2,999 $18,524 $18,324 $24,890 68% 100% News survey 3,000-3,999 $27,812 $27,812 $31,500 88% 100% of analysts 4,000-4,999 $30,750 $29,500 $31,250 88% 100% and traders, 5,000 & above $35,700 $34,200 $39,589 100% 100% 12 of 32 CREWBOATS respondents Under 170' $ 3,694 $ 3,654 $ 4,834 60% 84% predicted 170' & over $ 6,082 $ 6,082 $ 7,472 82% 87% oil futures SOURCE: WorkBoat survey of 32 offshore service vessel companies. would decline early in the year while 10 forecast an increase. drawdown,” Joseph Tanious, principal “We don’t think we have seen the botand investment strategist at Bessemer tom yet,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a Trust, told The Wall Street Journal. commodities analyst at UBS in Zurich.

“But I’d want to see more confirmation “We are establishing a bottom,” said of that before we call a bottom.”

Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at • The recent surge in oil prices is just Confluence Investment Management. a head fake, and oil as cheap as $20 a “In the long run, probably $60 is going barrel may soon be the way, said Citito be your pivot point.” Oil could fall group analyst Edward Morse. He sees as low as $30 because supply surpluses a rebound to around $75 by year end. won’t disappear overnight, said BarSo, if you are unsure about the future clays analyst Miswin Mahesh. of oil prices, don’t feel bad. Apparently • “Probably the most encouragno one has a clue how or when this ing sign for oil prices is that supply cycle might end.

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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AVERAGE DAY RATES APR. '15

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WorkBoat Composite Index

INDEX NET PERCENT COMPARISONS 4/30/15 5/29/15 CHANGE CHANGE Operators 390.58 375.67 -14.91 -3.82 Suppliers 2851.88 2812.39 -39.49 -1.38 Shipyards 1730.45 1790.79 60.34 3.49 Workboat Composite 1762.90 1741.95 -20.95 -1.19 PHLX Oil Service Index 222.58 209.52 -13.06 -5.87 Dow Jones Industrials 17840.52 18010.68 170.16 0.95 Standard & Poors 500 2085.51 2107.39 21.88 1.05

Index dips 21 points in May

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he WorkBoat Composite Index lost 21 points in May, or 1.2%, as losers topped winners 24-7.

Shipyards were the only Index in positive territory in May, gaining 3.5%.

Trinity Industries was the leading percentage gainer in May. The company jumped over 10% after posting strong first-quarter results and topping analysts’ estimates.

Trinity’s Rail Group had record quarterly financial results, with strong revenues and operating profit during the first quarter, but the company’s Inland Barge Group, which includes Trinity Marine Products, also had a strong quarter. The group increased its profit level from previous quarters on lower revenue. In addition, the barge backlog increased during the quarter.

“I’m pleased with the group’s performance in the first quarter. During the first quarter, we received orders for new barges, totaling approximately $280 million, resulting in a backlog of $565 million at the end of March.

This is the highest backlog reported by the group in more than six years.”

William A. McWhirter, president of the Inland Barge Group, said during the company’s April 24 earnings call. “Our ability to capture a large number of orders during the quarter is due to our operational flexibility. Order patterns in the industry shifted from liquid barges to dry barges. Our Barge Group’s operational flexibility is a key differentiator, enabling the group to enhance profitability.” — David Krapf STOCK CHART

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For the complete up-to-date WorkBoat Stock Index, go to: www.workboat.com/ workboat-index.aspx

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/5/15 5:29 PM

CAT IF CAT IF

BY LAND, BY SEA ®

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Whether you’re powering an offshore craft, a sea-worthy container vessel or an on-board generator set, you won’t find a better source for reliable marine engine power than Caterpillar. In addition to a wide selection of marine engines that range from 205 to more than 6,500 bhp, Louisiana Cat offers: • Factory trained technicians • Fully equipped facilities • Factory authorized warranty repairs • Performance analysis reports • Preventive maintenance programs • Electronic diagnostics • 24-hour emergency parts and service Call our toll free number below to learn more about our Caterpillar products and services.

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6/1/15 1:31 PM 7/17/2014 12:54:09 PM

Inland Insider More bad news for coal?

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mong the major commodities moved on the inland waterways are grain, coal, and petroleum and refined products, including chemicals.

Two of these, grain and petrochemicals, are characterized by very low growth. However, the coal market has declined in absolute terms.

The fallout from declining Appalachian coal production is significant for barge lines that specialize in the open hopper trades on the Ohio River system. The relatively limited growth for other hopper markets places pressure on rates, costs and profits. As a result, some barge lines have engaged in creative refinancing, including sale and exchanges of assets to move the profit center away from barge freight.

Several distressed coal companies are undergoing financial restructurings,

with some looking at voluntary debt restructuring to avoid bankruptcy. One coal company has engaged in significant debt restructuring through bankruptcy, and in response to the continuing decline in coal prices, is positioned to enter bankruptcy for a second time.

A measure of the continuing financial distress can be seen in the spread between the benchmark coal price of $87 that was forecasted for 2015 compared to the actual price of $67.80 per ton.

Meanwhile, low-cost producer Murray Energy is laying off about 20% of its workforce.

These developments are aggravated by low prices for natural gas, abundant gas supplies, and aging coal-fired utility plants that are cheaper to replace or convert to natural gas. Consequently, gas is projected to supply nearly 50% of the domestic electricity generated by 2016 compared to about 30% before 2010.

However, coal’s bottom may be in

sight with natural gas prices stabilizing at $3 or higher, which is favorable for the continued use of coal.

By Kevin Horn Long-term domestic coal production forecasts by the U.S. Department of Energy show most of the decline in Appalachian coal production will have occurred by 2015. DOE projects continued growth for other coal production east of the Mississippi River that will more than offset future declines in Appalachian coal.

That is welcome news but perhaps too late for the current owners and operators of coal hopper barges and mining infrastructure.

Kevin Horn is a senior manager with GEC Inc., Delaplane, Va. He can be contacted at khorn@gecinc.com.

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www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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2/24/15 8:55 AM

6/5/15 5:32 PM

Insurance Watch How is a total loss determined?

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hat constitutes a total loss under your ocean marine hull insurance policy? It’s easy if your vessel sinks and is not salvageable.

Examples of a total loss is if your vessel burns to the waterline, sinks in very deep water (too deep to safely salvage it) or hits a ledge in a remote area and is not accessible for a safe salvage effort.

How does a commercial ocean marine hull insurance policy handle a total loss? It pays the entire hull amount of insurance listed on the declaration page of the policy with no deductible.

Yes, that’s correct. The deductible will not apply in a total loss.

By Gene McKeever A constructive total loss is different. It occurs when the vessel is recovered but heavily damaged to the point where the cost to repair it would exceed the amount that the vessel is insured for. There’s actually a court ruling that if the cost to repair is more than half the amount insured it will be a constructive total loss. Most ocean marine insurance companies in the U.S., however, don’t follow that rule of thumb.

There have been some drawn-out negotiations between insurers and policyholders over the constructive total loss wording in these policies. For instance, an insurer may find a shipyard that will do the repair for far less than the figure

that will make the vessel a constructive total loss. If the client has a shipyard that they trust who says repairs will exceed the value of the vessel, then the battle begins. My suggestion is to get good surveyors involved to help determine the true nature of damage.

Let’s take a look at a clause called “sue and labor.” To put it simply, it’s a payment in excess of the insured hull amount to help the insured/vessel own-

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er secure the vessel while the insurer determines the extent of damage. The important part of sue and labor is that it’s in excess of the hull insurance, and it will usually save the client a lot of money in a constructive total loss case.

Gene McKeever is a marine insurance agent with Allen Insurance and Financial. He can be reached at 800-4394311 or gmckeever@allenif.com

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6/5/15 5:34 PM

Legal Talk Two-part test for Jones Act seaman status

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n a recent Fifth Circuit case (Alexander v. Express Energy Services Operating LP), an appeals court tackled the issue of seaman status for an employee of a company that plugs

decommissioned oil wells off the coast of Louisiana.

The employee was working as a lead hand/operator in the plug-and-abandonment department of the company.

He was injured when a wire line from a crane snapped, which caused a plugging tool to fall and roll onto his foot.

He filed a claim against the employer and other defendants under the Jones Act. In response, the employer filed a

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motion for summary judgment.

This summary judgment motion meant the employer wanted the court to dismiss

By Tim Akpinar the case because the employee was not a seaman under the Jones Act. The lower court ruled in favor of the employer and dismissed the case. The employee appealed. The appeals court reviewed the matter to determine if the legal test for seaman status had been properly applied.

This seaman status test has two elements. First, employees must demonstrate that their duties contribute to the function of a vessel or the accomplishment of its mission. Second, employees must have a connection to a vessel, or identifiable group of vessels, in navigation. The appeals court used the Fifth Circuit’s general rule that workers who spend less than about 30% of their time in the service of a vessel in navigation do not qualify for seaman status.

With those guidelines in hand, the appeals court examined the duties of the employee. He was responsible for seeing to it that everything was set up and running properly on platforms, making sure that plugging operations were successful. This involved checking well pressures. If a well were ready to be killed, the team would remove the bridge plug, place a nipple in the well, and pump fluids in. If the well were under control, they would clean it, pump cement in, then cut and remove the pipe.

The court considered evidence showing that about 65% of the employee’s jobs involved working on a fixed platform, without the involvement of an adjacent vessel. The court did not find evidence that 30% of the employee’s time was spent on a vessel. Therefore, it agreed with the lower court’s decision to dismiss the case.

Tim Akpinar is a Little Neck, N.Y.-based maritime attorney and former marine engineer. He can be reached at 718-2249824 or t.akpinar@verizon.net.

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• JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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JULY 2015

NEWS LOG NEWS BITTS

Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer First Class Sara Francis

AWO’S RCP COULD GET TSMS APPROVAL FOR NEW INSPECTION RULE

NTSB cites Shell in 2012 Kulluk grounding in Alaska

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hell underestimated risks and made inadequate plans for moving the mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) Kulluk, resulting in the 2012 grounding of the drilling unit in Alaska, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report issued in late May. The mistake in judgement endangered the lives of crews on the MODU, its towing vessel and Coast Guard rescue units, the report goes on to say.

Multiple towline partings and engine failures played a role over four days of worsening weather, as Shell and the Coast Guard gathered more vessels and emergency teams to try to save the Kulluk. But NTSB investigators concluded the biggest failure was Shell’s planning for the tow operation.

“No single error or mechanical failure led to this accident. Rather, shortcomings in the design of a plan with an insufficient margin of safety allowed this accident to take place,” the report said. “The plan was created to move the MODU at a time of year with a known likelihood of severe weather 18

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conditions for reasons unrelated to operational safety.”

The NTSB report strongly suggested that the Coast Guard should take a more active role in supervising Alaska towing operations. The agency noted that other Arctic nations including Canada take an active overseeing role with tow operations in their waters. The 266'-dia. ice-class drilling unit grounded near Ocean Bay on the east coast of Sitkalidak Island off Kodiak Island on Dec. 31, 2012.

The Kulluk had departed 10 days earlier under tow in heavy weather by the 361'×80'×23' ice-class anchorhandling tug/supply vessel Aiviq. “The tow plan recognized historical climate data for the route and season. If adverse weather were encountered, the tow was to ‘turn into weather if possible and create as much sea room as possible, then proceed at a speed conducive with conditions,’ ” the NTSB report quotes Shell’s plan. But experienced hands on the operation knew the risks.

NTSB investigators found one email

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n a letter to the American Waterways Operators June 1, the Coast Guard has indicated that it intends to accept AWO’s Responsible Carrier Program (RCP) as a Towing Safety Management System (TSMS) under the new Subchapter M regulations. The new projected date for publication of the Subchapter M final rule is February 2016. “While the specific requirements of Subchapter M are not final, and will not be so until the final rule is published, we have conducted a preliminary review of the RCP against the requirements of 33 CFR Part 96 (U.S. regulations implementing the ISM code) and the Subchapter M NPRM,” Capt.

K.P. McAvoy, chief, office of commercial vessel compliance, said in the letter. “Based on this review, we conclude that the RCP is substantively equivalent to the ISM code and that the revised external audit frequency comports with the requirements proposed in the Subchapter M NPRM.” While not officially accepted as a TSMS under Subchapter M's NPRM, the Coast Guard said in the letter that when the final Subchapter M rule is published, it will “work with AWO to identify any changes to the RCP that are needed to formally accept the RCP as a TSMS under Subchapter M.”

from the Aiviq master to the Kulluk tow master “stating, in part, ‘I believe that this length of tow, at this time of year, in this location, with our current routing, guarantees an a**kicking.’ ” — Kirk Moore

Mississippi River lock closes after 52 years

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t 11:59 p.m. on June 9 the northernmost lock on the Mississippi River at Minneapolis was scheduled to

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NEWS BITTS close for good. It was 52 years old. The cause of death was an act of Congress.

After Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam at mile 853.9 shuts down, businesses that depend on barges to haul scrap metal and aggregate will have to shift to truck or rail, which will cost more and add to the traffic congestion in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

And concerns persist about the precedent the closing sets for other locks.

Hardest hit will be Aggregate Industries, which owns two tugs and 20 barges and hauls sand, gravel and limestone from mines for projects in the Twin Cities area including the new NFL stadium for the Vikings.

“We will no longer be able to use barging. We’ll be converting to trucking mode,” said Randy Gaworski, the company’s general manager, aggregates and ready-mix. And they’ll need landside equipment to unload trucks.

They have averaged about two barges a day but were using four in preparation for the closing, he said. In the future, they’ll barge material to their St. Paul location, unload it and truck it to Minneapolis, accounting for about 20,000 truck trips a year.

Others will have to adjust, too.

“We will lose some tonnage we’ve moved,” said Lee Nelson, president of Upper River Services, St. Paul. The company likely will stop using the other two of the three Twin Cities locks as well, since they handle more tonnage below them.

The lock is being closed because of a provision in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) of 2014. Proponents of the move say it’s to protect the waterway from Asian carp, though there’s no mention of the voracious fish in the legislation. Others said it was designed to get rid of riverdependent businesses and redevelop the area.

“The one thing that worries me is we now have lock closure for no reason.

Where will that lead us?” said Greg Genz, president of the Upper Mississippi Waterway Association, St. Paul.

The cost of shifting from barge to truck will be an estimated $21.5 mil-

lion through 2040, based on factors such as vehicle operating costs, added highway travel time, “and safety and environmental costs of moving the various types of commodities through the state by truck,” according to the Corps of Engineers environmental assessment. It also will mean the loss of 84 jobs.

Barge traffic through the lock averaged 755,834 tons annually from 2010 to 2014.

At the lock itself, bulkheads will be placed upstream as a barrier. Some equipment such as hydraulic cylinders, pumps and motors will be removed to protect them from the weather and either stored or made available for use elsewhere, said Corps spokesman George Stringham. The tainter gate will remain because the lock serves a secondary purpose as a water-release valve during floods.

The observation deck — now open only by appointment for groups — will operate through the summer. Corps employees were given a choice of moving to another lock or a job elsewhere in the system.

“The lock hasn’t been deauthorized,” Stringham said. The Corps has just been told to close it to navigation.

Obama warns Coast Guard grads about climate change

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he U.S. Coast Guard is on the front line of dealing with climate change, and the refusal of politicians to accept and act on climate science amounts to a “dereliction of duty,” President Barack Obama told the 2015 graduating class of the Coast Guard Academy in May. “But the best scientists in the world know that climate change is happening. Our analysts in the intelligence community know climate change is happening. Our military leaders — generals and admirals, active duty and retired — know it’s happening,” Obama said May 20 at the ceremony for 218 graduates at New London, Conn.

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— Dale K. DuPont

COAST GUARD BOATS TARGETED BY LASERS

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he Coast Guard is warning the public that pointing handheld lasers at Coast Guard boats and air crews is dangerous and illegal. There were three instances of lasers targeting Coast Guard assets in May and early June. On June 2, a Coast Guard 87-foot patrol boat was hit with a laser while patrolling near Sanibel Island, Fla. Crewmembers reported the green laser came from land. Also on June 2, while on patrol, an MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter crew reported being hit by a green laser originating from land one nautical mile south of Punta Salina, Puerto Rico. On May 10 a Coast Guard cutter reported a laser strike while conducting a safety inspection of a recreational vessel in the vicinity of the Venetian Causeway in Miami. There were no reported injuries associated with the incidents. The Coast Guard Investigative Service is investigating all three laser cases. Pointing a laser at an aircraft is a federal crime and a felony offense. If found guilty, offenders could be fined up to $250,000 and sentenced to five years in prison.

“And this is not just a problem for countries on the coasts, or for certain regions of the world. Climate change will impact every country on the planet. No nation is immune,” Obama said. “So I’m here today to say that climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security.”

After a week when Republicans took the administration to task for low-balling the Coast Guard’s capital budget for new ships, Obama turned it around, blaming Congress and its budget sequestration deals to reduce the deficit.

“We’re moving ahead with new Fast Response Cutters, new Offshore Patrol Cutters. We’re on track to have a full fleet of new National Security Cutters — the most advanced in history. And I’ve made it clear that I will not accept a budget that continues these draconian budget cuts called sequestration, because our nation and our military and our Coast Guard deserve better,” 19

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PO2 Cory J. Mendenhall/U.S. Coast Guard

Obama said to applause.

Coast Guard officials say they need more than $2 billion a year to meet goals for replacing older ships, but in the last five years they have received no more than $1.5 billion, according to a recent Government Accounting Office report.

“The United States is an Arctic nation, and we have a great interest in making sure that the region is peaceful, that its indigenous people and environment are protected, and that its resources are managed responsibly in partnership with other nations,” Obama said. “And as the Arctic opens, the role that the Coast Guard plays will only grow. I believe that our interests in the Arctic demand that we continue to invest in an enduring Coast Guard icebreaking capacity.”

Republican criticism, and Obama’s response, may spur some action in Congress. A few days after Obama’s address, Senators Maria Cantwell, D-

President Obama addressed the 2015 graduating class at the Coast Guard Academy in May.

Wash., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced the Icebreaker Recapitalization Act that would authorize the Navy to build as many as six heavy icebreakers for the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard’s High Latitude Study issued four years ago recommended six heavy and four medium

icebreakers to meet the statutory and mission requirements of the Coast Guard and the Navy. Currently, the U.S. has only two operational icebreakers, the heavy icebreaker Polar Star and the medium-duty Healy, which was designed for scientific research.

— K. Moore

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6/3/15 2:00 PM

Trailer Bridge files patent suit against Crowley Maritime

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railer Bridge Inc. has accused rival Crowley Maritime Corp. of infringing on a patent in the Puerto Rico market where the competitive landscape has changed significantly this year.

The federal suit claims Crowley used a proprietary method for loading/off-loading a flat deck barge at an island terminal without Trailer Bridge’s authorization instead of handling the cargo “in a non-infringing, albeit more expensive and less efficient way.” The suit filed in May in San Juan, Puerto Rico, seeks unspecified damages and an injunction against Crowley’s use of the system.

Trailer Bridge was issued Patent 7,341,422 in March 2008, 10 years after first filing for it on a method that involves a ramp from the dock to the

deck and a reach stacker.

Crowley “is confident that it has not infringed a valid patent,” the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company said. It “does not intend to allow a specious claim of patent infringement to prevent it from meeting the needs of customers in the Puerto Rican market.”

The company’s flat deck barges use basic equipment for loading and unloading “that was first deployed by Crowley decades ago,” the company said.

The suit comes after debt-laden Horizon Lines ceased liner service from the U.S. mainland to Puerto Rico at the end of 2014. Horizon also had deals to sell its Alaska business and all outstanding shares to Matson Inc., and its Hawaii business to the Pasha Group, shuffling the Jones Act lineup in all three locations.

In January, Crowley, the leading carrier in the Puerto Rico market, and Sea Star Line announced they were

immediately adding capacity to the U.S.-Puerto Rico market. And this October, Sea Star will introduce the first of two Marlin-class vessels — LNG-powered containerships dedicated solely to the Puerto Rico market and built by NASSCO. VT Halter Marine is building two LNG-powered ships for Crowley’s Puerto Rico trade due out in mid- and late-2017.

Horizon’s departure leaves Crowley, Trailer Bridge and Sea Star serving Puerto Rico and its struggling economy.

“They’re all kind of beating up on each other,” said Kevin Sterling, analyst with BB&T Capital Markets.

“There was too much capacity in that trade lane serving a declining market. I still think there’s too much capacity.”

He pointed out that only Matson and Pasha serve Hawaii, which is doing much better economically than Puerto Rico. — D.K. DuPont

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NEWS BITTS Shell receives OK to drill off Alaska coast

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he Obama administration announced in May that it would permit Shell to drill for oil off the coast of Alaska this summer.

BOEM said it is satisfied with Shell’s Alaska exploration plan. “We have taken a thoughtful approach to carefully considering potential exploration in the Chukchi Sea, recognizing the

significant environmental, social and ecological resources in the region and establishing high standards for the protection of this critical ecosystem, our Arctic communities, and the subsistence needs and cultural traditions of Alaska Natives,” BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper, said in a statement.

“As we move forward, any offshore exploratory activities will continue to be subject to rigorous safety standards.”

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CREWMAN MISSING AFTER TOWBOAT SINKS IN MISSISSIPPI

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man went missing after the 59' towboat Miss Natalie capsized on May 30 on the Mississippi River near Convent, La., according to the Coast Guard.

The boat sank near mile marker 163 in St. James Parish. Four crew were rescued by another vessel, the Coast Guard said. Weather and river conditions were not unusual at the time of the sinking. A 45' Coast Guard medium response boat from the New Orleans station went to the scene, along with the 57' Responder, the Port of South Louisiana’s security vessel. Side scan sonar, divers and air crews in two HH-65 Dolphin helicopters were employed during the search, that covered 85 miles of the river and lasted 15 hours. (As WorkBoat went to press, the missing crewman had not been found.) — K. Moore

drilling plan describes all exploration activities, including the timing of these activities, information concerning drilling vessels, the location of each planned well, and actions to be taken to meet important safety and environmental standards and to protect workers, resources, wildlife and access to subsistence use areas.

Shell’s previous attempt at drilling in the Arctic did not go well. In a National Transportation Safety Board report released in late May, the agency said that Shell had underestimated risks and made inadequate plans for moving the mobile offshore drilling unit Kulluk, resulting in the Dec. 31, 2012, incident.

The National Ocean Industries Association, a trade group representing the offshore industry, applauded the announcement.

However, environmentalists are not pleased. Ten major environmental groups filed suit on June 2 challenging BOEM’s approval of Shell’s exploration plan for drilling in the Chukchi Sea. The lawsuit seeks a review of the permits granted to Shell by BOEM for exploratory drilling in Alaska.

— Ken Hocke

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6/1/15 1:31 PM

Personnel/Training

Roll Tide

Over 4,000 employees help Austal shipyard meet two big Navy high-speed vessel contracts.

By Ken Hocke, Senior Editor

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t the end of the last century, Australian shipbuilder Austal Ltd. opened a new shipyard in Mobile, Ala. It had a single fabrication shed and plenty of room to grow if it landed new contracts.

Sixteen years and two big Navy contracts later, Austal USA has two 1,066'×344'×66' (height) module manufacturing facilities, a 171'×404'x26' module manufacturing facility warehouse, four 361' to 427'-long construction bays in its final assembly yard, and about 4,300 workers. It’s become a U.S. success story.

Craig Perciavalle, the shipyard’s president, said Austal USA’s growth has been the result of a wellconceived and executed plan.

“First you need a plan, but not just any plan, the correct plan. Second, you need to hire the right

people in the right positions. Finally, you need to be able to execute the plan,” he said. “Our facilities were specifically designed and constructed to follow a LEAN manufacturing business model emphasizing the elimination of non-value-added activities while delivering a quality product on time, on budget, and with great efficiency.”

Austal USA

Two LCSes sit at the dock at Austal USA while a JHSV is moved by barge on the Mobile River.

NAVY CONTRACTS Austal built three commercial ferries during its first few years of operation. But in 2003 the yard found its niche when the Navy picked it, as part of a construction team, to build its littoral combat ship (LCS). (The Navy also chose a team that included Marinette Marine to build a monohull version of the LCS.) Austal’s Independence LCS design is a 417'×99' www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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Austal USA

Austal USA

aluminum trimaran built to carry large payloads at speeds up to about 45 knots and provide a stable platform for launching and retrieving helicopters.

It’s also designed to minimize crew seasickness. The seaframe is built to provide superior seakeeping and aviation as a result of its long, slender central hull and smaller side hulls (called “amahs”). The trimaran hull form is designed to provide a large internal mission deck with a high payload carrying capacity, according to Austal. The Navy is expected to build more than 50 LCSes before the program is complete.

Austal is building the even number LCSes and Marinette is constructing Automated cutting of aluminum for the next LCS. the odd numbered vessels.

The second contract is for 11 joint shallow-draft ports and waterways, inhigh-speed vessels (JHSVs). Austal’s terfacing with roll-on/roll-off discharge JHSV design is a 337'10"×93'6" alufacilities and on-and-off loading of a minum catamaran with a round bilge combat-ready battle tank. and bulbous bow. The JHSVs are being “The LCS contracts will give us used for fast intra-theater transportawork into the early 2020s and the tion of troops, military vehicles and follow-on frigate program that is based equipment. With a draft of about 13', off the LCS design will provide work the JHSV is capable of operating in well past 2025,” said Perciavalle. “The A bow nose is readied for placement on an LCS.

The Millinocket (JHSV 3) joins with a mobile landing platform to transfer vehicles from one ship to the other.

JHSV program is mature, and we are looking to continue that program in the near future. We are always working on future concepts and designs to see how we successfully compete in future markets with the U.S. Navy and in the commercial arena.”

Austal hasn’t built a commercial vessel since 2007, concentrating on being a defense contractor for now.

Perciavalle said he doesn’t look at new commercial vessels being built at other yards and think he would like to build that boat. “What I think is ‘how do we provide our customers with the best quality affordable ship that we can?’ By doing that we will have customers saying, ‘Wow, I want Austal USA to build my ship.’ ”

Austal USA

EMPLOYMENT NEEDS It takes a lot of people to put boats such as the LCS and JHSV together. In fact, Austal is now the largest manufacturing employer in south Alabama, creating or supporting $383 million in annual wages and generating almost $32 million in annual tax revenues.

“We have an outstanding relationship with all of our public officials. Austal USA is the epitome of a great public-private relationship,” Perciavalle said. “Austal made a considerable corporate investment of over $300 million initially and in partnership with the city, state and federal government we have been able to construct a modern manufacturing facility that has www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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Personnel/Training certified by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Alabama Department of Post Secondary Education, and the Veteran’s Administration. The Labor Department requires that each candidate complete a minimum of 576 hours of classroom time and an additional 8,000 hours of on-the-job learning over the four-year period.

Austal meets Labor Department

Austal USA

grown from 800 employees in 2009 to over 4,000 employees today with two mature Navy shipbuilding programs in full rate production.”

The shipyard put together a training program to attract and retain new employees, many new to the marine construction industry.

Austal is proud of is its four-year apprenticeship program, which is

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Under hull shot of a JHSV.

standards for apprenticeship programs for pipefitters, marine electricians, fabricators, and for marine fitout positions.

The state of Alabama has approved the yard’s four trade programs for the Veteran’s Administration, which means that all eligible veterans may now apply for and receive GI Bill benefits.

“Our recruiting initiatives depend on the job we’re trying to fill and the availability of talent. With this in mind, each of our job groups has its own recruiting plan,” said Perciavalle. “For those positions requiring skills not readily available in the U.S. marketplace, we recruit with a focus on selecting individuals well suited for technical training and rely heavily on our partnership with state training programs, area technical schools and our own internal skills training competency. Our hires are nearly a 50/50 mix of experienced professionals and trainees. We also utilize a robust apprenticeship program to give certain skilled craftsmen advanced or upgrade training.”

Perciaville said that Austal’s employee search extends across the U.S. “We utilize sourcing tools that help locate communities with pockets of individuals who possess targeted skill sets. We recruit in those communities through job fairs and offering relocation benefits.”

Alabama has put up millions of dollars to help shipyards in the state, www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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AUSTAL JHSV AND LCS NAVY CONTRACTS not just Austal, by opening the AIDT Maritime Training Center in 2010.

AIDT is part of the state’s community college system.

Its mission is to encourage economic development through job-specific training.

Training, such as in the Mobile area to shipyards, is free to new and expanding businesses throughout the state. The state of Alabama picks up the tab.

Perciaville realizes that there is plenty of competition for these workers from shipyards from Louisiana to Florida. “Across the board, Austal provides competitive compensation and benefits reducing an employee’s desire

JHSV 1 (Spearhead): JHSV 2 (Choctaw County): JHSV 3 (Millinocket): JHSV 4 (Fall River): JHSV 5 (Trenton) JHSV 6 (Brunswick) JHSV 7 (Carson City) JHSV 8, 9,10:

DELIVERED DELIVERED DELIVERED DELIVERED DELIVERED 80% complete 35% complete funded, not started

DECEMBER 2012 JUNE 2013 MARCH 2014 SEPTEMBER 2014 APRIL 2015 Deliver OCTOBER 2015 Deliver MAY 2016

LCS 4 (Coronado) LCS 6 (Jackson) LCS 8 (Montgomery) LCS 10 (Gabrielle Giffords) LCS 12 (Omaha) LCS 14 (Manchester) LCS 16 (Tulsa) LCS 18 (Charleston) LCS 20, 22, 24 Source: Austal USA

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6/4/15 10:59 AM

Government Boats

Boat Cuts Federal funds for small-boat construction are shrinking.

By Kathy Bergren Smith, Correspondent

28

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T

here was a time early this century when the market for under 50' high-performance craft was booming. Seemingly overnight, this esoteric workboat sector populated by engineers and procurement specialists became critical to national security.

While refueling in Yemen in 2000, the USS Cole was attacked by suicide bombers in a small boat, exposing a large hole in naval security. The next year, 9/11 would turn “homeland security” into a new cabinet-level department. As a result, the Navy and Coast Guard, along with a myriad of law enforcement agencies and first responders, sought small, light, fast boats to assist in their missions both at home and in the two wars that were underway in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This added up to big spending on these boats,

which became faster, more complex and more expensive. In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security issued grants totaling $388 million for port security alone.

BUDGET CUTS Fast-forward to today and the climate has cooled considerably. Port security grants totaled only $100 million this year. Significant budget cuts in military and government boat spending have tightened competition for the remaining contracts. The past five years have settled into a new normal as government buyers are dealing with limited resources.

“We have seen an equalizing over the past several years, where funding has dropped off and leveled out for government boat contracts,” said

Safe Boats

The 85' Mark VI, being built at Safe Boats, is the next generation patrol boats for the Navy. Safe is building 10 Mark VIs at its new facility in Tacoma, Wash.

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/8/15 1:41 PM

Willard Marine

Matthew Velluto, director of business development for Marblehead, Mass.based Ribcraft USA. “The reality is, there are more players and fewer contracts.”

“Opportunities are fewer and fewer in the small boat world,” agreed Hartwell Champagne, vice president and general manager at Safe Boats International, Bremerton, Wash.

Safe Boats landed one of the few opportunities in the form of two contracts in 2012 and 2014 worth over $70 million for the Navy’s next generation of patrol boat, the Mark VI. The contracts are for 10 boats with an option for two more. It’s estimated that the Navy plans on building upward of 50 Mark VIs. The first Mark VI was delivered in August 2014. The final nine boats are scheduled for delivery by March 2018.

Safe Boats has built a new Large Craft Production Facility at the Port of Tacoma, Wash., to construct the Mark VI and added 100 new employees to support the program.

“The boat is designed to be flexible,” said Champagne. The 85' aluminum hull with waterjet propulsion will support the Coastal Riverine Force, run-

ning in both littoral waters and in open oceans. Champagne said the boats have ballistic protection for the hull and crew quarters and carry two Mark 38 weapon mounts and various other configurations depending upon the mission.

“This really is the state of the art when it comes to Navy patrol craft. It is a complex high performance boat that will serve the next generation of the Navy,” said Champagne.

CROWDED FIELD Anaheim, Calif.-based Willard Marine also captured a significant Navy contract late last year to supply shipboard rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) for five years. The 7-meter (23') RIBs will be deployable lifeboats for search-andrescue missions onboard Navy ships.

The RIBs have a 254-hp Steyr diesel engine with a Bravo Two X MerCruiser sterndrive. Twenty-four vessels have already been ordered under the contract and delivery began in the spring.

Willard, a longtime producer of RIBs for the military, is in a “lean forward mode” in the face of increased competition for less work in the sector, according to director of marketing Karen

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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Jacquelin.

“The increased emphasis on price is putting pressure on the vendors and margins are being squeezed,” said Jacquelin. “We will always be in the military market, but we are certainly looking beyond it.”

Willard is diversifying its offerings by licensing designs from SeaArk Marine. The Monticello, Ark., aluminum builder was a casualty of the market contraction, closing its doors in 2011.

Willard is also licensing designs from Crystaliner, a California company credited with building the Navy’s first 16' fiberglass rescue boat in 1956. The company, which built surf and rescue boats, went out of business in 2012.

“Adding these designs to our portfolio gives us a very diverse line of products,” said Jacquelin. “We have also expanded our sales force into the commercial and professional markets."

Ribcraft also snagged a piece of the Navy 7-meter RIB action with its own five-year contract. Sixteen RIBs have been ordered under the contract’s first initial release with the first Ribcraft RIB also delivered in the spring.

The Willard-Ribcraft contracts, called Indefinite Delivery and Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts, provide for an indefinite quantity of services for a fixed time, in this case over five years.

These contract types are used when the U.S. General Services Administration can’t determine, above a specified minimum, the precise quantities of

Willard Marine is supplying 7-meter (23') RIBs that will go onboard Navy ships. Ribcraft also got a piece of the Navy contract.

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6/3/15 9:07 AM

boats or services that the government will require during the contract period.

This can lead to uncertainty for the contractor, said Willard Marine's Jacquelin.

“How does a small business plan for this sort of contract? Do you have the staff, do you have the room?” While it gives the government flexibility in times of uncertain budget allocation, it

makes it tough for vendors, she said.

On the other hand, Chris Allard, president of Metal Shark Aluminum Boats, who arguably holds the largest IDIQ contract in the form of a Coast Guard deal worth $250 million over seven years, said that the security is worth the extra work.

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Government Boats

There are more companies competing for fewer government small-boat contracts.

involved, but the stability for the long term is worth it,” he said.

The Jeanerette, La.-based yard entered the government boat market in 2005 and is looking to diversify.

Metal Shark opened a new facility in Franklin, La., last year and is “going after larger military boat contracts as well as expanding into the commercial market,” said Allard.

One manufacturer of small boats, Brunswick Commercial and Government Products (BCGP), is being squeezed out of the competition for small-boat contracts for being too big.

“Federal government contracting for small boats has witnessed a dramatic shift since 2009. More specifically, a majority of contracts are no longer awarded under open competition and instead are listed under small business set-aside,” said Jeremy Davis, vice president of sales at BCGP. Small business is a category BCGP does not fall into.

Davis said there are multiple instances where BCGP had the product to meet the bid specifications but was unable to submit a proposal due to the dramatic increase in the use of GSA small business set-asides.

“In fact, there have been multiple instances when the spec was based off a BCGP product yet we still could not bid on the project,” said Davis.

This loss of eligibility has caused BCGP to diversify toward a global marketing strategy, which includes a wide body style with a 12' beam on its 10-, 11- and 12-meter RIBs that can accommodate up to four outboards and adds room for customized configurations. BCGP is marketing directly to foreign government customers instead of using the Foreign Military Sales program. www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/3/15 9:07 AM

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Government Boats

Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding

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Another builder that markets directly to foreign governments is GladdingHearn Shipbuilding. The Somerset, Mass., yard has landed a contract with the Colombian navy to provide seven patrol boats based on a pilot boat

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design. The boats will perform various non-military duties.

“We have hired an agent in Colombia and are learning a lot. This is a good project. We are branching out,” said the yard’s president, Peter Duclos.

Gladding-Hearn has also continued its long relationship with the New York City Police Department by providing five patrol/rescue boats to NYPD’s Harbor Unit. Three of the vessels are 61-footers and two are 69-footers. The third 61'×17' vessel was delivered last year and the first 69'×19' vessel was delivered in April.

The 69', 3,840-hp waterjet-powered vessels are designed for anti-terrorism duties, will carry SWAT teams, and have ballistic protection in case of a dirty bomb attack. “These are complicated boats,” Duclos said.

It’s always a challenge when building boats for the government, be it county, state, federal or foreign.

“Every boat requires compromises,” said Duclos. “The customer needs to identify what’s most important for them. A private entity can do that quickly. But with government boats, it is a different story.”

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6/1/15 1:32 PM

CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY AT WORKBOAT YARDS

On TheWays

ON THE WAYS

Ken Hocke

Moran Towing christens Patti-built ATB tug

New Moran tug will be part of an articulated tug/barge unit.

M

oran Towing Corp., New Canaan, Conn., christened its latest ATB tug, the 121'×36'×18' Mariya Moran, on the Pensacola, Fla., waterfront in May. Pensacolabased Patti Marine Enterprises built the new 6,000-hp tug. It will be mated to the 160,000-bbl. barge Texas, currently under construction at Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., to create the new articulated tug/barge unit.

Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering, Milford, Mass., designed the Mariya Moran with Seattlebased Jensen Maritime Consultants providing production-engineering support. “We’re proud of this tug and glad Moran gave us the opportunity to build it,” shipyard president Frank Patti Jr. said during a tour of the vessel. “We’ve been building tugs for a long time and our employees know how to do it. It’s a strong tug.”

With a 16' draft, the new tug has a height of eye of 58'8" and will push oil products around the Gulf Coast once the ATB is placed in service.

Main propulsion for the tug comes from twin EMD 12-710G7C-T3 Tier 3 diesels, producing 34

WB_OTW_LINO.indd 34

3,000 hp at 900 rpm each. The EMDs connect to 5-bladed HS Marine Propulsion ADV Series wheels through Lufkin RHS2500HG marine gears with 4.458:1 reduction ratios. The power package gives the new tug a maximum speed of 12 knots, with a bollard pull of 65 tons ahead.

Ted Tregurtha, Moran’s president, said at the christening that the new vessel is “a culmination of a project started three years ago. We’re really grateful that we found Patti.”

A pair of 6090AFM85 John Deere-driven gensets, sparking 200 kW of electrical power each, handle the tug’s service power needs.

Capacities include 138,000 gals. of fuel and 16,000 gals. water.

Paul Tregurtha, Moran’s chairman and CEO, said that safety has been of the utmost importance to Moran, allowing it to grow the way he and James R. Baker envisioned it when they acquired the towing company from Thomas Moran in 1994.

“Moran went into double hulls way ahead of the curve,” he said.

Growth was another goal the partners had back www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/3/15 8:54 AM

in ’94, stocking Moran’s tug fleet with boats that can dock ships, transport commodities, work offshore, contract tow and more. “We have five locations where we can dock LNG ships. Those are now going to become export ports,” he said. “We believe we are the largest ship docking company in the world.”

Paul Tregurtha reminded those in attendance that Moran’s vessels are U.S. owned, operated, crewed and built.

“The Jones Act is very important to us and very important to all of you,” he said.

With accommodations for 12 crewmembers, the Mariya Moran is ABS classed Maltese Cross A-1 Towing Service, Maltese Cross AMS, BP, CPS, UWILD Notations, full SOLAS. Patti said he hopes to build more vessels for Moran in the future. “It’s a wonderful relationship, and in the end we have a beautiful vessel.”

— Ken Hocke

Blount to build first U.S. wind farm service vessel

F

ive years ago, when the Cape Wind project was forging ahead in Massachusetts and federal planners talked of huge offshore wind power leases, Marcia Blount wanted her familyowned shipyard to be the first out of the gate to service the new industry.

“We wanted to position ourselves for when it happened,” Blount said from her office at Blount Boats in Warren, R.I. “We have a certain, niche type of vessel — 50' to 200', aluminum and steel, shallow draft. As we looked across the potential, this type of vessel fit our yard perfectly.”

Blount Boats has landed a contract with Rhode Island Fast Ferry for the construction of a 21-meter (69'×24'×8'10") crew transfer vessel (CTV) for Deepwater Wind, to serve the first U.S. ocean wind farm of five turbines to be built off Block Island.

With contractors already building foundations for the turbines, the boat is scheduled for delivery on April 1, 2016.

“They’re very specialized boats.

Blount Boats

The first crew transfer vessel for the U.S. offshore wind farm industry will be built at Blount Boats.

You can’t just put a square bow on a crewboat,” Blount said. Blount Boats began exploring the European market in earnest in 2011, going to trade shows and consulting with European turbine builders like Siemens and boatbuilders serving the industry. “It was really the turbine manufacturers’ call” on the best boat designs for delivering crew to the monolithic wind towers, based on experiences in the challenging North Sea, Blount said.

The Blount team was most impressed with South Boats IOW, on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. South Boats was an early supplier to the European offshore wind industry and has the largest market share with about 85 CTVs delivered. “It’s a superb boat.

The design has evolved with the industry,” Blount said.

Cargo capacity will be 12 tons of cargo in the bow and three tons in the stern, with decks outfitted with cargo lashing and container sockets. The bow area will feature a Palfinger PK 6500 M knuckle-boom crane.

In 2011 Blount signed a licensing agreement with South Boats to become the exclusive manufacturer for a U.S. version of the 21-meter all-aluminum design. Blount foresees plenty of market potential. The company is in contact with other wind power developers, and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is opening new offshore lease areas.

“So we’re positioned to take advan-

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

WB_OTW_LINO.indd 35

tage of that,” Blount said.

Tankage will include 2,250 gals. of fuel oil and 130 gals. fresh water.

Main propulsion will come from two 1,400-hp MAN V12-1400 engines linked to ZF Marine 3050 gears and HamiltonJet HM571 waterjets. Top speed is expected to exceed 28 knots.

Cruising speed at 80% throttle will be an estimated 27 knots and the CTV should hit 23 knots loaded.

Up at the bow, a boarding platform lets offshore workers get from the boat into the turbine tower with a special Manuplas fendering system like those used in Europe. This permits workers to safely get on and off in wave heights up to 5'.

The interior of the deckhouse will have a head, a small galley area with settee seating, 12 suspension seats, storage lockers, entertainment system, Wi-Fi, and sound absorbing decking.

The steering system and control will be from HamiltonJet. The entire deckhouse is isolated from the hull with vibration mounts for a quieter and smoother ride to and from the work site.

Ship’s service power will come from a single Cummins Onan genset.

The CTV will be dual certified to USCG Subchapter T specifications to carry up to 49 passengers and Subchapter L (Offshore Supply Vessel) regulations to carry up to 16 offshore workers. — Kirk Moore

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6/3/15 8:54 AM

On TheWays

BOATBUILDING BITTS

36

WB_OTW_LINO.indd 36

will join her sistership, Jean Anne, in the Hawaii/West Coast trade. The 692' ship has a vehicle shipping capacity of 1,100 units, a 1,400-TEU capacity above and under deck, and the ability to carry over-high/over-wide cargoes on 10 workable decks.

VT Halter also recently launched Bouchard Transportation’s 625'×91'×47', 250,000-bbl. capacity Barge B No. 270, the first of two articulated tug-barge (ATB) units under construction at the Mississippi shipyard. The 143'7"×44'×23'10", 10,000-hp tug Kim M. Bouchard, part of the ATB unit, was launched in February. The barge is ABS-classed and USCG-certified for Jones Act service. The sister unit, Donna J. Bouchard/Barge B. No. 272, is currently under construction at Halter.

Gunderson Marine in Portland, Ore., launched the Kirby 185-01 tank barge in late May. The 578' 185,000bbl. oceangoing oil and chemical tank barge for Kirby Offshore Marine is part of an articulated tug-barge unit.

There is an option for a second ATB. The barge will be mated with a 10,000-hp ATB tug from Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Freeland, Wash. The tug is scheduled for a mid-to-late 2015 delivery. The ATB’s cost will be $75 million to $80 million, according to Kirby.

The Vietnamese coast guard will receive six Metal Shark Aluminum Boats Defiant-class offshore patrol vessels from the U.S. government. In June, according to a Reuters report, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the U.S. would provide $18 million to help Vietnam buy patrol boats from Jeanerette, La.-based Metal Shark.

Burger Boat Company, Manitowoc, Wis., launched the 89' steel passenger vessel Lucia in late May. Built for Chicago’s Wendella Sightseeing Company Inc. and designed by Timothy Graul Marine Design, the Subchapter K-certified 340-passenger tour boat 340-passenfor Wendella. ger Lucia is powered by two Caterpillar C12 main engines and has two Northern Lights generators.

New roll-on/roll-off car truck carrier (ConRo) for Hawaii.

VT Halter Marine

n June, Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc. launched its second HOSMPSV 310ES, the HOS Woodland, joining sistership HOS Warland that is now being fitted out. The two 302'×76'×26' multipurpose service vessels are on track for delivery to Hornbeck Offshore Services in September (Warland) and December (Woodland). The Warland was launched on March 6 at Eastern’s Allanton, Fla., shipyard, the first christening to use the company’s new 425' rocker beam system. The Vard Marine-designed 5,567-dwt MPSVs are powered by four Caterpillar 3516C 16-cylinder turbocharged EPA Tier 3/IMO II diesel generator engines, each rated at 2,250 kW at 1,800 rpm. Main propulsion power will be provided by two GE Power Conversionfurnished Hyundai 2,500-kW 690VAC motors drivThe MPSV HOS Woodland was ing two Schottel SRP launched in June.

2020 FP Z-drives with nozzles rated at 2,500 kW at 1,025 rpm each for a total of 6,705 hp.

Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair, Erie, Pa., is about halfway complete with a new 185,000-bbl., 600' petroleum/chemical barge for Seabulk Tankers. The project is Donjon’s second largest since it took over the Erie yard in 2010. The barge, estimated to cost between $50 million and $60 million, will haul petroleum products along the U.S. East Coast as part of an articulated tug/ barge unit. The project is on schedule for a September 2016 completion.

VT Halter Marine Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., has started construction on the 720'×106' Taíno, the second of two liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered, combination container roll-on/roll-off (ConRo) ships for Crowley Maritime Corp.’s liner services group. VT Halter and Crowley signed a contract for the ships in November 2013. The Commitment-class ships have been designed to maximize the carriage of 53', 102"-wide containers, which offer the most cubic cargo capacity in the trade.

Cargo capacity will be approximately 2,400 TEUs (20' equivalent units), with additional space for nearly 400 vehicles in an enclosed ro/ro garage. LNG will fuel the main propulsion and auxiliary engines. Wartsila Ship Design designed the ships in conjunction with Crowley subsidiary Jensen Maritime. Halter recently delivered the Marjorie C, a ConRo vessel, to Pasha Hawaii.

The Marjorie C is the second U.S.-flag, Jones Act-qualified vessel built for Honolulu-based Pasha Hawaii and

Burger Boat Company

Eastern Shipbuilding Group

I

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/3/15 11:20 AM

W

ide open it hits 42 knots, is built with ballistic-resistant windows and panels, and has a couple of non-lethal weapons. That’s the 69'×19' tactical-response boat delivered to the New York City Police Department in April by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding in Somerset, Mass.

The new patrol boat is the first of two 69' vessels for the NYPD Harbor Unit that are based on a design from C. Raymond Hunt Associates in New Bedford, Mass. Gladding-Hearn used the same design for 12 submarine escort boats built in 2008–2009 for the Navy. The major difference between the boats is that the tactical-response boat’s superstructure is much larger.

“It has enough room in the salon and enough communication equipment and monitors to serve as a command and control center for an incident,” said

Gladding-Hearn’s Peter Duclos.

That’s one of the roles the boat can play. Others include search and rescue, First of two new tactical response crowd control moniboats for the NYPD Harbor Unit. toring, and transporting a tactical squad team to a terrorist event.

“At close range it will bring a person For search-and-rescue work there’s down to his knees.” port and starboard recesses in the deck There’s also a nuclear, biological and with a davit for lifting a Stokes litter chemical filtration system that pressurbasket onto the main deck, which is izes the interior spaces while supplying heated for winter operations. filtered fresh air.

For crowd control operations, a reDuclos didn’t want to talk too much mote controlled water cannon deliverabout the ballistic-resistant panels, but ing 1,500 gpm at 150 psi from Elkhart said that for a boatyard using them for Brass can be used. “They won’t be the first time “there is a big learning putting out fires with it,” said Duclos, curve. It’s a difficult material to work “but it will knock someone down.” An with. It doesn’t work well with conacoustic device from LRAD Corp. can ventional tools and has to be cut with a also be used to control crowds. “It has waterjet.” a very piercing sound. You can hail The material is also very expensive, someone at a long range,” said Duclos. so it’s good not to make a mistake.

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On TheWays

FIRST ALL-ELECTRIC CAR FERRY WORKING IN NORWAY he world’s first all-electric drive car ferry began operating on a Norwegian fjord in January, making 34 20-minute runs each day, and recharging its First all-electric ferry carries 10 batteries from the tons of lithium batteries. local power grid.

The 265'x68' catamaran, dubbed ZeroCat by builder Fjellstrand, is named Ampere.

Odd Moen, chief of ship solution sales for Siemens Norway, said the idea of an electric ferry had been around for a long time but was limited by available technology. That began to change in recent years, with better lithium ion batteries, and adapting the system to a relatively low-power rural power grid.

The onboard batteries store about 1,000 kW of power, enough

When it’s time to haul a tactical team where it needs to go in a big hurry, there’s plenty of power in two MTU 12V2000M94 diesels that put out 1,920-hp each at 2,450 rpm. They are matched up with HamiltonJet HM571 waterjets through ZF-3050 marine gears. The second tactical-response boat was due for delivery in June.

— Michael Crowley

Three new towboats for Blessey Marine

O

n the New Orleans riverfront in May, Blessey Marine Services Inc. christened three towboats in two separate ceremonies.

Harahan, La.-based Blessey held the first christening on May 6 for the Capt.

Rodney Adams and the Gertrude V. Creel. On May 19 the company christened the Meg Kennedy Moore. The addition of the vessels gives Blessey a fleet of 83 towboats.

The 2,000-hp Capt. Rodney Adams was built by New Generation Shipbuilding LLC, Houma, La., and delivered on April 21. The 75'4"×30'×10' towboat is powered by a pair of Cummins K38M engines each developing 1,000 hp at 1,800 rpm. The engines turn a pair of Kahlenberg 4-bladed 74"×56" stainless steel wheels through 38

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for several passages on the nearly four-mile crossing between the villages of Lavik and Oppedal. The problem with recharging directly from the grid was that the batteries’ sudden draw on the local grid “would cause the washing machines in all the houses in the area to stop running,” Moen said.

The solution is two 260-kW lithium batteries, one at each pier terminal, to buffer the grid. During each 10-minute layup after a crossing, the ferry recharges at a fast rate from the dockside batteries to top off its own batteries. While the ferry is gone, the dockside batteries draw modest power slowly from the grid to charge themselves.

Powered by a pair of 450-kW motors and 10 tons of lithium batteries built by Siemens, the aluminum ferry can carry up to 360 passengers and 120 vehicles across Sognefjord, the longest and deepest of Norway’s mountain-rimmed waterways. Siemens hopes the design can be used on as many as 50 ferry routes along the coast. — K. Moore

Twin Disc MG-540 gears with 6.18:1 ratios. Two Cummins QSB7-DM 85-kW generators provide ship’s service power. For towing, there’s a pair of Patterson electric 40-ton deck winches.

The Capt. Rodney Adams has tankage for 23,000 gals. of diesel and 9,400 gals. potable Blessey christened the Capt. Rodney Adams and two other water. It has seven towboats in New Orleans in May. berths in five staterooms.

The 1,700-hp Gertrude V. Creel was Verret Shipyard, Plaquemine, La., completed by Blessey with the help of delivered the 1,320-hp Meg Kennedy Steiner Shipyard and delivered April Moore to Blessey, also on April 2. The 2. The 76'×35'×10'8" towboat is pow70'×30'×10'8" vessel is powered by ered by a pair of Cummins K38M entwo Cummins QSK19 engines, each gines developing 850 hp each at 1,800 producing 660 hp at 1,800 rpm. The rpm. The engines turn two Kahlenengines turn two Kahlenberg 4-bladed berg 4-bladed 76"×59" stainless steel 74"×58" props through Reintjes wheels through Reintjes WAF-474 WAF-374 gears with 7.1:1 ratios. Two gears with 7.1:1 ratios. Like the Rodney Cummins QSB7-DM 85-kW generaAdams, the Creel also has two Cumtors provide ship’s service power and mins QSB7-DM 85-kW generators there’s a pair of Patterson electric 40for ship’s service power and a pair of ton deck winches. There’s tankage for Patterson electric 40-ton deck winches.

20,000 gals. of fuel and 14,800 gals.

The towboat has tankage for 30,000 potable water. All three towboats have gals. of fuel and 10,000 gals. potable Blue Box voyage recording systems water, and also has seven berths in five and Hiller Systems fire detection and staterooms.

CO2 systems. — David Krapf Blessey Marine Services

Siemens

T

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6/1/15 1:32 PM

New Horizon

Five years after Deepwater Horizon, offshore drilling safety has been enhanced amid tighter government oversight.

H

alf a decade beyond the shock and disbelief of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, oil companies are pushing out to even deeper waters offshore — and taking with them offshore service companies who can prove that their businesses, vessels and people are up to the new standards.

A new generation of offshore service vessels has come online to serve that market, as federal regulators issued approvals for a dozen new drill sites. Despite skepticism from critics, BP and other exploration and production companies say they have dramatically reshaped their safety culture under tighter government scrutiny.

That’s being felt by oil service companies, who now see more demands for safety and management certification from customers. “The oil companies are subjected to very high standards for permits. That has trickled down to the boat operators,” said Matthew Rigdon, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Jackson Offshore Operators, Harvey, La. “The offshore marine industry is safer than it has ever been,” said Ben Billings, president/CEO of the Offshore Marine Service Association, New Orleans.

Billings ticked off systems and mechanisms now in play:

New empowerment and motivation of crewmembers to think about and act on safety issues, fleetwide safety management systems, regular drills, training and assessments, and vessel inspections and audits.

“Healthy competition and peer pressure, financial safety incentives and information sharing incentives between companies” help drive commitment from operators, he said. “All of these measures are designed to drive a dynamic safety culture offshore that is instilled into every mariner before they ever go offshore and continually reinforced each day they’re on the job.”

LOW PRICES, LOW LONG-TERM IMPACT Low oil prices since late 2014 have brought layoffs and idled equipment. But long term for the offshore market, it’s a pause rather than a setback, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“Because of the long timelines associated with Gulf of Mexico (GOM) projects, the recent downturn in oil prices is expected to have minimal direct impact on GOM crude oil production through 2016,” the EIA reported in early March.

The agency projected Gulf production to reach 1.52 million bpd in 2015 and 1.61 million bpd in 2016, “or about

Since 2010’s Deepwater Horizon disaster, most say that the offshore industry is safer.

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U.S. Coast Guard

By Kirk Moore, Associate Editor

6/8/15 1:35 PM

16% and 17% of total U.S. crude oil production in those two years, respectively.”

That growth is driven by both new projects and redevelopment and expansion of existing fields, according to the EIA. Even as oil prices took a dive in the latter half of 2014, five deepwater projects began. Stone Energy started up its Cardamom Deep and Cardona projects, Chevron its Jack/St. Malo fields, Murphy Oil in the Dalmatian field, and Hess and its Tubular Bells project.

It’s a far different situation than immediately after the April 20, 2010, Macondo well blowout and fire that killed 11 men and sent the Deepwater Horizon, Transocean’s state of the art semisubmersible drilling unit, to the bottom. As BP and the federal government struggled to get the gushing seafloor well under control, within weeks almost all industry activity was shut down in the Gulf of Mexico.

Then just as suddenly, money started pouring back in.

“Virtually the entire Gulf of Mexico service vessel fleet was suddenly out of contracts. Then, BP started to ramp up the cleanup. They were hiring every single boat that was released in the previous two or three weeks,” said Rigdon of Jackson Offshore.

BP, under intense pressure to show it was giving its all, hired almost every available OSV, crewboat, workboat and fishing vessel it could get its hands on

for the cleanup fleet. Some were paid while just sitting at the docks, while the oil company and federal agencies organized the massive response.

For 87 days the Macondo well gushed, the boats worked, and the oil industry and political allies battled the Obama administration’s moratorium on offshore drilling permits. OSV operators saw their day rates jump 50% along with BP’s need for offshore capable boats, and crewboat operators made twice their usual day rate working on oil cleanup operations.

By the time the six-month deepwater drilling moratorium was lifted Oct. 12, 2010, world oil prices were on their way toward stabilizing at around $100 bbl. Deepwater E&P companies started their permit processes again but it would be five months before the first was granted.

Permits that had been processed in days were taking weeks. Outspoken critics of federal regulators included OMSA, who helped coined the phrase “permitorium” to protest the delays.

OMSA’s president at the time was Jim Adams, who said it amounted to “a de facto moratorium.” It was the beginning of an abiding belief in the industry that the Obama administration is, at its heart, anti-oil, even after the administration’s recent moves to open Atlantic and Arctic waters to exploration.

“The administration has determined that they are going to strangle domestic energy production in the Gulf of

Mexico,” Adams said in early 2011.

“Until they change that political goal, we are not going to see the kind of clarity that is necessary to restore the vibrancy that we saw in the Gulf in the first quarter 2010.”

Yet day rates by December 2010 were returning to levels seen before Deepwater Horizon. Now the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management states with confidence that it is safe to drill in deepwater and ultradeepwater far off the Outer Continental Shelf.

An analysis of Gulf well data published by the Associated Press in April reported that the average ocean depth of all wells had increased to 1,757' since 2010. That’s a 40% increase in depth compared to Gulf wells in the five years prior to 2010, the AP reported.

And the wells are moving farther offshore. What was considered a long way out five years ago, 120 to 130 miles, is now 240 miles. Some in the industry foresee that it could change the requirements for offshore service, like having OSVs rotating on station after unloading in case of emergencies.

During the 87 days that the Macondo well gushed oil, OSVs and other workboats were kept busy.

NOAA

Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer First Class John Masson.

To help in the Deepwater Horizon response, BP hired virtually every available OSV.

'The offshore marine industry is safer than it has ever been.'

Ben Billings, President/CEO Offshore Marine Service Association

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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PROPOSED RULE ISSUED FOR BLOWOUT PREVENTERS

U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Thomas M. Blue

I

The Deepwater Horizon’s damaged blowout preventer.

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n April, the Department of Interior issued a proposed rule for improved blowout preventers, well casings and other technologies, the product of five years of work by industry, government and academic groups.

Investigations into the Deepwater Horizon disaster reconstructed a cascade of failures, including buckled well pipe and a malfunctioning blowout preventer.

“The blowout preventer, an essential piece of safety equipment used in offshore drilling operations, was a point of failure in the Deepwater Horizon event, but several other barriers failed as well,” Interior Department officials said in an April 13 statement. “The cascade of multiple failures resulted in the loss of well control, an explosion, fire and subsequent months-long spill.”

“We worked to collect the best ideas on the prevention of well control incidents and blowouts to develop this proposed rule, including knowledge and skillsets from industry and equipment managers,” said Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Janice Schneider.

“In addition to more stringent design requirements, the proposed rule requires improved controls of all repair and maintenance activities through the life cycle of the blowout preventer and other well control equipment,” said Brian Salerno, director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement at Interior. “It would provide verification of the performance of equipment designs through third-party verification, enhanced oversight of operations through real-time monitoring viewed onshore, and require operators — during operations — to utilize recognized engineering best standards that reduce risk.” — K. Moore

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

6/4/15 3:25 PM

SAFETY FIRST Others see the change in safety culture as real and ongoing.

“I’m certain the culture that’s being developed on these deepwater rigs is very good,” Rigdon said. “It’s about conditioning behaviors to recognize when there’s a hazard.”

That means more on the job authority to make a stop-work order, and workers knowing management will have their back. “You let us know if you get pushback, and we will go deal with it at the highest level,” Rigdon said of his crews.

Safety management systems (SMS)

U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Bob Laura

Skeptics say the industry still has too much of the time-is-money mindset.

“There is a management culture that wants to make money. It counts speed over reliability,” petroleum engineer David Pritchard, who did a study of the Macondo well, told the Associated Press for its report.

Safety management systems now drive offshore marine industry safety .

and its culture of reporting now drive marine safety at sea, OMSA’s Billings said. Companies encourage suggestions for safety improvements through peer observation, computer links between crewmembers and shoreside safety personnel, and with financial rewards for the best safety ideas and bonuses to vessels and crews with the best safety records.

“Each crewmember is vested with stop-work authority and empowered to halt a job if they have any concerns about its potential safety. And vessel companies share safety alerts, near misses, and best practices with one another,” Billings said.

The workboat industry’s accident rate, according to the Occupational Safety and Heath Administration, had

info0715@northriverboats.com

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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6/4/15 1:52 PM

BP CLAIMS WITH TRANSOCEAN AND HALLIBURTON SETTLED

P

art of the massive litigation spawned by the Deepwater Horizon disaster cleared May 20 when BP, rig owner Transocean Ltd. and oil services company Halliburton signed off on a settlement to pay off spill victims and satisfy each company’s claims against the others. The settlement is subject to approval in federal court, where BP still faces a potential $13.7 billion in Clean Water Act penalties.

Transocean, which operated the Deepwater Horizon rig, said it will pay about $212 million into one fund to pay plaintiffs, such as businesses and local governments that sought punitive damages from the spill, along with attorneys’ fees as determine by the court.

A second class of plaintiffs are those who previously settled economic damages claims with BP, and were to get reimbursement through claims BP had made against Transocean. A court-appointed special master will decide how much Transocean pays to the punitive damages class and the economic damages class.

“Transocean intends to satisfy its payment obligations using cash on hand,” according to the company.

For its part, BP agreed to indemnify Transocean for compensatory damages, including natural resource damages. Transocean in turn will indemnify BP for personal and bodily injury claims of Transocean employees and claims relating to any future cleanups around the Deepwater Horizon.

The companies will mutually release all claims against each other, and BP gives up attempts to recover more money from Transocean's insurance policies. BP will also pay Transocean $125 million in compensation for its legal fees during the court fights. — K. Moore

been dropping for years before Deepwater Horizon, from almost three lost workdays per 100 employees in 1999 to half that by 2005. The industrywide rate is currently less than one day per 100 workers.

OSV operator Hornbeck Offshore Services boasts a fraction of that rate, and rewards workers for the company’s safety record. Hornbeck boosted its paid safety bonuses from around $800,000 in 2005 to $2.6 million in 2010. The company upped those payouts to $3.6 million by 2013.

In April the Center for Offshore Safety, organized by industry after the Macondo disaster, issued its annual report including a first compilation of shared safety reporting from its member companies. Analysis of those 2013 reports showed 42 million work hours completed in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico without a fatality or loss of well control.

The report found that operators

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www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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needed to improve safety for lifting with cranes and hoists. This accounted for half the 48 reported mishaps.

There was also a need to improve risk management and maintenance, inspection and testing. Third on the list was sticking to operating procedures and safe work practices, “particularly the quality of work plans and preparation,” the report said.

“In the five years since the Macondo incident, the oil and natural gas industry has methodically examined every aspect of offshore safety measures and operations to identify potential improvements in safety management,” Charlie Williams II, executive director of the Center for Offshore Safety, told the Senate Commerce Committee at an April 29 hearing.

Billings said the Coast Guard shares that focus on offshore safety and stewardship through the regular inspection of equipment, personnel, and procedures aboard floaters, drillships

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

and OSVs, evaluation of near-miss incidents, sharing of best practices, and circulation of joint Coast Guard/Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Marine Safety Information Bulletins (MSIBs) to companies that operate on the Outer Continental Shelf.

The Coast Guard now has a single Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection (OCMI) for the entire Gulf of Mexico, “to ensure consistency and provide

clear guidelines to companies operating on the OCS,” Billings said.

And BSEE also established the Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) regime in 2013 to set safety standards and performancebased goals for energy producers, drilling rigs, service vessels, and other oilfield contractors on the OCS. Those are the standards that boat operators are now experiencing along with their customers.

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6/8/15 1:54 PM

Electronics

Well Equipped Electronics manufacturers are producing new workboat-friendly products.

By Michael Crowley, Correspondent

A

s marine electronics have evolved, commercial workboats are operating more efficiently and safely. And the technology keeps improving.

Some recent examples include the ability to open and close a seacock from the wheelhouse, a radar image fashioned specifically for inland towboats, and a speed log that measures a boat’s movement through the water within 0.02 knot.

FURUNO GS-100 You couldn’t have come close to 0.02 knot accuracy in the pre-electronic days of tossing off the stern a log tied to a rope with knots every so often

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and then counting the number of knots that went out in a given time. About the only thing that has in common with Furuno’s GS-100 satellite speed log and its 0.02-knot speed accuracy measurement is the word “log,” a term that has always indicated an instrument for measuring a boat’s speed.

The GS-100 was initially designed for vessels over 50,000 gross registered tons — tankers, container ships, bulkers, etc. It’s doesn’t always happen that equipment built specifically for bluewater has a place on smaller workboats. Yet now and then what’s designed for the merchant fleet makes the transition.

Introduced in May, the GS-100 came out in

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6/3/15 8:46 AM

SI TEX-Koden

However, it’s not an issue with Furuno’s satellitebased speed log. It provides an instantaneous, real time reading, Haynes said.

The GS-100’s GPS heading sensor also gives you a backup if the gyrocompass stops working. Without a backup, there are a lot of things you suddenly can’t do.

“You lose the ability to render charts with radar, propagate heading out to other ships by AIS, and lose the ability to render AIS on your radar,” said Haynes.

The GS-100, being a GPS-based heading sensor, removes that worry.

In addition to speed and heading data, the GS-100 calculates a boat’s pitch, roll, heave and the rate of return.

That information can then be sent to other sensors on the boat, such as sonars and sounders.

Thus, for a survey boat that’s mapping the bottom as it moves across an unsettled sea, the echo sounder “will typically show big waves,” said Haynes. “But the GS-100 sends heave information into the sounder and it flattens it out. You get a more flat, accurate picture.”

The GS-100 is priced at $8,295.

Koden has added new river software that’s specifically designed for towboat operations to its MDC-2500 radar series.

www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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Groco

response to an IMO regulation requiring new vessels over 50,000 grt to carry redundant speed and distance measuring equipment. It is fully compliant with that regulation, but as Furuno’s Jeff Kauzlaric will tell you, “it will also work great on OSVs, pilot boats and ocean tugs.”

The speed log’s three primary benefits are its precise measurement of movement through the water, a backup heading device or compass and a motion compensator.

The GS-100, which is based on GPS heading sensor technology, measures a boat’s longitudinal (fore-and-aft) speed as well as the transverse (athwartship) speed at the bow and stern. The stern speed measurement is even more accurate, within inches per second.

“Look at the display and it shows an image of the ship,” said Furuno’s Bill Haynes. “If you are being pushed to starboard it would have an arrow pointing to the right” and the speed would be indicated. “OSVs and PSVs can really use that to back off or give thrusters a little more power. You can look at the display and see how the thrusters are moving the boat.”

Most speed logs have a problem displaying a vessel’s speed when its thrusters kick in. That produces bubbles and agitation in the water that can block out a transducer’s signal.

One of the features of the E-Valve is wireless control from the helm and push button control from the engine room.

KODEN RADAR Koden has added a new feature to its MDC-2500 radar series that makes it ideal for the inland waterways.

“Last year, Koden came up with new river software that’s specifically designed for river tug operations,” said the company’s Allen Schneider. It’s the ability to put the display into a portrait format. Instead of a horizontal view, it’s a “vertical format. It maximizes the view along the river, giving a north and south, fore-and-aft view. A wide screen doesn’t do that,” he said.

Two additional benefits of having one of Koden’s 2500 series radars in the wheelhouse are the true trail function and the automatic tracking aid. By drawing tails on the vessels shown on the radar screen, you get a very good idea of the movement of those vessels.

In contrast, buoys and land remain stationary, so you always know if you are looking at a boat or a navigation aid.

The true trail function shows where a boat is coming from. If you want projected courses for boats in your vicinity, they are displayed with the automatic tracking function. The screen shows each vessel with a directional 47

6/3/15 9:19 AM

Electronics GROCO E-VALVE No one wants to go mucking around in the bilge to see if a seacock is fully open, especially if it’s behind machinery or a tank and especially if the operation can be controlled from the engine room or the wheelhouse.

The Groco E-Valve, which attaches to a Groco standard bronze seacock, lets you remotely operate a seacock. A 20' cable with a switch goes from the E-Valve to wherever you want to put the switch. Flip the switch to open or close the seacock.

The seacock can be operated manually. A cam in the E-Valve actuates the seacock’s handle, opening or closing the valve. “Then it immediately backs off so there is nothing in the way of the handle,” said Groco’s Paul Cummings.

“You can always manually operate it.”

Furuno

vector arrow showing which way the target is moving, as well as the closest point of approach and the time for closest point of approach in a digital format.

An option is to connect the radar to an AIS receiver to display up to 200 targets. That gives you the vessel’s name, heading and speed.

Depending on the radar model that’s chosen, power output ranges from 4 kW to 25 kW and the open array antennas go from 3' to 9'.

The standard display is a 15" unit, though Schneider said the black-box options are often selected because they allow a larger display to be used. The black box radar connects to any XGA or UXGA display.

The MDC-2500 radar series start at $10,299.

Later this year, seacocks with the E-Valve will go completely electronic when Groco offers an LCD screen with a diagram of the boat and the status of all the seacocks with E-Valves. They will be operated individually from a control panel, or with features such as “exercise all.”

Before starting a trip, “hit the ‘exercise all’ button and every valve will move and go back to where it was,” said Cummins.

You will also be able to program a seacock, say, for the generator to open and close when it starts and stops. If you’re in a harbor that doesn’t allow overboard discharges, just lock the valve.

If someone inadvertently kicks a valve halfway shut while crawling around the bilges, the wheelhouse display will start flashing to let you know there’s a problem.

Remote controls for seacocks have been available for a number of years, but they’ve mostly been used on mega yachts, said Kevin McConnell with Hamilton Marine in Searsport, Maine, a distributor of Groco marine products.

“Those have come out of the oil and gas industry, so you are talking thousands of dollars per unit. This is the first one that’s affordable.”

The Groco E-Valve is only available with new seacocks. The cost for the 3/4" to 3" E-Valve range from $1,000 to $1,600. A 5" size will be available later this year.

Furuno’s GS-100 satellite speed log was originally developed for bluewater vessels.

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LOOKS BACK JULY 1965

• The first atomic generator to provide power for navigation aids on an offshore oil and gas platform went into service June 21 in the Gulf of Mexico.

Under a two-year program with Phillips Petroleum, the Atomic Energy Commission installed the generator on the company’s platform where it is powering the navigation aids.

• Blount

Marine Corp., Warren, R.I., has been awarded a contract from Tidewater Marine Pacific Inc., Santa Barbara, Calif., to build two 76' offshore supply vessels. The OSVs will have room for 32 passengers and have a 50-ton deck cargo capacity.

• The Army has tested a lightweight vessel the operates by sunlight and found the use of solar power feasible.

Called the Sun Boat, the vessel operates JULY 1975 without fuel and runs

entirely on sunlight that falls on power generating cells.

“The solar propulsion boat may have potential military application where it is necessary to operate quietly and without using conventional fuel,” the Army said.

• The Ford administration is expected revenue approximating the annual opto introduce a waterways users tax bill erations and maintenance expenditures that will propose a four-cent-a-gallon of the Corps of Engineers for the inland tax on diesel fuel for vessels with drafts waterways as well as the annual costs of 15' or less. The Department of Trans- of the Coast Guard in providing aids to portation has reportedly chosen the fuel navigation and related services to comtax over waterway segment tolls. Acmercial operators. cording to the DOT, “the fuel tax was chosen ... because of its ease of administering and general public acceptance.

The four cents figure was chosen because JULY 1985 it would produce • The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule on the CSX-ACBL merger by late summer after hearing oral arguments recently. Richard Zellner, representing water carriers, stressed the importance that Congress has placed on barge competition and cited examples of water-compelled rail rate reductions that were a result of competition. The Interstate Com64

WB_LooksBack_LINO.indd 64

merce Commission failed to analyze the effects of the CSX-ACBL merger on rail-barge competition, said Zellner, instead focusing on the reduction in competition among barge lines. “Under the ICC’s reading, there would never be a reduction in competition. Contrary to the manner in which the ICC wrote its opinion, this was not a barge-barge transaction but a rail-barge transaction.” www.workboat.com • JULY 2015 • WorkBoat

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