Workboat June 2017

Cordage • Tier 4 Tug • RIBs ®

IN BUSINESS ON THE COASTAL AND INLAND WATERS

JUNE 2017

YEARBOOK

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ON THE COVER

®

JUNE 2017 • VOLUME 74, NO. 6

Inbound at Port Newark Container Terminal (WorkBoat Cover Contest winner). Photo by Myles McFadden

FEATURES 26 Vessel Report: Rat Patrol Law enforcement and RIBs go together.

40 Cover Story: Yearbook • Bigger tugs with bigger engines hit the market • Barge operators must wade through overcapacity woes and sluggish demand • Passenger vessel operators continue to enjoy strong demand • Shipyard expansions attract more business • OSV operators are still waiting for a rebound offshore

BOATS & GEAR 30 On the Ways

52

• Vane Brothers takes delivery of new 4,200-hp tug from St. Johns Shipbuilding and 53,000-bbl. asphalt barge from Conrad • GladdingHearn to build 75' Galveston-class pilot boat for Alaska • Horizon delivers 20th towboat to Florida Marine • 201' former Iowa casino boat to undergo multimillion-dollar refurbishment • Harvey Gulf takes delivery of fourth LNG PSV from Gulf Coast Shipyard and first of two 327' MPSVs from Eastern Shipbuilding • Bollinger delivers 23rd FRC to the Coast Guard

52 Ratings Boom New Harley Marine tug is a first for Cat Tier 4 diesels.

56 Roped in For synthetic towing lines, it’s less weight and more strength.

AT A GLANCE 8 8 9 10 12 14 16

On the Water: Hurricane spin cycle — Part I. Captain’s Table: TSAC tackles firefighting and licensing.

Energy Level: Don’t take cybersecurity lightly.

WB Stock Index: Stocks rise 2% in April despite losers topping winners.

Inland Insider: Some positive news for coal.

Insurance Watch: Always review the insurance clause in your contract.

Legal Talk: Seamen are wards of the court.

NEWS LOG 18 18 19 22 23

The former Alaska experimental cat Susitna is towed to the Philippines.

FMC head quizzed about shipping companies and tug service negotiations.

Florida fast-ferry pilot project deemed a success.

Response to Alaska tug grounding and fuel spill inadequate, report says.

New York ATB grounding heightens awareness of anchorage proposal.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

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56 DEPARTMENTS

2 Editor’s Watch

6 Mail Bag 58 Port of Call 63 Advertisers Index 64 WB Looks Back

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Want some good news?

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ost of you are aware of the continued depressed state of the oil patch. We’ve been reporting on it for several years now, and again address it in this year’s Yearbook report (see page 40.)

The news has also been bad on the inland waterways. Declining coal markets and oil prices have had a big impact on the dry and liquid barge sectors, resulting in lackluster earnings, idled equipment and consolidation. For dry-cargo barge operators even record movements of corn and soybeans for export couldn’t offset the sharp drop in barged coal shipments. Barged shipments of coal are off 40% from the peak year in 2006. This has resulted in a barge market that has been hit by an oversupply of bottoms and lower freight rates.

However, there are positive signs out there. Kirby Chairman Joe Pyne said in April that his company believes that the inland market is “continuing to move slowly towards supply and demand balance.”

And Tim Parker, chairman of Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based Parker Towing Co., said he’s “cautiously optimistic about the future. It’s not the first time we’ve been in this situation, and it won’t be the last.”

Other markets are doing fine, especially the passenger vessel sector which enjoyed another year of strong demand and bookings. Operators are building new vessels, buying and refurbishing used ones, and adding more capacity and sailings.

Shipyards that are diversified and have little or no dependence on the oil patch, are faring well too, and many yards have expanded.

David Krapf, Editor in Chief

One is All American Marine, who has moved into a new $10 million, 57,000-sq.-ft. facility. A major reason for the move was to increase the boatyard’s ability to build larger vessels.

The yard said that is the reason they were able to ink a deal in February for the construction of a new hybridelectric 600-passenger ferry for Red and White Fleet in San Francisco.

Other yards that are seeing recent expansions pay dividends include Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and Metal Shark.

There is good news to share in the workboat industry, and hopefully there will be even more next year.

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 17

by Diversified Business Communications.

Printed in U.S.A.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/8/17 3:43 PM

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We provide custom training Solutions for One individual or to large fleets · Emergency Response · Shipboard Safety · Basic Safety Training · Marine Fire Training

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TRAINING THAT WORKS FOR YOU!

PUBLISHER

Jerry Fraser jfraser@divcom.com

EDITOR IN CHIEF

David Krapf dkrapf@divcom.com

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Ken Hocke khocke@divcom.com

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Kirk Moore kmoore@divcom.com

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Ashley Herriman aherriman@divcom.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

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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

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www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

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The real ‘Inland Insider’ message is barge is best

SUNY Maritime offers more than training

I

T

was perplexed when I read the April Inland Insider column by Kevin Horn (“The shipment size problem”).

Mr. Horn seems to take a very limited view of inland waterways transportation while asserting broad generalizations about the advantages of truck and rail modes.

Horn wrote, “High volume rail shipments that are suitable for barges are difficult to identify.” Maybe in the horse country of Delaplane, Va., but try telling that to a farm family in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota or Wisconsin.

Or consider this description from Mr. Horn: “Waterways work best when a cargo shipment originates and terminates from docks on the waterways.”

Economic analyses of the watercompelled rate, a measure of shipper savings, consistently conclude that the shipper benefits when rail and barge compete out to 100 miles from the waterway.

Finally, calling the emerging market for containers on barge “an extreme example of the shipment size problem” sounds more like an argument for the status quo rather than encouragement for innovation.

According to the January 2017 update of modal comparisons by the Texas Transportation Institute, freight movement by barge is the safest, most fuel-efficient way to transport goods with the smallest carbon footprint and exponentially fewer spill incidents than other modes.

In 2015, 575 million tons of freight valued at $229 million were shipped on the inland waterways transportation system. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the customer saved an estimated $20.37 per ton by choosing waterways.

That is the real Inland Insider message.

Michael J. Toohey President Waterways Council Inc. Washington, D.C.

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level 1 instructor. I’m also an officer of the Northwest Indiana Paddling Association (NWIPA). Part of our mission is paddler safety. I’m always interested in safety practices to incorporate into our classes and to practice myself. Although we don’t have the heavy commercial traffic that New York Harbor has, we do have a deepwater port on Lake Michigan and steady commercial traffic on the Calumet and Chicago rivers.

Particularly interesting is testimony from commercial boat captains regarding safety concerns when sharing the waterways with paddlers. I will share this article with other paddlers in our group and at Canoecopia (a huge paddlers trade show in Madison, Wis.). NWIPA will have a booth there and I will see paddling instructors from across the country.

Because of the March letter, I will be educating myself on sound signals commercial boats use to communicate.

My son, a merchant mariner, sends me articles from WorkBoat that address issues with commercial vessels and paddlers. Many paddlers are aware of these issues and take precautions.

However many more paddlers need to become aware.

Thanks to your magazine and the boat captains that contribute, we all benefit.

hank you for your recent article on maritime training (“High Class,” April 2017, page 32). It is always nice to see what someone has written about your work.

I found it interesting that you wrote about naval architecture and marine engineering at Webb Institute, the Stevens Institute, and the University of Michigan — all excellent institutions, — while writing about SUNY Maritime College only in terms of training mariners for seagoing careers.

At SUNY Maritime: • In 2018, our bachelors degrees programs in naval architecture and in marine engineering will have had EAC (Engineering Accreditation Commission) accreditation from ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) for 40 years and 46 years respectively.

• We graduate more naval architects and marine engineers at the bachelor’s degree level than Webb, and in most years more than Michigan.

• The new president of NASSCO is one of our naval architecture alumni and the senior vice president/chief engineer of ABS is also an alumnus.

• Many of our students are not training to be mariners. Instead, they are here for the outstanding education that we offer.

There is more to SUNY Maritime College than meets the eye.

Gayle MacBride Crown Point, Ind.

Dr. Richard Burke ABS Professor of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering SUNY Maritime Throggs Neck, N.Y.

Making paddle boarders more aware of issues

T

hank you for the March Mailbag letter regarding paddlers in New York Harbor (“Look out for paddle boarders in NY Harbor”).

I’m a paddler and an American Canoe Association (ACA) certified coastal

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

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

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5/1/17 1:21 PM

On the Water

Hurricane spin cycle — Part I

I

By Joel Milton

Joel Milton works on towing vessels.

He can be reached at joelmilton@ yahoo.com.

t’s very unusual in the North Atlantic basin to see an early spring tropical cyclone form. But on April 20, Tropical Storm Arlene got the 2017 hurricane season going early when it became only the second April tropical storm of record in the satellite era.

Officially, hurricane season runs from June through November. Nature, however, is not bound by the calendar. Historically, once sea-surface temperatures near the 80°F (27°C) mark, it’s game-on.

Arlene evolved from a non-tropical low-pressure system, which subsequently morphed into a subtropical and then a tropical depression. It did not fit the normal model. It was a mid-latitude storm that formed and persisted between Bermuda and the Azores over relatively cold water (68°F/20°C) that normally wouldn’t be expected to support tropical cyclone development. Somehow it did.

The storm didn’t last very long and never posed a threat to land, but it produced seas up to an estimated 40' and so was therefore a hazard to

Captain’s Table Firefighting training and licensing discussed at TSAC

E

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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ach day, operators focus on their businesses and the tasks at hand, and solve any immediate pressing problems. After that, they move on to new challenges and opportunities.

The maritime industry places a lot of demands on your time. If you pilot a towboat or passenger vessel on the rivers or at sea, your time is even more precious. Whatever your job, everyone in the maritime industry must build in time to participate in or contribute to industry groups that represent our interests. Our futures literally hang in the balance.

Recently, I traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the Towing Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC) at Coast Guard headquarters. TSAC is a federal advisory committee made up of 18 industry and government representatives who tackle navigation and safety issues facing the towboat and barge industry. Each meeting also attracts members of the public. The recent meeting turned out to be a productive one.

shipping. That’s more than anyone in their right mind would ever want to directly experience on most oceangoing tugs. Tropical Storm Arlene was also the earliest storm to form that far north.

So, as the earth’s tilt steadily increases and the sun climbs higher in the sky each day warming the sea-surface temperatures and providing the necessary fuel for tropical cyclone formation, now is the time to consider your personal hurricane plan for the upcoming season that has arrived early.

What’s the primary way that you obtain your weather information and how reliable is it? What’s your back up, and the back up for the back up?

What are your sources of information? Having more than one is wise, and carefully cross-check each one of them.

Also, it is vital that you know the limitations of your weather assessment abilities. Do you have a reliably systematic way of monitoring your sources? Do you have a thorough understanding of Buys Ballot’s law (when your back is to the wind the lower barometric pressure is to your left in the northern hemisphere and to the right in the southern hemisphere owing to rotation of the earth)? Do you have an anemometer and does it work? Know these things before you choose to go.

The main topic that I was interested in was firefighting training requirements for towing vessels.

The topic was intensely debated. My concern is that firefighting training requirements will be harmonized with International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) requirements, which are inappropriate for most domestic vessel operations.

This international regulatory creep is an ongoing problem for domestic operators and mariners.

I was focused on firefighting training at TSAC, but I was pleased to learn that there is a proposal to eliminate the need for inland mariners to renew their radar endorsements. This is great news for inland mariners and eliminates a step in the mariner license renewal process. The licensing process today is much more complicated than it was 40 years ago when I first received my license.

I applaud any action that will make it easier for U.S. mariners to get their credentials and keep on working.

TSAC is one of several advisory committees that focus on developing or changing policies that affect all U.S. commercial marine operators and mariners. I encourage you to get involved and share your opinions. After all, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/3/17 3:53 PM

Energy Level Cybersecurity should be a big priority offshore

By Bill Pike

T

he market drives most of the economics in the Gulf of Mexico workboat market, but changing rules, regulations and mechanical issues, especially after Macondo, also have a big impact.

To understand the effect of regulations and to get a more technical take on the market, I spoke to Brent Savoie, engineering manager at the American Bureau of Shipping in New Orleans.

ABS closely monitors stacked vessels because the company is most often the surveyor on cold and warm stacked vessels. ABS has put together a guide to service laid up vessels to avoid typical stacking problems such as corrosion and equipment deterioration.

From ABS’s perspective, the company notices changing regulatory requirements that will affect vessel design and operational parameters going forward.

These include cybersecurity, environmental requirements, energy efficiency, and operational performance.

To fulfill these emerging regulatory requirements, a lot of big data will have to be acquired and processed. IT systems on vessels will become much more complicated, as will data transmission capabilities. These improvements make cybersecurity an even bigger priority, according to Savoie, especially since software changes on deployed vessels can now be made from shore. To help mitigate risks associated with cybersecurity, software quality and data integrity, Savoie noted that ABS has developed the ABS CyberSafety series, the industry’s first risk-based management program.

Another area that will see change, Savoie said, is operational performance

measurement and management. This involves the analysis of operational issues data such as propulsion, vibration, motions, loads and machinery monitoring. This will be intertwined with issues related to environmental performance and energy efficiency such as hulls, props, engines, emissions and associated machinery. Collection of this information will require onboard performance monitoring equipment.

Using the results of this data collection, ABS has created guides that support reliability, condition monitoring and maintenance.

At the base of all the mechanical analyses are databases that are susceptible to hacking, generally with malicious intent. Vulnerability depends on how sophisticated and complex the systems are, according to the Marine Electronics Journal.

Failure to employ sturdy cybersecurity measures puts your data and equipment at risk.

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STOCK CHART

WorkBoat Composite Index

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

Stocks rise 2% in April

T

he WorkBoat Composite Index rose 35 points, or 2%, in April, despite losers topping winners 18-11.

All indexes except operators were up for the month. Shipyards rose over 2%, suppliers were up over 3%, but operators were again dragged down by oil service issues and lost almost 4%. Sev-

INDEX NET PERCENT COMPARISONS 3/31/17 4/28/17 CHANGE CHANGE Operators 331.01 318.38 -12.63 -3.82 Suppliers 2916.76 3016.07 99.31 3.40 Shipyards 2383.42 2431.49 48.07 2.02 Workboat Composite 1815.29 1850.70 35.41 1.95 PHLX Oil Service Index 169.76 153.42 -16.34 -9.63 Dow Jones Industrials 20663.22 20940.51 277.29 1.34 Standard & Poors 500 2362.72 2384.20 21.48 0.91

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eral energy-related companies posted double-digit losses in April, including Gulf Island Fabrication Inc. The company’s stock lost almost 14% in April. On April 26, the company reported a first-quarter net loss of 44 cents a share, on revenue of $38 million. That compares to net income of 7 cents a share, on revenue of $84 million for the same period last year. The company attributed the loss primarily to an overall decrease in demand as a result of continued weakness in the oil and gas sector.

But the Houston-based company did have some positive news. Kirk Meche, president and CEO, said in the company’s April 27 earnings call that opportunities in the petrochemical market are increasing as evidenced by “most of our bidding activity today being focused on petrochemical and non-oil and gas projects.” Meche said he expects petrochemical projects and other non-upstream projects, including government transportation and renewable energy, “to drive new demand for our services in the near to medium term.”

“This market pivot away from a concentration in upstream oil and gas is now well under way. We have seen improved bidding opportunities, particularly outside the upstream oil and gas sector, including petrochemical fabrication work, passenger cruise vessels and government contracts.”

He said the company anticipates obtaining new backlog awards in 2017, but most of the contracts will not materialize into new work until mid-2017 or early 2018. — David Krapf www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/3/17 3:53 PM

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5/1/17 1:21 PM

Inland Insider Boom or bust for coal?

T

he domestic coal industry bust has been well documented. Recently released 2016 annual financial reports for the two eastern coal railroads, Norfolk Southern (NS) and CSX, provide the details surrounding the substantial 35% reduction in coal traffic since 2014. If public reports were available for coal sector barge lines the results would likely be very similar.

So I was attracted to a recent report that NS is hauling Illinois Basin coal from Princeton, Ind., for export through its Lamberts Point terminal in Norfolk, Va., because this is the first large-scale movement of this coal through that port facility. Traditionally, the Lamberts Point coal terminal is used for exports of metallurgical coal grades for steel producers as opposed to steam coal for

utility boilers.

The rail distance between Princeton and Norfolk is about 950 miles. Appalachian steam coal usually isn’t moved that far by rail for export. However, Illinois Basin coal is moved a similar distance to domestic power plants in Alabama and Georgia. This appears to be a new domestic export market for NS. Princeton is readily accessible to the Ohio River, and barge lines regularly move Illinois Basin coal to New Orleans for export. This represents a river distance of about 1,050 miles.

New Orleans is a major market for midstream transfer of coal exports from barge to dry bulk freighter. However, the New Orleans midstream coal export market nearly dried up after peaking at about 20 million tons in 2012 (another 20 million tons was handled by shore side terminals).

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in Illinois Basin coal exports

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via New Orleans. Midstream operations that have had little to no coal transfer volume are now reporting possible

By Kevin Horn volumes in 2017 upwards of several million tons.

The big unanswered question is how long this rail movement of “barge coal” will last as well as the barge counterparts? No one is publicly expecting this to be a long-term market that will come and go, like other commodity boom and bust cycles.

Fortunately, both rail and barge have plenty of coal-related equipment sitting around with few options for other uses, so longevity of this market is not a major concern.

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

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Insurance Watch

That contract does not control your insurance

C

lients often ask me to review insurance clauses in contracts that they are asked to sign. Unfortunately, often the contracts have already been signed before I can review them. It should be the other way around.

Contracts are often prepared by legal teams or in some cases crafted from boilerplate language pulled from the internet. While it is important to have the correct legalities in a contract, it is equally important to have the insurance aspects correct. That is why a conversation with your agent is important before you sign on the dotted line.

A contract, when properly drawn and signed, is an enforceable docu-

14

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ment. But just because you have signed the document does not mean that your insurance policy will react to it. Your policy is also a legal contract and the insurance company is only going to respond to the limits and conditions spelled out in it. It is important to make sure that the limits and conditions you are insured for will meet the requirements in the contract you are signing.

There are often other stipulations that need to be verified with your agent before signing. Waiver of subrogation and hold-harmless clauses are often inserted in a contract. While these can be very beneficial to the party requesting them, they need to be approved by your insurance company. Contracts often include the words “any and all” when referring to risks covered. Your insurance policy most likely will not react to “any and all” claims made against it. Again, have these clauses reviewed beforehand.

More often than not, a contract will

request insurance coverage that does not pertain to your operation or vessel under those circumstances.

By Chris Your hull and Richmond P&I policies will react to claims made against the boat.

But getting the party who is requesting these limits to understand this can often be futile. Get your insurance agent involved to help sort out the wording and coverage issues.

Contracts are required for a variety of different occasions. A boilerplate contract most likely will not fit your unique situation. Contracts are also negotiable.

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

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Legal Talk Seamen are regarded as wards of the court

M

aritime law is steeped in tradition. It’s as old as the shipping trade itself. While some historical legal principles inevitably yield to progress

in the industry, some tenets of the law are slow to change.

One example of this is the farreaching, some say overreaching, legal protection afforded to seamen.

“Seaman,” as a legal term, refers to a maritime worker who has a “substantial connection” to a particular vessel or fleet and, through his work duties, contributes to the vessel’s function or

accomplishment of its mission.

A few advantages seamen have over the typical landbased worker or even other types of maritime

By Daniel Hoerner employees include the right to sue their employer for monetary damages when they are hurt or injured on the job, entitlement to pursue legal remedies in either state or federal court, and needing only to prove “slight” negligence or fault in order to establish legal liability against their employer. These remedies are granted exclusively to seamen legislatively under the Jones Act and via the court-made general maritime law.

Our judicial system further provides added leverage to seamen even after a claim appears to have been settled. If it appears that an employer was overbearing or negotiated unfairly in resolving a seaman’s claim, a settlement can be voided after the fact. In recognition of its role as protector of seamen as “wards of the court,” the judiciary will readily scrutinize any settlement agreement if it perceives a seaman has been taken advantage of. Any unfair settlements can be easily set aside, thereby restoring the seaman’s legal rights against the employer.

Although the unique circumstances of the work and life of the seafarer have evolved over time and with advancements in safety and technology, this special class of worker continues to benefit from deeply rooted age-old legal favor.

Industry management, insurance adjusters and legal practitioners should be forever mindful that in the eyes of the law, seamen will always be regarded as wards of the court whose rights and remedies shouldn’t be unjustly compromised.

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JUNE 2017

NEWS LOG NEWS BITTS FMC CHALLENGED ON SHIPPERS’ NEGOTIATION WITH TUG OPERATORS

Bart Pinder/Harley Marine Services

C

ongress should reconsider antitrust exemptions for global shipping companies who want to jointly negotiate services with U.S. tugboat and port operators, lawmakers suggested at an April hearing of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

Committee chairman, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., raised the possibility at the April House hearing while quizzing Michael Khouri, acting chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, about the FMC’s recent decision to allow a group of ro/ro vehicle carriers to jointly solicit bids and negotiate with tug operators.

“I think we should revisit the antitrust immunity that’s been granted under law, limited as it is,” DeFazio said.

The Shipping Act of 1916 allows carriers some leeway, under government supervision. Khouri cast the March 6 FMC decision as “regulatory reform” streamlining requirements for carriers. He maintained that alliances are not fixing prices and are “purely operational.”

DeFazio responded by bringing up surprise subpoenas that the FBI served to international shipping executives at a

The Susitna is loaded onto a barge for its transit to the Philippines.

A

fter six years of sitting around Southeast Alaska sucking up money and feeding controversy, the Susitna has finally found a new home in the Philippines.

Last year, the Philippine Red Cross paid $1.75 million to the MatanuskaSusitna Borough in Alaska for the experimental, variable-draft catamaran that originally cost an estimated $80 million. The PRC will use the Susitna as a fast transport and landing vessel.

Built in 2012 by Alaska Ship & Drydock (now Vigor Alaska) in Ketchikan, the Susitna was originally conceived as a military landing craft, then as a ferry in Alaska, but it never operated as either.

Before being towed across the North Pacific on a barge, the 195'×60' vessel was towed from Ketchikan to Seattle.

In Seattle, the Susitna went into Foss Shipyard for extensive engine repairs and modifications necessary for the ocean tow, which was contracted out to Harley Marine Services in Seattle.

“She wasn’t built for anything more than sea state 4,” said Matt Godden, Harley’s senior vice president and COO. “We weren’t willing to risk that, 18

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so we opted to pick her up, which was quite a feat in its own right.”

Given the Susitna’s total weight of 960 tons (the hull was heavily reinforced for ice operations), the lift would either require up to four smaller cranes or one large one. “We ended up using a heavy-lift ship to pick her up, the Happy Star.”

And in a happy coincidence, the Happy Star was also available to reverse the process in the Philippines after the Susitna arrived on the barge Chatham Provider, which had been towed across by Harley’s Ernest Campbell, a 3,000-hp, 107'×32' twin-screw tug built in Louisiana in 1969.

“The tug was perfect for the job,” said Godden. “The barge was rated at 8,000 tons, and this was an eighth to a fourth of that, so a 3,000-horsepower, twin-screw tug that has been maintained to oil-major standards was just right. She’s a great sea boat and has made many trips between the West Coast and Honolulu, as well as to and from Alaska.”

The tug and its crew stopped briefly in Honolulu east and west bound along with port calls in Guam.

Corps of Engineers New York District

Alaska experimental cat towed to Philippines

Tugboats assist a containership in the Arthur Kill between New Jersey and Staten Island, N.Y.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/3/17 3:11 PM

March meeting of the International Council of Containership Operators, known as the Box Club. “The Box Club, where they were all subpoenaed? What were they doing?” DeFazio said.

Khouri responded that alliance companies operate 578 vessels in U.S. trade, leaving 2,000 ships outside of those frameworks and subject to market forces.

DeFazio said foreign carriers, particularly the Chinese, are pursing mercantilist goals at the expense of U.S. businesses.

At a May hearing before the subcommittee, Tom Allegretti, president and CEO of the American Waterways Operators, said, “that it is fundamentally unfair, anticompetitive, and at odds with the interests of the U.S. maritime industry to skew the playing field in favor of massive international shipping conglomerates ... at the expense of American tugboat companies and other domestic service providers.”

— K. Moore

The tug, barge and crew returned to Seattle on Jan. 30, 120 days and 15,269 nautical miles after departing in early October. “Some of the guys crewed up in anticipation of this job in early August, so they missed the full holiday season, from Halloween to New Year’s, but they all were committed to this project, which was one of the more complex jobs we had last year,” said Godden.

— Bruce Buls

ers in late March. Total passenger count for the first four months of the $1.4 million pilot project — November 2016 through February — was 22,596. More than 6,300 were commuters. Two thirds said they might not have taken the trip if the ferry weren’t available. One third said they used the ferry instead of their car to make a previously planned trip.

St. Petersburg, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, and the city of Tampa each put up $350,000 for the service that ran between the two cities’ downtowns through April.

“We’re pleasantly surprised,” said Greg Dronkert, president and COO of operator HMS Ferries, Seattle. “It’s not that common where you’ll see strong demand when there are good land connections.” There was a small but loyal commuter crowd and a lot of demand for recreational travel.

HMS time chartered the Provincetown IV, a 98'×33'×7' aluminum

Florida ferry trial a success, officials say

T

he six-month fast ferry experiment on Florida’s Tampa Bay went so well that officials are exploring funding options to do it again, either on a seasonal or full time basis.

“There’s a demand for ferry service,” St. Petersburg, Fla., Mayor Rick Kriseman told Pinellas County commission-

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catamaran built by Gladding Hearn Shipbuilding in 2013 for Bay State Cruise Co., Boston. The 149-passenger ferry that runs between Boston and Provincetown from mid-May to midOctober has a top speed of 32.5 knots.

Initial ticket prices were $10 per oneway trip. The ferry recently cut that to $5 for weekdays. Operating expense per passenger mile was $1.35, according to data compiled by St. Petersburg.

By comparison, Washington State Ferry’s is $2.12. Farebox recovery — revenue versus operating expenses — for the pilot project is 35% compared to 20% for standard bus service. No government was guaranteed a return after expenses, but so far they’ve each received $13,650.50, city data show.

Mayor Kriseman, who would like to see year-round service, is seeking funding for buying, leasing or building ferries. They’re talking with federal and state officials and hope the pilot will provide data to support their pitch. The

The Provincetown IV provided fast ferry service on Tampa Bay in a six-month trial program.

biggest challenge is getting the boats.

“Available capacity on the market now is scarce,” Dronkert said. The Provincetown IV was the right size for the passenger count, but may be more

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As for the future, he said they were in demonstration mode. “We do not try to push a project one way or another.”

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ing the service if it were offered again?

“Of course,” he said.

— Dale K. DuPont

Report faults Inside Passage oil spill response efforts

T

Kyle Artelle/Heiltsuk Nation

he first 48 hours of response to the Nathan E Stewart tugboat ground-

ing and oil spill was marked by delays, inadequate booms and spill response materials, and confusion over who was in charge, according to a report by Heiltsuk First Nation officials.

The Oct. 13, 2016, accident left Kirby Offshore Marine’s tugboat, the 3,400-hp, 95'3"×32'×13'7" Nathan E Stewart, and 52,000-bbl. tank barge DBL 55 hard aground on the Edge Reef

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Salvage workers raise the Kirby tug Nathan E Stewart in November near Bella Bella, British Columbia.

at the entrance to the Seaforth Channel near Bella Bella, British Columbia.

More than 29,000 gals. of diesel fuel leaked, and local waters are still closed to fishing and shellfish harvesting, say leaders of the Heiltsuk community, who since 2010 had pressed Canadian authorities to stop oil tanker and barge shipments through those waters.

“The Heiltsuk were never consulted

by Canada on whether we agreed with the Nathan E Stewart transporting oil through our territories, or with its exemption from having a local pilot,” Heiltsuk Chief Councilor Marilyn Slett said in a statement that accompanied release of the report. “The way Canada handled this situation does not reflect the approach the federal government says it wants to take in developing a nation-to-nation relationship.”

In March, Heiltsuk First Nation finally signed a reconciliation agreement with Canada for joint decision-making over land and marine resources in its traditional territories.

The report quotes Heiltsuk on-scene responders, who pressed their boats into service and did what they could to contain the spill. They struggled with booms breaking in heavy swells, without masks and gloves at first and some getting ill from fumes, according to the report.

“I saw a lot of chaos,” said Harvey Humchitt, a Heiltsuk hereditary chief.

“The booms were not the proper type for the conditions out here. There was www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/3/17 3:11 PM

ing a major pollution problem.

But the April 4 incident in heavy fog at Catskill, N.Y., came as the Coast Guard was reviewing an industry request for 10 new designated anchorage areas on the river – and with New York politicians aiming to block that plan.

The 458'×72' barge RTC 150 and its ATB tug mate, the 119'×40'×22', 7,200hp Meredith C. Reinauer, owned by Reinauer Transportation Companies, were hauling the fuel to Albany, N.Y.

no communication, no on-scene command, no clear direction on actions to be taken. It was very upsetting to see how much damage was done in such a short time.”

Along with recounting shortfalls in the immediate response effort, the report says that Heiltsuk officials were refused access to records from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada — which cited its own ongoing investigation — and Kirby corporate sources.

Those included “failed attempts by the Heiltsuk to gain access from the Transportation Safety Board and company to the vessel’s logbook, black box, crew statements, crew training records, barge history and other critical information.”

Within weeks of the Bella Bella incident, the Canadian government pledged $1.5 billion for new marine safety and spill response programs. First Nation and environmental activists continue to press the federal government and British Columbia officials to restrict oil shipments through the Inside Passage.

— Kirk Moore

No damage or spill in ATB grounding in N.Y.'s Hudson River

A

In heavy fog, the barge went aground around 8:30 a.m. at a stone channel marker on the west side of the river, at the village of Catskill just south of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.

As the Coast Guard and state and local agencies monitored the barge, Reinauer dispatched its 114'×40'×17', 4,000-hp tug Craig Eric Reinauer with the 413'×74' barge RTC 103 in case it became necessary to lighter.

But the RTC 150 refloated on an eve-

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Philip Kamrass/Office of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

ning tide. After an inspection showed it was intact, the barge proceeded to Albany to unload the next day.

After returning to the company’s Staten Island, N.Y., base, another diver examination and internal inspection showed the RTC 150 was undamaged by the incident, Reinauer officials said.

“While this was an unfortunate event, it was handled properly and professionally, and everyone came together to reach the best possible outcome,” said company vice president Bert Reinauer.

“Environmental safety is front-andcenter for all of us at Reinauer. The fact that our vessel is double-hulled, together with the careful, quick response of our crew avoided any leakage of fuel and any harm to the environment,” he said.

Built for Reinauer in 2003 by Alabama Shipyard, Mobile, Ala., the RTC 150 and its tug were part of the double hulling of the U.S.-flag tanker and barge fleet, mandated by the Oil Pollu-

The articulated tug-barge Meredith C. Reinauer and RTC 150 ran aground in the Hudson River at Catskill, N.Y.

tion Act of 1990.

While the RTC 150 performed as designed, the grounding became a new point of contention among opponents of the Hudson anchorage proposal.

The American Waterways Operators alerted its members to a new bill in the New York Senate that would impose new conditions on tugs and barges, and eliminate a maritime industry advisory group.

“AWO is concerned that the bill would circumvent the Coast Guard’s rulemaking process, violate the Coast Guard’s federal authority to regulate vessel operations, and needlessly eliminate the industry’s safety perspective in making important navigation decisions,” the association told its members. —K. Moore

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RIBs

Rat Patrol

Patrol boats are primarily built to catch those who break the law.

W

hether it’s drug interdiction on the high seas, protection against a terrorist attack in a large city or getting a drunken rec boat driver off a lake, multimission patrol boats are used across the U.S. for law enforcement. A large number of these vessels are rigid hull inflatable boats.

UNTRADITIONAL A new line of boats with hybrid foam/air collar systems hit the market with Life Proof Boats, developed and built by Inventech Marine Solutions (IMS), Bremerton, Wash.

“It’s a redundant system. It’s 80 percent foam and 20 percent air,” said Stephen Crowe of Inventech. After two years in the prototype stage, IMS’ Foam Air Stabilized Technologies (FAST) collar system debuted a year ago at the Multi-Agency Craft Conference, in the form of a 28'×10'8" center console powered by a 500-hp Duramax diesel.

The IMS FAST system allows users to choose and change the ratio of air to foam using different air bladders, and make the change themselves. The

patented design also enables customers to easily replace collars. IMS CEO Micah Bowers calls the concept a RIB — as in “rigid hull inflatable boat” — for its immunity to punctures.

In November, Bowers was at the Pacific Marine Expo, with an 18' center console runabout on the show floor, and a 30'×8'6" response boat with a detachable hardtop on the Seattle waterfront.

Bowers took potential customers on spins across the harbor, showing the boat’s impressive handling performance.

“The whole idea was to build a multimission boat that is really tough. This one will do about 65 (mph) with the right props,” Bowers said. With a pair of Mercury Verado 300-hp outboards on the transom, the boat responded rapidly on plane passing 30 knots.

“It’s about a three-and-a-half, four-second plane time,” Bowers said, as he advanced the throttles.

Dodging sea birds and timbers floated on a high moon tide, he reached the boat’s usual top speed.

“Every day, you’ve got a 60-mph boat,” Bowers said.

New RIB from Brunswick made its debut at the International WorkBoat Show last December.

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Brunswick Commercial & Government Products

By Kirk Moore, Associate Editor, and Ken Hocke, Senior Editor

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/3/17 2:43 PM

Metal Shark

Executing a series of turns, Bowers pulled the boat into a hard circle — about two-and-a-half to three times its hull length. A passing Washington State Ferries vessel provided the wake to demonstrate the big chop capability of the convertible’s hull — and its Shox impact-mitigating crew seats.

A launch about 10' high landed the boat running smooth and straight.

Compared to similar designs, the Life Proof boat has a very low center of gravity, with a step down about 14" from the after deck into the walkthough crew cabin with four seats and a cuddy cabin area forward. That gives an extra margin of stability, along with

the FAST collar system cored with closed-cell polyethylene foam.

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AIR FORCE Brunswick Commercial & Government Products (BCGP) introduced Patrol boat in a sprint in Seattle. a 34'7"×11'6" 1100 Impact aluminum RIB at the International WorkBoat Show in ing in size from 7.5 meters (24') to 12 December. meters (40') and from 600 hp to 1,150 A first of its kind for the company, hp. Designed for the commercial and the 1100 aluminum RIB with D-collar government marketplace, BCGP is option is the introductory model from marketing the new lineup to domestic a lineup that features five models ranglaw enforcement agencies as well as militaries worldwide.

Sporting a 21" draft, the aluminum hull is a mill finish welded structure designed by BCGP. Notable features include three 350-hp Mercury Marine Verado outboard engines with joystick piloting for outboards (JPO) technology and Skyhook digital anchor. The D-collar is designed to give customers more space on deck and added maneuverability and versatility for the crew.

“This [RIB] is an extremely versatile platform and can be customized to fit the needs of its users,” said Kelsey Nemeth, Brunswick’s marketing coordinaThe Navy is using these Metal Shark RIBs for tor. “We’re seeing a lot of success with its foreign military sales program. the hard-sided platform.”

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Other features include a 30" transom height, 21° deadrise, room for 18 people and 450-gal. fuel capacity.

Metal Shark, Jeanerette, La., is building multiple RIBs for the Navy’s foreign military sales program. The 7.7-meter (25'×10') RIB is built for harsh environments in foreign countries such as recent customers Jordan and Bulgaria.

In its standard configuration, the RIB has a fiberglass hull and can be powered by twin gas outboards, a single diesel stern drive or single diesel jet drive. Other features include foam flotation below decks, self-bailing cockpit with 4" scuppers, console with side access door and Lexan windscreen, pipe style leaning post with cushion, full transom bulkhead, Wing inflatable collar, and welded aluminum bow and stern eyes.

Earlier this year, Ribcraft, Marblehead, Mass., delivered a 21' Ribcraft 6.5 patrol boat to the Pender County Sheriff’s Office, Burgaw, N.C. Located on the Atlantic Ocean in southeast North Carolina, the Sheriff’s Office formed a joint venture with the Pender County Rescue Squad to provide on water enforcement and rescue operations seven days a week during the summer. The new patrol boat is designed to meet the county’s multifunctional requirements and enhances its on water response capabilities.

Powered by a 175-hp Yamaha outboard, the 6.5 has a top speed of over 50 mph. The patrol boat features a Stokes basket system (stretcher) with an antenna arch and integrated dive ladder. Other features of the 21' RIB include a center console layout with front bench seat and leaning post, aluminum T-Top with electronics box, full size windscreen mounted to the T-Top, forward tow post, a pair of transom bollards, a bow chock and a reinforced bow.

Designed specifically for 24/7 commercial operations, the RIB will have a uniformed law enforcement officer and a paramedic onboard seven days a week during the summer season.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/3/17 4:44 PM

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CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY AT WORKBOAT YARDS

On TheWays

ON THE WAYS

Vane Brothers

Vane Brothers takes delivery of tug and asphalt barge

The 361' barge Double Skin 510A can haul 53,000 bbls. of asphalt. The 4,200-hp tug Philadelphia (upper right) will primarily tow petroleum barges.

V

ane Brothers, Baltimore, recently added two new vessels to the company’s growing fleet — the 100'×34', 4,200-hp tug Philadelphia and the 361'×62', 53,000-bbl. asphalt barge Double Skin 510A. Primarily tasked with towing petroleum barges in the North Atlantic coastwise trade, the Philadelphia is the fifth of eight 4,200-hp model bow tugs contracted by Vane Brothers through St. Johns Ship Building, Palatka, Fla. The first in the series, Elizabeth Anne, was delivered in 2016, while the sixth in the series, New York, is scheduled for completion this summer.

The Double Skin 510A is the second newbuild asphalt barge delivered to Vane by Conrad Deepwater South, Amelia, La. The first was the Double Skin 509A, which was put into service in July 2015.

“Vane Brothers’ new vessel construction program is a commitment we keep to our customers and our mariners to invest in the safest, most modern and efficient fleet,” Vane’s president, C. Duff Hughes, said in a statement. “We remain very pleased with the quality of tugboats coming out of St. Johns Ship Building and the barges being built by Conrad.”

Designed by Entech Designs LLC, Kenner, La., the Philadelphia has a draft of 13' and is powered by two Cat30

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erpillar 3516, Tier 3 (“A” Rated) engines, each producing 2,100 hp at 1,600 rpm. Ship’s service power is provided by two John Deere PowerTech 4045 gensets, sparking 99 kW of electrical power each. A third John Deere 4045 drives the Intercon DD200-D towing winch. All Elizabeth Anne-class tugs feature the newest Simrad electronics package installed

by Rhodes Electronics. Comfortable accommodations are available for up to seven crew.

The DS-510A double-hull tank barge utilizes a thermal heating system that keeps asphalt at approximately 300°F so that the highly viscous liquid flows more easily. The new tank barge operates at a pumping rate of 8,000 bbls. per hour with a loading rate of 10,000 bph. Along with transporting asphalt, which is primarily used for road construction, roofing and other building applications, the barge is generally suited for moving heavy oil products. — Ken Hocke

Gladding-Hearn to build pilot boat for Southwest Alaska Pilots

G

ladding-Hearn Shipbuilding is constructing a 75'7"×20'6"×3'11" Galveston-class pilot boat for the Southwest Alaska Pilots Association, Homer, Alaska. www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

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When the boat is completed in July 2018, it will be the first pilot boat built at the Somerset, Mass., boatyard for Alaska. The pilot boat will operate out of Valdez with runs of about 25 miles into the Gulf of Alaska to reach the boarding station.

The pilots used to have what Duclos calls “a hotel vessel.”

“It was like a big old fishing vessel tied up to a barge” that was stationed about halfway to the boarding station, he said. “But now they run everything

out of downtown Valdez. It’s a longer run, so they needed more speed and size.”

The C. Raymond Hunt deep-V hull design is based on two boats built for the Galveston, Texas, pilots. The boat going to Alaska is a bit longer, 75' as opposed to 70'. The extra waterline length is needed to carry heavier hull plating and tighter frame spacing that’s needed for those encounters with ice, debris and tree trunks that are inevitable in Alaska waters.

“The plating is heavier, particularly at the forward end,” said Duclos. Normally the plating would be 5/16". The Alaska pilot boat’s bottom plating will be 1/2" and run most of the length of the boat. The stem will also be heavier.

Keeping the crew comfortable and safe while running through winter’s snow and ice is the job of three dieselfired boilers for heating the wheelhouse, fo’c’sle, engine room, main deck, handrails and windows. “A big Continued on page 36

BOATBUILDING BITTS arley Marine Services has unveiled the names of two articulated tug-barge units that are currently under construction at Portland, Ore.-based Gunderson Marine and Conrad Shipyard, Morgan City, La., respectively. The steel ATBs include two 116'×36'×16'9" tugs being built at Conrad and two 83,000-bbl., 430'×76'×27' barges under way at Gunderson. The tugs will be mated to the barges by Articouple FRC55 pin connections. Elliott Bay Design Group handled the design of the barges and Entech Designs LLC designed the tugs. The first ATB unit will consist of the One Cure tug and One Dream barge. The second ATB unit will be made up of the Todd E. Prophet tug and All Aboard For A Cure barge. The tugs will be equipped with two GE 6L250, Tier 4 propulsion engines, producing a total of approximately 4,560 hp at 900 rpm. The engines will reduce NOx and particulate matter and reinforce Harley Marine's commitment to being an environmentally responsible leader within the maritime industry. The mains will connect to 93"×116", 4-bladed, stainless steel wheels through Reintjes WAF 1963 marine gears with 4.467:1 reduction ratios. The tank barges will feature twin IMD-413IC-800JD pumps that will be powered

by Detroit Diesel pump engines and twin John Deere 99kW, 3-phase, Tier 3 auxiliary engines. Deck machinery will include an Alaskan Marine MCF-1575 hose crane, four Nabrico double-drum mooring winches with cat heads; 10,000 gal. slop tank; and a Maritime Protection nitrogen gas generator. — Ken Hocke Grand Majestic Riverboat Co. is overhauling the 201'×50'×7' former Iowa casino boat Diamond Lady, built in 1991, to accommodate 70 passengers on sevento 21-day cruises beginning in September. The multimillion dollar project includes a complete repowering of the vessel that now has three Caterpillar 3412 engines — one of which drives the paddlewheel — and an interior gutting and refurbishing with cabins, dining area

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Harley Marine Services

H

Conrad is building the tugs and Gunderson is building the tank barges for Harley Marine Services.

and lounge, according to Capt. Joseph Baer, who with his wife Victoria founded the Cincinnati area company.

Work will be done in the New Orleans area, and the boat will be homeported in Covington, Ky.— Dale K. DuPont Harvey Gulf International Marine, Harvey, La., has accepted delivery of its fourth LNG-powered offshore supply vessel. The Harvey Freedom built at Gulf Coast Shipyard Group in Gulfport, Miss., is 310'×64'×24'6", U.S.-flagged Subchapter I and L, SOLAS compliant.

It has capacities of 253,000 gals of fuel oil; 18,000 bbls. liquid mud; 1,600 bbls. methanol; 10,250 cu. ft. dry cement; and 78,000 gals. LNG fuel. In addition to being powered by cleaner burning natural gas, the vessel is “ENVIRO+, Green Passport” certified by ABS, making it, and its sisterships, the most environmental friendly OSVs in the Gulf of Mexico, company officials said. Harvey Gulf also took delivery of the first of two, large-capacity multipurpose support vessels from Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Panama City, Fla. The 327'×73'×29' Harvey Sub-Sea is a Jones Act-qualified vessel that has the technical capabilities to perform high-quality field development activities that are currently being performed by a foreign fleet, Harvey Gulf officials said. The new MPSV is equipped with a 250ton knuckle boom, heave-compensated crane with 4,000' of wire. The crane’s winch is below deck, expanding its lifting capacity and enabling loads of 107 metric tons to be delivered to water depths of 12,000'. The Sub-Sea has

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Harvey Gulf International Marine

On TheWays

Multipurpose supply vessel for Harvey Gulf.

150 berths in one- or two-person rooms, 13,000 sq. ft. of deck space, a 24'×24' moon pool, and an S61 (heavy) helideck. — K. Hocke Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, La., has delivered the 154'×25'5"×9'6" Benjamin Dailey, the 23rd fast response cutter, to the Coast Guard. The steel patrol boat has an

aluminum superstructure and is ABSclassed high-speed naval craft. The new cutter was delivered to Key West, Fla., in April, and the commissioning is scheduled for July in Pascagoula, Miss. For the FRC, Bollinger is using a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708. Main propulsion comes from twin MTU 20V4000 M93L diesel engines, producing 2,900 hp each.

The patrol boat has a flank speed of 28 knots, state of the art command, control, communications and computer technology, and a stern launch system for the vessel’s 26' cutter boat. The new FRCs have a minimum endurance of five days at sea and a range of 2,950 nautical miles. — K. Hocke Louisiana-based boatbuilder Metal Shark is ramping up production to build an inventory of stock vessels, with the goal of reducing lead times thus enhancing cus-

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Bollinger Shipyards Inc.

On TheWays

The 23rd fast response cutter from Bollinger.

tomer service. Under the new program, the lead time for a single 38 Defiant pilothouse vessel could be reduced from 270 days to 30 days, depending on equipment and configuration. Metal Shark custom builds each vessel to accommodate the unique mission requirements of its customers. To continue this, vessels built as part of the

company’s new stock boats program will in most cases be built to a stage where they are awaiting final fit out. — K. Hocke Austal USA and Navy officials met in April in Mobile, Ala., to finalize documentation for the delivery of expeditionary fast transport vessel USNS Yuma (EPF 8). The EPF program provides the Navy with a new highspeed intra-theater transport capability. The 338' Yuma is an aluminum catamaran capable of transporting 600 tons 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots. It is designed to operate in austere ports and waterways, providing added flexibility to U.S. warfighters worldwide. The ship’s flight deck can also support flight operations for a wide variety of aircraft, including a CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter. — K. Hocke Vigor has agreed to purchase a 640'×116' drydock from a unidentified Korean seller. The new 20,000-LT lift capacity dock will be the third, and largest, at Vigor’s Harbor Island shipyard. — K. Hocke

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On TheWays

hydronic heating system is essential,” said Duclos. “It sucks up a couple thousand BTUs like nothing.”

Avoiding icy spray as much as possible means installing a fendering system that is, said Duclos, “like pillows.”

“It’s fabricated foam with a coated urethane skin, a smooth surface,” he said. A tire would hold ice and water and create a lot of spray. “These create less spray. You try not to create a lot of spray and ice.”

The fenders were developed for the European wind farm industry, and it’s the first time they’ll go on a GladdingHearn boat. “I’m looking forward to seeing how it works,” said Duclos.

The pilot boat is a flushed deck without boarding platforms. “There’s a minimal amount of stuff to collect ice,” noted Duclos, “That’s a key.” If someone goes over the side, there’s an

Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding

Continued from page 31

75' pilot boat will operate in Alaska.

articulated davit on each side of the wheelhouse that drops a collar to pull the person out of the water.

The wheelhouse is outfitted with six Llebroc seats, a settee, berth and small galley behind the helm station. There are two staterooms with over-and-under bunks, a head and shower.

Duclos estimated that the pilot boat should have a top speed of around 28 knots when the twin 1,400-hp Cummins QSK38-M1 Tier-3 diesels that are

matched up with ZF-5000 gearboxes and HamiltonJet HM651 waterjets are maxed out. — Michael Crowley

Horizon delivers 20th towboat to Florida Marine

H

orizon Shipbuilding Inc., Bayou La Batre, Ala., delivered the 120'×35'×11'6" retractable pilothouse towboat Victoria Pasentine to Man-

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www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

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To learn more about Baudouin engines, call MSHS at 800-622-6747 or visit www.mshs.com.

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deville, La.-based Florida Marine Transporters in April. Horizon has delivered 20 boats to FMT over the past nine years.

Designed by John Gilbert Associates, the Victoria Pasentine has an ABS load line certificate to operate in the waters between Chicago and Burns Harbor, Ind., for fair weather voyages.

Two Caterpillar 3512 engines, each rated at 2,011 hp at 1,600 rpm, power the steel towboat.

With the wheelhouse fully retracted, the maximum air draft is 17'8". Ship’s service power comes from twin 460-volt Tier 3 John Deere 6090 generator-drive engines, sparking 175 kW of electrical power each. The boat is outfitted for service in certain areas restricted to overhead clearances and draft limitation. Sleeping accommodations and facilities are provided for eight persons and sound dampening systems have been installed throughout the main deck house.

Horizon Shipbuilding

On TheWays

New towboat is the 20th Horizon has built for FMT.

“Anyone who has done business with Dennis Pasentine (FMT’s owner and CEO) knows that it’s about relationships as much as it is about business,” Horizon’s president, Travis Short, said in a statement announcing the delivery.

Short also cited the strong relationships the yard has with FMT’s new construction manager Jeff Brumfield, FMT customer representative Rusty Zeller, John Gilbert Associates, Kern Martin, Stone Constructors and Insulation, and Beier Radio.

Additional vendors that worked on the project included Gulf Coast Air &

Hydraulics which supplied the lift system and associated components for the pilothouse and EMI, which handled the steering and machinery alarm systems.

One tool that was a great help to the success of the project was the shipyard’s Gordhead management software.

Both of Horizon’s new customers, McAllister Towing and Transportation Co. Inc. and Hornblower New York Ferry Fleet LLC, mentioned Gordhead as a contributing factor in their selection process, shipyard officials said.

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The latest Sassafras-class tug, the 94’x32’x13’, 3,000-hp Fishing Creek, was delivered to Vane in February.

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Vane Brothers

YEARBOOK

5/4/17 1:56 PM

O

il prices have stabilized, but for OSV operators, rates and utilization are still depressed (see page 50). Inland barge operators, which had enjoyed several years of slow, steady growth, had a tough year, hit by declining coal and sluggish demand from some other major commodity groups (see page 42). On the positive side, bigger

Bigger tugs present design challenges

other implications and obligations into play. “If you go over 500 tons, you need to comply with SOLAS.” Some of the first big new containerships are coming into the Port of Charleston, S.C., and McAllister Towing and Transportation Co. Inc. is ready with the Jeffrey McAllister, a 96'×34'×14'9" twin Z-drive tractor tug built this year at Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Panama City, Fla. Bigger tugs are on the way, led by the 100'×40' Capt. Brian A. McAllister, the first of four Jensen-designed 6,770hp boats to be built by Horizon Shipbuilding Inc., Bayou La Batre, Ala. This next generation is powered by twin Caterpillar 3516E Tier 4 engines with Schottel SRP4000 FP azimuth thrusters. The package will produce 80 MT of bollard pull.

Designers say demand for cuttingedge power like liquefied natural gas and hybrid propulsion has cooled with the continued low prices for conven-

By Kirk Moore, Associate Editor

B

The Jeffrey McAllister, delivered in January, is based at Charleston, S.C.

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tional diesel.

“It certainly has put a lot of LNG projects on hold,” Parrott said. But there is still interest in hybrid power as a way to deal with power and space constraints, and emission requirements.

“One of your options to get to 100 tons is to put an electric motor in to get a little more power,” he said. “You can putter around the harbor on electric, and also save on fuel costs.”

At Entech Designs LLC, Kenner, La., clients seek improved crew comfort and safety. Many inland operators have switched from Entech’s standard 72' design to 78' for added living quarters and better sound insulation.

Crew accommodations are a top feature of the Entech Sassafras-class tugs built by Chesapeake Shipbuilding, Salisbury, Md., for Baltimorebased Vane Brothers Co. The latest 94'×32'×13', 3,000-hp tug, the Fishing Creek, was delivered in February. It features Internet connections, satel-

Eastern Shipbuilding Group

igger tugboats to handle neoPanamax container ships, new emissions control systems, and the first U.S.-built Rotortug are moving the sector forward, as designers grapple with the challenges of fitting in bigger engines and Tier 4 pollution controls.

Tier 4 requirements are outdating the older classes of small oceangoing tugboats in the 80' to 110' range with 2,000 hp to 4,000 hp. A prime example of the new generation is the recently delivered 120'×35'×19'3" tug Earl W Redd, designed by Jensen Maritime Consultants, Seattle, and built for Harley Marine Services by Diversified Marine Inc., Portland, Ore. (See page 52.)

“Pretty much everything that’s built nowadays has to meet Tier 4 and Subchapter M, unless someone has an existing keel,” said Jonathan Parrott, vice president for new design development at Jensen.

Operators are looking for “more horsepower, more bollard pull, and trying to get these into the boats,” Parrott said. “Bottom line is, the tugs are going to have to get bigger.”

Fitting more power in the tugs and Tier 4 exhaust treatment systems like selective catalytic reduction (SCR), are putting designers up against space constraints.

One Jensen customer asked for a 100-ton vessel, a new fit between the 93- to 95-ton and 110- to 115-ton classes. “How do you fit that in? I think the real challenge is in volume,” Parrott said.

The growth in vessel size brings

tugs with bigger engines continue to be built (see below), passenger vessel operators are coming off another good year, enjoying strong advance bookings for the 2017 summer season (see page 46), and increased business opportunities have led to shipyard expansion plans (see page 48).

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the vessels must be able to operate in challenging conditions.

The 10-year contract with Aleyska Pipeline Service Co. is also giving rise to some of the most powerful tugs ever to be built: the 150-ton bollard pull ASD 4517, being jointly developed by ECO and Damen to handle the demanding conditions of the far north.

Five of these tugs will be built.

YEARBOOK: INLAND WATERWAYS

Robert Allan Ltd.

Barge overcapacity problems linger

By Pamela Glass, Correspondent

The Trident is the first U.S.-built Rotortug.

lite television, and wider bunks and larger heads for the crew quarters. For noise control and insulation, there is Rock Wool insulation over Mascoat, thermal acoustic paint, and soft-core panels and overheads. The wheelhouse features mostly wooden accents for a more traditional look.

Vane Brothers continued to build out its fleet of Entech-designed Elizabeth Anne-class tugs, adding the fourth of eight planned vessels with the delivery of the 100'×34'×13' Delaware built by St. Johns Shipbuilding, Palatka, Fla. Named one of WorkBoat’s 10 Significant Boats of 2016, the Elizabeth Anne and her sisters are powered by twin Caterpillar 3516 Tier 3 engines, for a combined 4,200 hp at 1,600 rpm.

FIRST U.S. ROTORTUG Rotortugs were introduced to the U.S. market by Seabulk Towing, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., early this year with the unveiling of the 98'6"×43'6"×15'7" Trident on Alabama’s Mobile River.

Designed by Robert Allan Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia, the nimble RAL Advanced Rotortug (ART) design uses three Schottel SRP 1210 azimuth propulsion units, driven by three Caterpillar 3512C Tier 3 engines, each turning 1,910 hp at 1,600 rpm.

The first of three tugs being built for 42

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Seabulk by Master Boat Builders, Bayou La Batre, Ala., the Trident is based at Port Everglades, Fla. Serving the harbor towing, ship assist and escort, and emergency towing market, the Seabulk Rotortugs are designed to bring enhanced safety and maneuverability to demanding jobs, such as serving the growing U.S. LNG export market.

In one of the bigger tug deals of 2016, Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) and Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group announced a plan to build 13 heavy duty azimuth stern drive (ASD) mooring and ship assist tugs for work in Texas and Alaska.

At its five shipyards, Chouest will build four Damen-designed ASD 3212 tugs to serve LNG tankers that call at ECO’s new LNG export terminal under construction at Corpus Christi, Texas.

Another four ASD 3212s will be built for service in Alaska waters, where ECO will handle ship assist duties at Valdez in Prince William Sound starting in July 2018.

ECO is taking over the marine services contract from Crowley Marine Services to provide ship assist and response vessel services. Along a coast made infamous during the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident and spill, those services must meet high standards and

T

he biggest inland waterways story of 2016 has been the effect declining coal markets and oil prices have had on the dry and liquid barge sectors, resulting in big financial losses, idled equipment, consolidation and a general malaise among operators.

On the dry side, even record movements of corn and soybeans for export, typically a big boost for barges that haul grain from the Midwest to Gulf Coast terminals, couldn’t offset the deep decline in barged coal shipments.

Tough environmental regulations and low natural gas prices have led to closures of older, less efficient coal-fired plants. Total barged shipments of coal to power plants along the inland rivers in 2016 were down 10.5% from 2015, and off 40% from the peak year in 2006, according to Energy Department data cited by the River Transport News (RTN).

As a result, the market has been hit by an oversupply of barges and lower barge freight rates. Add to this a mild winter, which pushed down demand for energy, a dip in international demand for most commodities, and the decline of the once booming fracking industry, and barge operators were hit on all sides.

Freight rates dropped, hitting the bottom lines of barge companies. Weak demand to transport coal, aluminum, crude oil and refined products forced

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

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many companies to tie up equipment, causing a glut of idled barges along the Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans. Workers were laid off, some barge lines merged, and many companies devised new business plans to stay afloat in a volatile market.

On the liquid side, shipments of crude oil, biofuels and refined products shipped from the Midwest to the Gulf last year hit the lowest level since late 2010. One factor was that oil pipelines opened up earlier than expected, displacing the need for barging.

Kirby Corp., the nation’s largest tank barge operator, noted that it had just six barges moving crude in the summer of 2016 compared to nearly 60 in 2014, a peak year for crude movements.

Kirby’s marine transportation operating income for the 2017 first quarter was $35.3 million compared with $69.8 million for the 2016 first quarter, a drop of almost 50%. Kirby cited weaker pricing in the inland marine market and increased idle time in the coastal market as more barges operated in the spot market.

OVERCAPACITY According to some in the business, 2016 was one of the worst periods in the history of the barge transportation market. And in the typically cyclical business of barging, it was a cycle they all dread: too many barges chasing too little cargo.

A principal reason for the imbalance can be traced to decisions made several years ago.

The industry enjoyed one of its best years in 2014. Cheap money and cheap steel, favorable tax depreciation rules, and strong demand enticed dry cargo barge lines to order new equipment or convert hopper barges used for coal into covered barges to haul record crops of grain. This resulted in overbuilding and excess barge capacity.

The inland fleet grew 2.8% in 2016, with the dry fleet up 2.5% and liquid up 4.5%. By the end of 2016, 1,070 new barges were added to the inland fleet, and 591 were retired, according to 44

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WorkBoat file photo

Total barged shipments of coal to power plants along the inland rivers in 2016 were down 10.5% from 2015, and 40% from the peak year in 2006, according to the Energy Department.

Informa Economics’ recently released Barge Fleet Profile. The number of covered barges increased by the largest amount since 1995, while open barges declined and tank barge growth hit a new record.

But as new barges started to come online, demand began to soften.

“We woke up and all of a sudden we were overbuilt,” said Mark Knoy, president and CEO of American Commercial Barge Line (ACBL), one of the country’s largest dry and liquid barge lines with 4,200 barges and 175 towboats. The industry “knew a (decline) would be coming. But it came quicker than we had thought.”

The soft demand for new barges was behind the weak quarter for Trinity Industries’ inland barge group.

The barge group reported revenues of $62.7 million in the first quarter of 2017 compared to revenues of $110.8 million in the first quarter a year earlier. Operating profit and profit margin for the barge group were $6.4 million and 10.2% in the first quarter of 2017 compared to $12.6 million and 11.4% a year earlier. The company said the decreases were primarily due to lower barge deliveries and changes in the product mix.

“Overcapacity of barge equipment along the inland waterways continues to create headwinds,” William A. McWhirter II, who heads up the inland barge group, said during Trinity’s April earnings call with analysts. However,

“customers continue to be optimistic that fleet utilization will begin to improve later this year or in 2018.”

In the meantime, favorable river conditions — including fewer delays at inland locks and dams and higher-thannormal water levels that increased shipping speeds and barge turnovers — also helped pump up the fleet’s efficiency and capacity by 15% to 20%. This had the same effect as adding more equipment on the rivers.

Looking ahead, steps are being taken to rebalance the fleet. Equipment is being retired, and new barge orders are down in both the liquid and dry sectors.

But no one is predicting a quick fix.

Excess capacity remains a problem.

ACBL’s Knoy said a sustained increase in demand for barge services and a reduction in barge supply of about 10% are needed.

Dry cargo barge lines must also continue to adapt to declines in coal shipments going forward as more coal-fired plants close in 2017, according to RTN. Tank barge operators are trying to thin out their fleets as well.

Kirby Chairman Joe Pyne predicted that the number of retirements would exceed the number of newbuilds. “We believe that we are continuing to move slowly towards supply and demand balance in the inland market,” he said during April’s first-quarter earnings call. Kirby retired 56 barges last year and will retire another 36 in 2017.

“We believe tank barge retirements

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/4/17 1:57 PM

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David Krapf

Overcapacity of barge equipment on the inland waterways continues to create problems for operators.

will continue in response to the weak pricing environment in the inland market, further closing the gap between tank barge supply and demand,” David Grzebinski, Kirby’s president and CEO said in a statement accompanying the company’s April 26 first-quarter earnings announcement.

Operators are closely watching developments in Washington on President Trump’s promised infrastructure improvement plan, which they hope will bring money to modernize aging locks and dams along the rivers and give a boost to construction materials moved on the waterways.

But lawmakers on Capitol Hill have warned the industry in meetings over the past few months that this will be a slow process, and it could take a year or more to get an infrastructure plan and an agreement on how to fund it in place.

In the meantime, the industry will be in for at least one more tough year.

“I’m cautiously optimistic about the future,” said Tim Parker, chairman of Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based Parker Towing Co., and chairman of the board of the Waterways Council, an industry advocacy group for waterways funding. “It’s not the first time we’ve been in this situation, and it won’t be the last.”

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YEARBOOK: PASSENGER VESSELS

Strong demand for vessels and bookings

By Dale K. DuPont, Correspondent

L

ast fall, Savannah Riverboat Cruises added the 230'×64'×7'5", 1,000-passenger Georgia Queen to its fleet. The vessel holds about twice as many passengers and has a lot more square footage than its predecessor, which will now be working in Louisville, Ky. The former Mississippi Belle II, a casino boat out of Clinton, Iowa, built in 1994 by Houma Fabricators, Houma, La., has elevators — a major plus for accessibility — and galleys on all three decks allowing expanded food service offerings.

“It’s been a strong winter and spring for us,” said owner Capt. Jonathan Claughton, who also operates the 600-passenger Savannah River Queen.

“A lot of that was driven by some really nice weather. We’re seeing more corporate and convention business with bigger budgets.”

The Georgia Queen reflects an industry that’s reinvigorating old casino

boats, building new vessels for river and coastal cruising, and adding ferries and water taxis at a healthy clip. At the same time, operators also are dealing with nettlesome recreational boaters and an increasing number of illegal charters.

“The passenger vessel market is on fire right now,” said Joe Hudspeth, All American Marine’s vice president of business development. “There’s more and more unleashing of pent-up demand.”

The Bellingham, Wash., yard recently signed a deal for the construction of a new 128'×30' hybrid-electric 600-passenger vessel for the Red and White Fleet in San Francisco, due out in late spring 2018. It also will build a 500-passenger aluminum monohull tour boat for Argosy Cruises, Seattle, expected in late fall.

FERRIES, WATER TAXIS The Big Apple is making an especially big splash with the launch this spring and summer of the first 19 Incat Crowther-designed 86'×29' aluminum catamarans for New York’s NYC Ferry operated by Hornblower New York. The 149-passenger boats are being built by Horizon Shipbuilding Inc., Bayou La Batre, Ala., and Metal Shark, Franklin, La. Meanwhile, New York Cruise Lines, Inc., operators of the city’s Circle Line sightseeing boats, acquired New York Water Taxi from The Durst Organization. And ferry operator Seastreak LLC is having a $12 million, 600-passenger ferry built at Gulf Craft LLC, also in Franklin, for its Highlands, N.J., to New York route.

A six-month fast ferry experiment on Tampa Bay ended in April with Florida west coast officials exploring funding options for offering the service again seasonally or full time. Both locals and tourists showed a demand for the ferry service between St. Petersburg and Tampa provided by HMS Ferries, Seattle, which time chartered the Provincetown IV, a 98'×33'×7', 149-passenger aluminum catamaran that runs between Boston and Provincetown for Bay

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Savannah Riverboat Cruises

State Cruise Co., Boston.

Baltimore and Washington, D.C., are home to two high-profile water taxi projects.

Maritime Applied Physics Corp. is building 10 water taxis for Under Armour chief Kevin Plank’s Sagamore Ventures, which last summer bought Harbor Boating Inc., operator of Baltimore’s water taxi service. The first boat, the 55'×12'9"×3'1", 49-passenger Key’s Anthem, debuted in October.

Entertainment Cruises is expanding Washington’s water taxi service with four 88', high speed/low wake, 149-passenger aluminum catamarans being built by Metal Shark. The first two are due out late this year and the next two in early 2018. For the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, Metal Shark will build a pair of 105'×25', high speed/low wake, 149-passenger aluminum catamaran ferries. BMT Designers & Planners, Alexandria, Va., handled both projects.

The domestic overnight cruise business also continues to grow.

Lindblad Expeditions Holdings Inc.’s 238'6"×48'×9'6", 100-passenger National Geographic Quest was due to make its maiden voyage June 26.

The U.S.-flagged vessel, one of two being built by Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Whidbey Island, Wash., “is virtually sold out for the summer of 2017,” CEO Sven-Olof Lindblad said in a recent earnings call. Its sistership, the National Geographic Venture, will enter service in the second quarter of 2018.

The first of American Cruise Lines’ three new coastal cruisers, the 170-passenger American Constellation, was scheduled to begin cruising in May. A sistership, American Constitution being built at Chesapeake Shipbuilding, Salisbury, Md., will be delivered in 2018. The Guilford, Conn., line also is building a new class of five riverboats with the first 200-passenger vessel due in 2018.

The newest entry on the inland rivers is the Grand Majestic Riverboat Co., which is transforming the 201'×50'×7' former Iowa casino boat Diamond

With a capacity of 1,000 passengers and 240 crew, the Georgia Queen is one of the largest riverboats operating in the U.S.

Lady into a 70-passenger luxury vessel based in the Cincinnati area. Seven- to 21-day cruises are expected to begin in September.

American Queen Steamboat Company will christen the all-suite, American Duchess in August and the historic Delta Queen moved closer to sailing again with an exemption from the U.S. Senate critical to obtaining restoration financing.

YEARBOOK: SHIPYARDS

Shipyards expand to lure bigger contracts

By Ken Hocke, Senior Editor

B

oatyards across the U.S. have plenty of contracts to keep them busy. As with other industries, some businesses do better than others.

Often the sign of a healthy shipyard is one that plans to expand.

Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding recently purchased the assets of the former Palmer Johnson Yachts, which is located directly adjacent to Bay Shipbuilding’s yard in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. The expansion enhances the overall capacity of Fincantieri’s U.S. operations.

“We have integrated the property into our existing operations,” said Todd Thayse, Bay Ship’s vice president and general manager. “Our goal is to

use this facility as an extension of our current fabrication lines providing increased throughput capacity to meet our customers' needs.”

Among the projects at Bay Shipbuilding are an articulated tug-barge (ATB) for Kirby Corp., made up of a 123'×38'×22' tug and a 521'×72'×41', 155,000-bbl. oil tank barge; an ATB for Plains All American Pipeline that features a 130'×42'×23' tug and another 521'×72'×41', 155,000-bbl. tank barge; and an ATB for AMA Capital Partners that will consist of a 130'×42'×23' tug and a 578'1"×78'×42', 185,000-bbl. tank barge.

All American Marine (AAM) has moved into a new $10 million, 57,000-sq.-ft. facility at the port of Bellingham, Wash. A major reason for the move was to increase AAM’s ability to build larger vessels.

In February, the shipyard inked a deal for the construction of the new 128'×30' hybrid-electric 600-passenger Enhydra for Red and White Fleet in San Francisco.

“We would not have had the capacities or capabilities to go after a contract like that without the new facilities,” said Joe Hudspeth, AAM’s vice president of business development.

The new vessel for Red and White will be the first aluminum-hulled, lithium-ion battery-electric hybrid vessel built from the keel up under Coast Guard Subchapter K passenger vessel regulations and the latest guidelines for

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Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding

structural fire protection. The shipyard is also in negotiations to build another hybrid for a different customer.

In addition, AAM is constructing a 500-passenger aluminum monohull tour boat for Argosy Cruises, Seattle.

Both operators originally planned to build steel monohulls, but AAM convinced them that the aluminum design with a solid hull structure was the way to go. Argosy will take delivery of its vessel in late fall, and Red and White will receive its new hybrid craft in late spring 2018.

In 2015, Metal Shark, a landlocked small boat shipyard in Jeanerette, La., acquired a 25-acre waterfront tract in Franklin, La., for a new facility with deepwater access to build aluminum and steel vessels up to 250'.

In 2016, Metal Shark announced plans to construct a fully enclosed 200'×80' large vessel assembly building to enable weather-independent construction of vessels up to 180'. In addi-

Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding has expanded to the property directly adjacent to the yard.

tion, a new stand-alone office building will provide over 4,000 sq. ft. of space.

Both new buildings were expected to be complete and operational by the second quarter of this year.

A new 150'×80' auxiliary structure for final assembly was erected last October and is now fully operational.

Additionally, a new 160-ton Marine Travelift boat hoist was purchased to facilitate movement of boats around the 25-acre yard.

The expansion has paid off.

Last year Metal Shark landed a contract to build six new 86'×29'×11'6" aluminum high-speed catamaran ferries

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www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

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YEARBOOK: OFFSHORE

OSV operators are ready for a rebound in the Gulf

By David Krapf, Editor in Chief

A

ctivity at May’s Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston was again tempered, mainly due to the continued sluggishness in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the lack of a rebound in the energy market that many had 50

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Ken Hocke

for New York’s NYC Ferry (formerly Citywide Ferry). The construction schedule is very ambitious, particularly since Metal Shark had never built a ferry of any kind prior to winning the contract.

“I can’t say it was exactly the market I expected to build in, but that is what presented itself,” Chris Allard, the shipyard’s CEO said in February when the first two ferries were launched.

“We appreciate the opportunity, and we put together the planning team and the workforce to accomplish our goals.”

Horizon Shipbuilding, Bayou La Batre, Ala., is building 13 ferries to the same design for NYC Ferry. Horizon, which was not known as an aluminum ferry builder, developed the property, called the west yard, across the waterway from its main facility to handle the construction.

At Horizon, the boats are constructed in a modified assembly line fashion, moving in and out of three sheds until eventually they are launched into the water.

“We’re building in an assembly line, constructing in modules, and moving along the process,” Travis Short, Horizon’s owner and president, said in an interview last year with WorkBoat. “This hasn’t been done in such a compressed schedule. It’s never been done before, but I had no doubt that we could do it. We’re probably the most diverse yard in the country.”

So far, Metal Shark and Horizon are meeting New York City’s ambitious schedule.

The first NYC Ferry at Horizon hit the water in February.

predicted.

The only significant new activity in the U.S. Gulf are two deepwater projects — BP’s commitment to complete the $9 billion Mad Dog Phase 2 and Shell’s plan with MOEX North America LLC (MOEX NA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. Ltd., for phase one of the Kaikias project.

Mad Dog Phase 2 will include a new floating production platform with the capacity to produce up to 140,000 bpd from up to 14 production wells.

Oil production is expected to begin in late 2021. In 2013, BP (operator, with 60.5% working interest) and co-owners, BHP Billiton (23.9%) and Union Oil Company of California (15.6%) decided to re-evaluate the Mad Dog Phase 2 after an initial design proved too complex and costly. Since then, BP has worked to simplify and standardize the platform’s design, reducing the overall project cost by about 60%.

Today, the leaner $9 billion project, which also includes capacity for water injection, is projected to be profitable at or below current oil prices.

Otherwise, new exploration and rig activity is still depressed. As a result, the offshore service vessel industry continues to struggle, with several operators barely hanging on.

Todd Hornbeck, president and CEO of Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc., Covington, La., said in an earnings call early this year, the message from

customers is no longer that oil prices will be lower for longer, “they now see oil prices as lower forever.”

And OSV customers no longer see a U-shape recovery, but an “L-shaped” one. These customers have been squeezing boat operators hard.

In the past year, almost half of the marketed Gulf of Mexico fleet has been stacked.

As of March 31, Hornbeck had 44 of its 62 new generation OSVs and two of eight MPSVs stacked.

Tidewater had 148 active vessels worldwide and 116 stacked at the end of 2016.

Predictably, recent earnings reports have been bleak. Hornbeck reported a first-quarter 2017 net loss of $27.9 million, or 76 cents a share. This compares to a net loss of $7.5 million, or 21 cents a share, for the same period last year.

At Tidewater, vessel revenues of $125 million were down 41% in the December quarter from a year before, said Tidewater CEO Jeff Platt.

“Early on, we stated that we and our customers would need to learn to live in a world of lower oil prices,” Platt said during the company’s Feb. 8 earnings call.

“Initially, the downturn was cushioned by the existence of long-term drilling rig and vessel contracts, but as we warned, there was already an oversupply of drilling rigs and OSVs, with many more under construction,” he said.

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Ken Hocke

At the time, Tidewater was approaching the end of a fleet renewal program that had added more than 160 new vessels over the past 10 years, bringing down the average age of the fleet to less than nine years.

“Our new, young fleet, coupled with the broadest geographic footprint in the industry, positioned us well we thought for weathering the extent of the downturn we initially envisioned,” Platt said.

But the continued decline in oil prices made it clear that this was no short-term downturn.

In Hornbeck Offshore’s first-quarter earnings call in May, Hornbeck said overall market conditions were “anemic” and would stay that way for the rest of the year.

Oil prices have stabilized in the $46to $50-bbl. range, but it has driven little

As of March 31, Hornbeck had 44 OSVs and two MPSVs stacked.

or any incremental drilling activity offshore. Hornbeck expects the Gulf of Mexico rig count to remain “static” at around 22 working deepwater drilling

BP

BP’s Mad Dog platform in the U.S. Gulf. Mad Dog Phase 2 will include a new floating production platform expected to begin operations in 2021.

units through the rest of the year. That number is a “far cry” from the number of rigs needed to support the current fleet of high-specification OSVs, Hornbeck said.

According to IHS Markit, the market for contracted jackup rigs fell between five and seven rigs from January 2016 to March 2017, while the market for contracted floating rigs showed a steady decline from 45 to 26 over the same period. Figures for rigs in the U.S. Gulf vary due to working status and the jobs being undertaken, but both sets of figures show rig declines in the 35% to 40% range.

Outside deepwater, there is not much to look forward to on the shelf either.

Vessel activity levels there are at historic lows. Inexpensive shale production onshore that can easily be turned on and off has made the older Gulf shallow-water properties a liability for many.

“Absent an increase in demand drivers, the only way to climb out of this deep hole is for operators to stack additional vessels,” Hornbeck told analysts. “Until something changes, very low utilization will drive very low day rates for vessels, even if we see some slight improvement in the number of rigs working.”

Hornbeck thinks that consolidation will eventually be a key factor in “rationalizing and stabilizing” OSV fleets.

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Tier 4 Tug

Ratings Boom Harley Marine tug is first with Cat Tier 4 engines.

By Michael Crowley, Correspondent

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he Earl W Redd, Harley Marine Services newest tug, is working the California coast, line hauling oil barges between San Francisco and Long Beach, Calif.

Launched in December and christened in February, the Jensen Maritime Consultants designed 120'×35'×19'3" tug, was built to ABS load-line standards at Diversified Marine Inc., Portland, Ore. The tug is set up to “do any type of rescue towing offshore, also possibly some ship assist work,” said Steve Carlson, vice-president of engineering at Harley Marine in Seattle.

Diversified Marine has built several boats for Harley. “We have a very close commercial relationship with Diversified,” said Carlson. That explains the tug’s name, the Earl W Redd, named

after the late father of Kurt Redd, founder and president of Diversified Marine.

Like much of the Harley fleet, the Earl W Redd has a strong “green” element to it. To find it, you don’t have to look any further than the tug’s engine room where a pair of 2,675-hp at 1,600-rpm Caterpillar 3516C diesels reside. The engines are the first Caterpillar Tier 4-rated diesels to go in a tugboat, Harley said.

Harley Marine Services

The Earl W Redd’s Tier 4 engines should offer improved fuel efficiency.

CAT TIER 4 ENGINES The Tier 4 rating applies to engines above 804 hp and focuses on reducing two air emission elements: particulate matter by 90% and nitrogen oxide by 80% when compared with Tier 2 engines.

Along with reduced emissions, engines with the Tier 4 rating should also offer improved fuel conwww.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

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Harley Marine Services

Remote Monitoring & Diagnostics for Commercial Vessels & Fleets

For towing and ship-assist work the Redd has a Markey TESD-34B 100-hp double-drum towing winch aft of the wheelhouse, and a Markey DEPC-48 50-hp winch on the bow.

Harley Marine Services

sumption. While some engine manufacturers saw an increase in fuel consumption when ratings went from Tier 2 to Tier 3, that’s not necessarily the case going from Tier 3 to Tier 4. Engine manufacturers “typically say you will save around five to 10 percent” in fuel consumption, said Carlson.

Caterpillar meets the Tier 4 require-

The Redd‘s Cat 3516s are the first Caterpillar Tier 4-rated diesels to go in a tugboat.

ment by matching up each of the 3516C diesels with a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) aftertreatment system.

The aftertreatment emission-reduction technology utilizes urea that’s dosed into the exhaust stream and a catalyst to create a chemical reaction that removes oxides of nitrogen in the exhaust, leaving nitrogen and water vapor.

The particulate matter is reduced in-cylinder.

The technology is not new. Engine manufacturers have used it in nonmarine applications for some time. In the case of Caterpillar, they’ve used SCR in off-road vehicles, construction machinery and mining equipment.

What’s new is bringing the existing SCR technology to the marine market.

The SCR aftertreatment does mean that adjustments have to be made by the designer and builder to accommodate the system. With the Earl W Redd that meant “reducing the size of a couple of fuel tanks a little bit aft of amidships and cutting into a bit of the machinery space to make room for a pair of urea tanks,” said Lee Boltz, who designed the Redd at Jensen Maritime’s Seattle facility. The urea tanks have to

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be stainless steel.

Depending on the engine, “somewhere between three and seven percent of the fuel capacity is urea,” said Jonathan Parrott, vice president of new design development at Jensen Maritime. A dosing cabinet, which regulates urea going to the engine, a dosing tube and scrubber system for each engine also had to be accommodated.

That’s “a fair amount of extra machinery going in the boat. You always have to be aware of the space requirements,” Parrott said. From the builder’s perspective, Kurt Redd noted that with the addition of “tanks for urea and dosing cabinet and big SCR units, there’s definitely more weight. It definitely has an impact with all that.”

You might think the operator of a boat with a newly installed SCR system would have a bit of a learning curve, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

The SCR is tied in with the engine and Caterpillar’s monitoring equipment.

“The injection of urea is pretty much controlled by the control module,” said Carlson. “There’s no need for operator intervention.”

Each of the Earl W Redd’s Cat

WB_BG_Earl Redd_LINO.indd 54

3516Cs is hooked up to a Rolls-Royce US 255-P30-FP Z-drive. It’s estimated that the power package will produce a bollard pull of 75 short tons ahead and 70 short tons astern, while giving the Redd an average speed of 7.9 knots and a maximum speed of 12.7 knots.

For towing and ship-assist work the new tug has a Markey TESD-34B 100-

SPECIFICATIONS

Builder: Diversified Marine Designer: Jensen Maritime Consultants Qwner: Harley Marine Services Mission: Petroleum barge towing Length: 129' Beam: 35' Depth (molded): 19' Draft: 18'7" Main Propulsion: (2) Caterpillar 3516C, Tier 4, 2,675 hp @ 1,600 rpm Ship’s Service Power: (2) 125-kW John Deere-powered genset Z-Drive: (2) Rolls-Royce 255-P30-FP, 1,865 kW @ 1,600 rpm Propeller: (2) 2,600-mm-dia., stainless steel Speed: 12.7 knots, maximum; 7.9 knots, average Hull Construction: Steel

54

The Redd features Rolls-Royce Z-drives.

Harley Marine Services

EARL W REDD

Harley Marine Services

Tier 4 Tug

Crew Capacity: 6 to 8 Capacities (gals.): Fuel, 127,000; water, 6,534; lube, 1,137; hydraulic, 1,263 Ancillary Equipment: (2) Stang fire monitor; Markey TESD-34B electric towing winch, 100 hp; Markey DEPC-48 electric hawser winch, 50 hp; Shibata and Schuyler fendering Delivery Date: Feb. 1, 2017

hp double-drum electric towing winch aft of the wheelhouse, while on the bow is a Markey DEPC-48 50-hp electric hawser winch with render recovery.

The double-drum towing winch has a capacity of 2,500' of 2 ¼" wire rope on the starboard drum and 1,500' on the port drum. In the event of an electrical failure, there’s a hydraulically powered emergency “come home” drive motor that allows line to be let out or brought in.

In addition, the TESD-34B has Markey’s load shed feature. If the genset is bogging down due to a large hotel load and the winch is calling for more power than what the genset is capable of delivering, the “winch system senses that and reduces the power the winch draws from the genset,” said Scott Kreis, Markey Machinery’s vice president of sales. That reduces the speed while maintaining the same pull.

The DEPC-48 hawser winch holds up to 500' of 9" synthetic HMPE line.

There’s a freewheel feature if the line has to be quickly payed out or in the case of an emergency escape. A pair of 125-kW John Deere-powered gensets provides power to both electric winches.

Other deck equipment includes two Stang firefighting monitors and a Rapp Marine HP 25-5 crane.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/8/17 11:37 AM

Harley Marine Services

Crew accommodations are for six to eight with three double cabins and separate cabins for the captain and chief engineer. “They are above the fuel tanks, away from the engine room,” noted Parrott, which help reduce noise.

Being the first to build a boat with Caterpillar’s new Tier 4 engines is probably not surprising since Harley Marine Services prides itself on protecting the environment.

“One of our guidelines is environmental friendliness. We will do things as a company that are for responsible environmental use of resources,” explained Carlson. “If the technology is there to make something more environmentally friendly then we will do that.”

Beyond the philosophy of doing as little damage to the environment as possible, there could be an economic benefit to building a new tug with Tier 4 engines, especially for companies that want to operate in California.

“California can be pretty strict about

A pair of 125-kW John Deere-powered gensets provides ship’s service power.

boats coming in,” said Parrott.

The state is constantly “tightening down the rules,” said Carlson, who envisions a time when California will

WWW.WORKBOAT.COM NEWS FOR THE COMMERCIAL MARINE INDUSTRY.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

WB_BG_Earl Redd_LINO.indd 55

require new boats operating there to have Tier 4-rated engines.

“You know they eventually will.”

WWW.WORKBOAT.COM NEWS FOR THE COMMERCIAL MARINE INDUSTRY.

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5/3/17 1:15 PM

WWW.WORKBOAT.COM

Cordage

Roped In

New synthetic towing lines are lighter and stronger.

By Michael Crowley, Correspondent

56

WB_BG_Cordage_LINO.indd 56

S

amson Rope recently introduced a couple of new synthetic towing lines, Fusion-12 and Quantum-X. Fusion-12 is a 12-strand rope that’s a combination of Dyneema and polyester. “It allows to downsize line compared to 100 percent polyester,” said John Glaser, general sales manager at Samson Rope Technologies Inc., Ferndale, Wash. While the line might be downsized, the same load can still be pulled.

Quantum-X is a spin off of Samson’s Quantum-12. Quantum-X uses a new Dyneema base fiber, SK78, and Samson’s DPX yarn. The DPX is on the outer strands where it offers “a much higher coefficient of friction or grip,” said Glaser.

Quantum-X also has a higher snag resistance.

The line primarily is designed for bitts, capstans,

and windlesses, though it can be used on a winch.

Both Quantum-X and Fusion-12 have a black stripe running down the rope’s axis. “That helps identify twist, something operators want to avoid,” said Glaser. If the line is parallel to the length of the rope, there’s no twist. A corkscrewing or spiraling line means there’s twist. That indicates some of the strands are doing most of the work.

“It’s a significant strength loss,” noted Glaser.

Another company to come out with new towing ropes is India-based Garware-Wall Ropes Ltd. The X2 and the X2 Ultra were introduced first in Europe and Asia, and are now available in the U.S. The basic difference between the two is X2 Ultra is a sinking line, whereas the X2 is a floating line. The X2 is also used as a mooring line. Both the X2 and the X2 Ultra are billed as lighter and

Yale Cordage

Ultrex, a 12-strand ultra-high molecular-weight polyethylene from Yale Cordage, has increasingly been in use in river applications.

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/3/17 2:29 PM

REPLACING WIRE Companies such as Sampson and Garware-Wall are making inroads into the wire towing market. But towlines that have been around a while have had success too. One is Yale Cordage and its Ultrex, a 12-strand ultra-high molecular-weight polyethylene that’s been in use for the past 17 years.

“We are seeing a lot of river business growth replacing wire” with Ultrex line, said Jamie Goddard with Yale Cordage, Saco, Maine. “We are selling a lot of one-inch to one-and-a-half inch

diameter.”

A lot comes down to “weight savings and flexibility of synthetic over steel cable.”

There can be weight savings of “at least eight times the weight of steel cable,” said Goddard, and line strength is not sacrificed. Plus synthetic line is much more flexible and easier to work with and it doesn’t rust or kink.

Yale also helps customThe Viking Cuff holds chafe guards in place. ers develop chafe protection plans or come up with specific covers on the rope to make it abrasion resistant.

With the Viking Cuff at the ends of When compared to wire, synthetic the chafe guard, it grips the line and line is soft, so it needs to be protected holds the chafe guard in place so it when passing across the hard surfaces doesn’t move, said Michael Ratigan of a chock or a tug’s bull nose. A chafe president of Fjord. guard material that’s spliced or braided Send a 10', 20' or any length of chafe into the line protects the line from abra- guard material to Fjord and Viking sion and wear.

Cuffs will be added to it and “now It’s installed by rope manufacturers you have a position able [chafe guard] and you often have to purchase a longer for towing and assist operations,” said length than is needed, say 100' instead Ratigan. If that 10- or 20-foot length of of 20'. But if you have some remnants chafe guard was spliced into a rope, it’s of chafing material lying around, it’s only good for that section of line, but possible that it could be put to use. when used with Viking Cuffs, the chafe That’s where the Viking Cuff from guard can be slid up and down the line Fjord Inc.’s Chafe-Pro comes in. to wherever it’s needed.

Fjord Inc.

stronger than existing ropes.

“The key advantage for the X2 and X2 Ultra is it has the strongest weightto-strength ratio,” said Garware-Wall’s Gopakumar Menon, who is based out of the company’s U.S. office in Tacoma, Wash.

In a thousand-cycle load limit (TCLL) test, Garware-Wall tested the X2 against Maxima, a line of blended polymers, and a polypropylene line.

The polypropylene line failed after 1,267 cycles at 80% load, the Maxima after 1,251 cycles at 80%, and the X2 after 2,430 cycles at 80%.

“It’s almost like 100 percent more cycle loading,” said Menon. “That’s an important parameter for towing. The line will last longer.”

INSPECT YOUR TOWLINES

Samson Rope Technologies Inc.

D

on’t wait until broken or pinched strands in a line appear before thinking about repairs. If you’ve switched from wire to a synthetic towline, take a look at those bollards, chocks and the bull nose.

“If they have grooves in them from the steel cable you want to get them smooth again,” said Jamie Goddard of Yale Cordage, Saco, Maine. You don’t want sharp edges, burrs or corners, which will only damage the line.

An overloaded line can become hardened. “It will become very stiff and rigid where the rest of the rope is flexible,” said Goddard. At the least that area of line needs to be protected where it rubs against a chalk or bollard. If it’s bad enough it’s probably time to retire the line.

For abrasion protection, you might Samson’s “Inspection and Retirement Pocket Guide.”

www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

WB_BG_Cordage_LINO.indd 57

also look at Yale Cordage’s Mega Max. It’s a double braided rope with a braided Spectra sleeve over it to protect against abrasion. “It gives protection the entire length of the rope,” said Goddard.

You not only want to inspect the outside of the line but the inside as well. “When the line isn’t under tension, you want to open it up and look at the internal yarns,” said Samson Rope’s John Glaser. “That’s a really good indication of what’s going on inside.”

Samson’s “Inspection and Retirement Pocket Guide” is a good reference for checking the state of a rope. The Guide’s Abrasion Comparator, with colored photos of external and internal abrasion, shows a 12-strand HMPE rope in a range of abrasion conditions rated from one (minimal strength loss) to seven (severe strength loss).

As a general rule, the cutoff point for measuring a towing line’s usefulness is 2:1. That’s line strength versus bollard pull. “Most customers don’t want the line to get below that,” said Glaser. So if the bollard pull is 50 tons, “you don’t want the line strength to fall beneath basically 100 tons.” — M. Crowley

57

5/3/17 2:30 PM

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www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

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5/5/17 10:08 AM

LOOKS BACK JUNE 1947

• On the cover is the 810-hp towboat Donna Lee, pushing a coal tow into Lock 1 on the Tennessee River. The Donna Lee is owned by A.L. Mechling Barge Line, Joliet, Ill. • Representatives of 25 of the nation’s ports and shipyards met in April in Washington, D.C., and called for a long-range program to keep the U.S. merchant

marine abreast of or ahead of developments in foreign maritime countries.

The meeting was held in advance of a larger gathering held in late May when all segments of the U.S. shipbuilding and ship operating industries were invited to meet with President Truman’s special Advisory Committee on the Merchant Marine. Port and shipbuilding representatives said Congress had a tendency to let slip the commandJUNE 1957 ing position the

U.S. had attained in the maritime industries during the war.

They said Congress must revamp the Merchant Marine Act to stimulate the merchant marine and to maintain the U.S. flag on all oceangoing routes of the world.

• With a mile of heat exchanger steel propellers through Falk 28MR panels built into the hull to cool its reduction gears with 3.5:1 ratios. The two 2,800-hp engines, the Mark Eastin wheels are housed in half nozzles. The is being billed as the most powerful towboat has 12 fuel oil tanks with a towboat yet by its owners, the West total capacity of 143,000 gals., enough Kentucky Coal Co. Built by Nashfor a round-trip from Kentucky to New ville Bridge Co., the 177'×42' vessel is Orleans. powered by a pair of Cleveland GM 16-498 turbocharged two-cycle V-type diesels rated at 2,800 hp each at 850 rpm. The engines drive 108"-dia., JUNE 1967 4-bladed stainless • Independent control of rudders is a trend now being seen in inland and offshore multiscrew designs. The ability to handle up to 25% larger tows with the same horsepower has more than justified its use on river towboats.

That has been the experience of Chotin Transportation Co., New Orleans, after operating its 5,000-hp towboat Pat Chotin for a year. It’s the first towboat 64

WB_LooksBack_LINO.indd 64

to have three independently operated controlled pairs of flanking rudders, with synchronized steering rudders.

Next up for Chotin is the elimination of the center pair of flanking rudders.

Chotin believes that with an independent system only the outboard flanking rudder sets are needed. A new triplescrew 3,600-hp towboat employing this concept is being built by Chotin. www.workboat.com • JUNE 2017 • WorkBoat

5/4/17 8:39 AM

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