On the Ways

CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY AT WORKBOAT YARDS Intracoastal Iron Works to build methanol-hydrogen workboat

The search for a readily available, easily transportable, low-carbon marine fuel has borne fruit — methanol to hydrogen to electricity, as needed.

The secret sauce is in the rst part, getting hydrogen from methanol on board. From there, making electricity from hydrogen in a fuel cell is a welldeveloped process (although not yet for marine use), but getting hydrogen out of methanol, on demand, at scale, is what’s being developed by Maritime Partners LLC, Metairie, La., in conjunction with Oregon-based Element 1 Corp.

Together, they formed a partnership called e1 Marine that will supply methanol reformers for the world’s rst methanol/hydrogen-powered workboat, an inland river pushboat to be called Hydrogen One. Working with Elliott Bay Design Group in Seattle, Maritime Partners, e1 Marine and ABB are nalizing the design of a new 90'×43' pushboat that will start construction soon at Intracoastal Iron Works, Bourg, La. Maritime Partners said that the boat will be available for charter by the fourth quarter of 2023.

Elliott Bay Design Group

Diagram of 90' methanol-hydrogen pushboat fuel system.

BOATBUILDING BITTS

Damen Shipyards has signed a contract with Tidewater to provide two Damen Stan Tugs 2309. The tugs will be built at Albwardy Damen Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates and, on delivery in the fi rst quarter of 2023, will both go on charter to a long-standing customer. The 23-meter (75.4') Stan Tug 2309 is a compact and versatile harbor and coastal tug which in its standard format is equipped for towing, mooring and fi refi ghting, with a bollard pull of 40 metric tonnes and approximately 45m² of deck space. Built in series to a standard design, the use of high quality components is designed to ensure low maintenance, maximum fuel effi ciency, lower emissions and maximum uptime. For Tidewater and its client, these two vessels have been fi tted with additional fi refi ghting capability plus extra platforms and capstans aft for safe and effi cient hose maintenance on deck. No additional specifi cations were released.

Bollinger Shipyards and the Coast Guard commissioned one of the service’s newest Sentinel-class fast response cutters at the Port of Tampa, Fla. Recently. The cutter John Scheuerman is the fi fth of six FRCs to be homeported in Manama, Bahrain, that will replace the aging 110' Islandclass patrol boats, built by Bollinger 30 years ago, supporting the Patrol Forces Southwest Asia. PATFORSWA is the Coast Guard’s largest overseas presence outside the U.S. The Coast Guard took delivery of the 154'x25' John Scheuerman in Key West, Fla., in October 2021. The cutter is the 169th vessel Bollinger has delivered to the Coast Guard over a 35-year period and the 46th FRC delivered under the current program. For the FRC, which has a draft of 9'6", Bollinger is using a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708. Main propulsion comes

Damen Shipyards

New Tidewater tugs will be built in the United Arab Emirates.

Austin Sperry, a co-founder of Maritime Partners, won’t disclose who might be the lessee, “but I will say there has been a significant amount of interest from up and down the supply chain.”

Methanol is a simple alcohol (also known as wood alcohol) and is widely available on the inland river system as well as coastal ports. “It’s all around the world,” said Sperry, “so you don’t have to build this big distribution network.” And because methanol is liquid at room temperature, it’s easily pumped from tank to tank, from shore to ship. “That’s one of the benefits of this system,” he said. “It’s much easier to transfer to a vessel, and generally safer and easier to store,” than, say, large quantities of hydrogen.

The system also requires an onboard supply of ionized water, which is combined with the methanol and fed to the reformers. This proprietary system uses heat and some pressure to extract pure hydrogen out of the methanol/water mix. The hydrogen is then fed to fuel cells that generate electricity.

The electricity will be distributed through a series of high-tech switch gears from ABB that can send power to the Steerprop L-drive thrusters and/or the battery bank, as needed. The plan is to have enough battery power to keep the boat independently electrified while at a dock for 24 hours and still have enough juice to restart the methanolreforming system. The batteries can also boost power from 1,700 hp (from the fuel cells) to 2,000 hp for six-plus hours per 24-hour cycle.

The Hydrogen One will also be equipped with a Caterpillar 150-kW diesel generator, which can provide start-up power if the boat is cold and the batteries are depleted.

Maritime Partners owns and leases about 1,600 boats and barges, but by the end of next year, there will be an addition unlike any of its fleet mates. The new boat will be IMO 2030 compliant, which will demonstrate its low-emissions bona fides.

“This is the missing link,” said Sperry. “Just-in-time methanol to hydrogen is the holy grail of hydrogen power for boats.”

The technology is scalable and can be used on vessels from 80' (to have enough room for equipment and tankage and space to isolate hazardous zones) to a containership, according to Mike Complita at EBDG. “Towboats, conventional tugs, OSVs, ferry boats … we can apply this technology to practically any kind of boat,” he said. — Bruce Buls

Master Marine delivers 1,600-hp towboat to Plimsoll Marine

Master Marine Inc. (MMI) has delivered the 67'×28' pushboat Steel Skipper to Plimsoll Marine. The Steel Skipper is the fourth vessel MMI is scheduled to deliver to Plimsoll Marine. The four vessels are designed by Entech Designs LLC.

Plimsoll Marine, a Cooper Group company, is a LaPlace, La.-based towboat operator that performs fleeting and barge services from Baton Rouge, La., to the Head of Passes on the Lower Miss.

“Plimsoll Marine strives to provide the Lower Mississippi River with premier pushboat services utilizing the industry’s most modern and capable

from twin MTU 20V4000 M93L diesel engines, producing 2,900 hp each.

Lyon Shipyard Inc., Norfolk, Va., was recently awarded an estimated $16.4 million contract by the Navy to manage and execute all maintenance, repair, and alterations required to complete the drydocked phased maintenance availability onboard the USS Dynamic (AFDL-6) and barge (YFND-30). The work will be performed in Norfolk and is expected to be completed by January 2023.

Tideman Boats US LLC, North Andover, Mass., a builder of highdensity polyethylene (HDPE) boats, has opened a location in the U.S. Since formally beginning production and delivery of HDPE boats in 2013, European companies such as Damen, BP, Boskalis and Astaldi among many others have been using Tideman Boats for their own marine operations or for their clients. Company officials said HDPE hull features and advantages include buoyancy with density ranges from 0.93 to 0.97kg/dm3, lighter than fresh water and much lighter than seawater, zero corrosion, and zero maintenance as oxygen, salt, and water have no damaging effect on HDPE. There is no time-consuming need to rinse after use. No gelcoat to repair and no bottom paint at all.

Metal Shark has been awarded a contract to build a new vehicle ferry for Fire Island Ferries. Construction of the new Fire Island Maid recently began at Metal Shark’s Bayou La Batre, Ala., shipyard. Designed by Elliott Bay Design Group, the 70'x23' vessel features a steel hull and aluminum superstructure. With its hydraulically operated bow ramp and reinforced decks designed to support fully loaded concrete trucks and general cargo, the new ferry will provide transport between Bay Shore, N.Y., and Fire Island located on the Great South Bay. The new ferry will be powered by twin Cummins QSL9 Tier 3 marine engines with ZF Marine CruiseCommand control system and

Tideman Boats US

High-density polyethylene boats built in Massachusetts.

transmissions. Electrical power shall be provided by a Cummins Onan MDK generator.

Ørsted, Eversource and Edison Chouest Off shore (ECO) have announced that construction of the fi rst Jones Act-qualifi ed wind farm service operations vessel (SOV) in the U.S. has begun. The vessel, ECO Edison, is being built at ECO’s shipyards located in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, with components of the vessel being manufactured across 12 states. ECO Edison will be delivered in 2024 and immediately provide operational support out of Port Jeff erson, N.Y., for Ørsted and Eversource’s joint venture off shore wind portfolio. The vessel, which will be over 260' and capable of housing 60 crewmembers, will be utilized during the operation and maintenance (O&M) phases of the wind farm projects, serving as a sea base of operations to accommodate and transfer technicians, tools and parts safely to and from the individual wind turbine generators. ECO has also announced the selection of Caterpillar Marine, GE Power Conversion and Voith Schneider as the power and propulsion system providers for the ECO Edison. The vessel will be powered by four Caterpillar 3512E EPA Tier 4 generator sets (gensets), each rated for 1,700 ekW. The gensets are confi gured for variable speed operation.

Harvey Gulf International Marine announced in February that it has begun to operate one of its tri-fuel vessels exclusively on battery power and renewable liquefi ed natural gas (RLNG), with diesel fuel as backup. Harvey Gulf said this moves the company one step closer to becoming the world’s fi rst ESG-certifi ed (environmental, social and governance) oil and gas vessel operator. RLNG is recaptured swine and dairy farm gas from pigs and cows. The use of RLNG enables customers who charter the company’s dual and trifueled RLNG vessels to obtain a Carbon Neutral Certifi cate for their related vessel operations.

Harvey Gulf International Marine

Tri-fuel vessel runs on battery power and renewable LNG.

Plimsoll Marine/Cooper Group/Cooper/T.Smith

New 67' pushboat is working in the Lower Mississippi River.

eet of vessels. The delivery of the Steel Skipper marks another milestone in that effort,” Angus R. Cooper III, president, Cooper/T. Smith, said in a statement announcing the delivery. “Our ongoing investment in building and maintaining the Plimsoll eet is a testament to our pledge to always return the highest level of value to our customers.”

Main propulsion comes from twin Tier 3 Mitsubishi diesels from Laborde Products Inc., producing 803 hp at 1,400 rpm. The mains are coupled to a pair of Sound Propeller Services Inc. 70'×48'×7', 4-bladed stainless-steel propellers through Twin Disc 5321 gears. Thrust is provided through two J&S Machine Works Inc. 7" ABS grade two propeller shafts with all Thordon bearings and Thorplas bushings and shaft seals.

Ship’s service power is the responsibility of two Northern Lights 65KW Tier 3 electronic controlled generators, also from Laborde, with RW Fernstrum Inc. keel coolers throughout.

RIO Controls and Hydraulic Inc. supplied the steering system for the two 7" main and four 7" flanking rudders.

Gulf Coast Air & Hydraulics Inc. provided a pair of Quincy reciprocating air compressors and ventilation fans. Schuyler Maritime LLC supplied all 18"×12" rubber fendering around the perimeter of the vessel and push knees.

R.S Price & Son provided a Carrier mini-split HVAC system in all interior spaces with Blakeney Marine providing all custom woodwork and interior finishes. Donavon Marine supplied the large Bomar aluminum windows and Dale’s Welding and Fabricators LLC provided the aluminum exterior doors.

Wintech International LLC supplied a pair of 40-ton deck winches and New World Inc. provided all electronics and communications, with an alarm system from Unlimited Control & Supply Inc.

The towboats have capacitys of 10,400 gals. of fuel; 4,359 gals. potable water; and 9,500 gals. of ballast water.

Boats on Display

Boats that were featured at the 41st International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans in December 2021.

Interested in exhibiting a boat at the International WorkBoat Show 2022? Contact: csalmon@divcom.com

www.workboatshow.com

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1 Fairlead purchased this 36'6"x10'6" Rafnar 1100 workboat with a fi berglass OK hull, which has a 1'10" draft and a running speed of about 40 knots. Fairlead plans to build its own 1100s in Newport News, Va. 2 The boat Iguana

USA brought to the WorkBoat Show measures 30'x10'. On land it can reach a speed of 7 mph propelled by a 4-cylinder engine inside the console. On the water, the boat is propelled by twin Mercury 300-hp outboards and can reach a speed of 55 knots. 3 This boat was based on North River Boats’ Seahawk Off shore 2900SXL platform with many modifi cations to meet Allsalt Maritime’s needs. The boat measures 29'x9'6" and is powered by twin Yamaha 4.2L motors.

4 Safe Boats

Interceptor measures 35'3"x10' with a 22° deadrise. The boat has a top speed of 55 knots but has a range of 210 miles at 30 knots. The Interceptor can carry up to 14 people.

5 Scully’s Aluminum Boats

brought two boats to the WorkBoat Show in December. Scully’s 2484VWB with cabin measures 24'2"x8'6" with a 12° deadrise. Scully’s 2484LC (landing craft) with center console measures 24'6"x8'6" with a 5° deadrise.