VESSEL REPORT Barges
Special Delivery
CONRAD SHIPYARD
Workboat shipyards are building several unconventional new barges.
Conrad’s YRBMs incorporate functional spaces which are designed to allow sailors to work, sleep and eat comfortably.
By Ken Hocke, Senior Editor
C
ovid-19, worker shortages, and the price of steel curbed the number of inland barge deliveries over the past year. While these same problems effected shipyards throughout the U.S., WorkBoat’s 2020-2021 Construction Survey released in October recorded 84 barges contracted, underway or delivered, an improvement over 2019-2020’s 33. (WorkBoat’s survey does not include inland barge construction.)
SPECIALTY BARGES
Conrad Shipyard LLC, Morgan City, La., was awarded a $140 million contract in March from the Navy for the design and construction of up to eight 151'×49'×14' yard, repair, berthing and messing (YRBM) barges. A YRBM barge provides a temporary home away from home and workplace for service men and women whose vessels are in port for repairs and/or maintenance. Conrad’s YRBMs incorporate func24
tional spaces which are designed to allow the sailors to work, sleep and eat comfortably. The fixed-price contract has a potential value of over $140 million. The YRBM barge is an American Bureau of Shipping A1 accommodation barge that provides pier-side living accommodations capable of berthing 199 mixed gender personnel, messing for 300, and space for medical offices, classrooms, workspaces, laundry rooms, storerooms, and lounge areas. Conrad expects to deliver the first YRBM barge to the Navy in late 2023. If the Navy exercises options for the additional barges, peak production is expected to occur from 2023 through 2025. “We are excited to enter into this partnership with the Navy to help modernize its fleet,” Conrad Shipyard CEO Johnny Conrad said in March. “Not only will this contract provide an abundance of jobs for our workforce in the Morgan City area, but it will also help to support a multitude of small
businesses.” Late last year, Bollinger Shipyards LLC delivered the 400'×100' ocean transport barge Holland to General Dynamics-Electric Boat’s Groton Shipyard. The Holland will support the construction and maintenance of the Navy’s Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines and Virginia-class fast attack submarines. General DynamicsElectric Boat is the prime contractor on the design and construction of the Columbia-class submarine, which will replace the aging Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and is a top strategic defense priority for the U.S. In November 2019, General Dynamics-Electric Boat selected Bollinger to build the Holland. The concept and contract design were handled by the Bristol Harbor Group, Bristol, R.I., while Bollinger performed the detail design engineering at its Lockport, La., facility, and construction at the Bollinger Marine Fabrication facility in Amelia, La. The Columbia-class is now being built at Electric Boat’s Quonset Point, R.I., manufacturing facility. Shipyard personnel will construct and outfit Columbia modules at Quonset Point which will then be transported by the Holland to the company’s final test and assembly facility in Groton. The first Columbia module is expected to arrive in Groton in 2023. Demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the maritime sector is growing rapidly. Over the next several years, it’s estimated that 400 new vessels utilizing LNG are expected enter service. Many believe LNG is the leading solution to fuel the maritime sector as the industry advances its sustainability goals through a transition to lower carbon fuels. LNG is a process through which
www.workboat.com • JUNE 2022 • WorkBoat
