WorkBoat October 2015 by WorkBoat

Ferry Report • Rocket Barge • Winches ®

IN BUSINESS ON THE COASTAL AND INLAND WATERS

OCTOBER 2015

Oil Leak

Shipyards hit by slumping energy prices.

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ON THE COVER

OCTOBER 2015 • VOLUME 72, NO. 10

Bordelon Marine Shipbuilders in Houma, La. Photo by Ken Hocke

FEATURES 24 Focus: Coal Hard Facts Coal is under attack as barge shipments shrink.

28 Vessel Report: Ferry Tale Ferry operators want lighter and faster vessels.

42 Cover Story: Plan B Gulf shipyards are looking beyond OSV construction.

BOATS & GEAR 32 On the Ways Blount busy with first U.S. wind energy service vessel. Master Marine delivers 2,000-hp towboat to Marquette Transportation. Devall Towing takes delivery of new 1,260-hp towboat from A&B Industries. Chem Carriers christens double-deck Z-drive towboat. Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding delivers second of five 68' tactical response vessels to New York. Eastern inks deal to build four 2,560-hp towboats for Latin America service.

50 Mission to Mars Conrad Deepwater refurbishes space shuttle barge to carry the core stage for NASA’s Mars mission in 2020.

56 Decked Out Deck equipment systems continue to evolve.

AT A GLANCE 10 10 11 12 14 14 16

On the Water: Voyage planning — Part 1. Captain’s Table: The Kentucky River reopens. OSV Day Rates: Crude-by-barge outlook darkens. WB Stock Index: Workboat stocks dip again in August. Inland Insider: Economic instability and uncertainty. Insurance Watch: Be sure to get it right when facing contract deadlines. Legal Talk: What does ‘bad faith’ mean?

NEWS LOG 18 18 19 20 20 22

Hawaii challenge to Jones Act rejected. Shell begins drilling in Chukchi Sea. Coast Guard helps police ‘Uber for boats’ business in Florida. Obama pushes for new icebreaker fleet. Boston Harbor Cruises ferry overhaul is paying off. Glosten purchases Noise Control Engineering.

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

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56 DEPARTMENTS 4 Editor’s Watch 8 Mail Bag 61 Port of Call 71 Advertisers Index 72 WB Looks Back

9/8/15 11:50 AM

Editor'sWatch

Some hope in tough times

ou’re all probably aware that the oil price drop and the turmoil in the coal market have effected several parts of the workboat industry. Gulf Coast shipyards, for one, have definitely been feeling the pinch from the sluggish energy sector. And the coal market has seen plant closings and conversions, coal company bankruptcies, lower export demand and tough federal environmental regulations. As Dale DuPont writes in this issue (see page 24), all of this has hit inland barge operators who haul one fifth of the nation’s coal. Coal as a power source is not going away completely, but its growth prospects are dim. As for the future, one operator said, “if we build fewer coal barges or scrap more barges, demand and supply will come back into balance.” As Ken Hocke reports in this month’s cover story (see page 42), some shipyards that had record backlogs of offshore service vessels just two years ago have seen order books dry up, as OSV operators stack boats in canals, bayous and tributaries all around southeast Louisiana. Sure, it’s a tough time to be a shipyard owner in the Gulf, but as in past down cycles, some “improvise, adapt and overcome,” said Joseph Rodriguez, president, Rodriguez Shipbuilding, Bayou La Batre, Ala. One of those yards is A&B Industries. A&B has always built inland towboats, and that’s what has got them through this down cycle. Another yard that is surviving is Conrad Industries. The company has seen a softer repair market and a decrease in its backlog compared to last

David Krapf, Editor in Chief

year, but the shipyard is working on several interesting newbuild projects. Its Orange, Texas, yard is building a 232'×48'8"×15'8" dedicated LNG bunker barge — the first in North America. Another project involves the construction of an articulated tug/ barge unit. It will be made up of a 399'×74'×30', 80,000-bbl. tank barge and a 120'×40'×18'6" ocean service tug. Both vessels are currently being built at Conrad’s yard in Amelia, La. Other Gulf yards are also busy with an assortment of projects, as they show that it’s not all about oil and gas.

dkrapf@divcom.com

WORKBOAT® (ISSN 0043-8014) is published monthly by Diversified Business Communications and Diversified Publications, 121 Free St., P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112-7438. Editorial Office: P.O. Box 1348, Mandeville, LA 70470. Annual Subscription Rates: U.S. $39; Canada $55; International $103. When available, extra copies of current issue are $4, all other issues and special issues are $5. For subscription customer service call (978) 671-0444. The publisher reserves the right to sell subscriptions to those who have purchasing power in the industry this publication serves. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, ME, and additional mailing offices. Circulation Office: 121 Free St., P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112-7438. From time to time, we make your name and address available to other companies whose products and services may interest you. If you prefer not to receive such mailings, please send a copy of your mailing label to: WorkBoat’s Mailing Preference Service, P.O. Box 7438, Portland, ME 04112. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WORKBOAT, P.O. Box 1792, Lowell, MA 01853. Copyright 20 15 by Diversified Business Communications. Printed in U.S.A.

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www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/8/15 2:39 PM

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PUBLISHER

Jerry Fraser jfraser@divcom.com

EDITOR IN CHIEF

David Krapf dkrapf@divcom.com

SENIOR EDITOR

Ken Hocke khocke@divcom.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Kirk Moore kmoore@divcom.com

ONLINE EDITOR

Ashley Herriman aherriman@divcom.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

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

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ART DIRECTOR PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE

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

Southern/Editorial Office: P.O. Box 1348 • Mandeville, LA 70470 • Fax: (985) 624-4801 Subscription Information: (978) 671-0444 • cs@e-circ.net General Information: (207) 842-5610

ADVERTISING PRODUCTION & ADVERTISING PROJECT MANAGER Wendy Jalbert 121 Free St., P.O. Box 7438 • Portland, ME 04112-7438 (207) 842-5616 • Fax: (207) 842-5611 wjalbert@divcom.com EASTERN U.S. AND CANADA EUROPE Kristin Luke (207) 842-5635 • Fax: (207) 842-5611 kluke@divcom.com WESTERN U.S. AND CANADA PACIFIC RIM Susan Chesney (206) 463-4819 • Fax: (206) 463-3342 schesney@divcom.com GULF / SOUTHERN U.S. SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA Jeff Powell (207) 842-5573 • Fax: (207) 842-5611 jpowell@divcom.com ATLANTIC / CENTRAL STATES Adam Shaw (207) 842-5496 • Fax: (207) 842-5611 ashaw@divcom.com EXPOSITIONS (207) 842-5508 • Fax: (207) 842-5509 Producers of The International WorkBoat Show, WorkBoat Maintenance & Repair Conference and Expo, and Pacific Marine Expo www.workboatshow.com EXPOSITION SALES DIRECTOR Chris Dimmerling (207) 842-5666 • Fax: (207) 842-5509 cdimmerling@divcom.com

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Appeal inspection issues

agree with Capt. Alan Bernstein’s Captain’s Table column (“How to survive a Coast Guard annual inspection”) in the August issue of WorkBoat. I was in the Coast Guard for 20 years as a marine inspector and in other marine safety leadership roles. My last job was the chief of inspections and investigations for the Coast Guard’s Eighth District office in New Orleans. The OCMI (Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection) reps at the seven sector offices and two MSU (Marine Safety Unit) commands in the Eighth District dealt with me on inspection policy issues and any potential appeals that might be upheld by the OCMI for second level review by my office. I cannot tell you how many phone calls from industry I received in my two years in that job from people frustrated with their local OCMI. I’d say 90% of the issues they described

could be appealed, and I encouraged them to do so. Often, however, there seemed to be reluctance from industry to appeal for fear of some kind of retribution. That is why I was glad to see Capt. Bernstein’s column and wanted to reinforce it via my perspective as the former inspections program manager for the Eighth District. Capt. Bernstein knows as well as anyone about the experience level that exists among the corps of marine inspectors. As long as the Coast Guard manages personnel the way they do, it will never improve. The sector reorganization of about 10 years ago only made it worse by assigning even less experienced/qualified people to key positions of inspection oversight and management. For industry, the only way to deal with it is to be fluent in the same policies that Coast Guard inspectors are supposed to follow. The Marine Safety Manual, Volume II (revised in 2014) details the ad-

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ministration of deficiencies in section A.2. There is a lot of room here for OCMI discretion. The same misapplied and incorrectly cited deficiencies continue to be written. The advantage industry has is history. You see inspectors come and go, along with the issues. And just when you think an issue is resolved, a new OCMI comes in who wants to change the world. Keep records, be civil, and by all means don’t hesitate to question a requirement if you think it’s wrong. Your advice is spot on. Engagement with the OCMI doesn’t happen nearly enough. The fear of retribution is largely misplaced and should not hold anyone back from pursuing what is right. If you don’t get satisfaction at the OCMI level, push it up the chain of command. The appeals process can work, but it takes time and patience. Chris Woodle Covington, La.

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On the Water

Voyage planning — Part 1

T By Joel Milton

Joel Milton works on towing vessels. He can be reached at joelmilton@ yahoo.com.

here are many facets of voyage planning that require a person’s full attention. The most fundamental part is laying down your route. That’s made up of the series of courses and waypoints that you intend to follow to get your vessel safely from one location to another. When planning a voyage, water depths are typically the primary consideration and this process is the foundation for all that follows. If you are sloppy and careless about voyage planning, then your safety margins are reduced before you even fire up the mains. So it follows that hastily or haphazardly planned routes, whether laid down on paper charts or plotted electronically, may not have received an adequate level of scrutiny for general suitability and specific navigation hazards before being used. It definitely pays to take your time to ensure you aren’t missing anything important. It is also a good idea to build in extra maneuvering room and/or

Captain’s Table The reopening of the Kentucky River 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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here are many young river mariners that have never had the chance to navigate the Kentucky River. The Kentucky is a small but beautiful river that enters the Ohio River at Carrolton, Ky. Stretching back to the early days of our country, the Kentucky River has a rich navigation history, with 14 locks built in the 19th and 20th centuries. Unfortunately, the river was closed to navigation in 2007 when Lock 1 through Lock 4 were shut down. Recreational boaters could still access and use the river, but commercial vessels that relied on the locks to transit were shut out. Recently, I received a call from a state of Kentucky official who said that they were reopening the Kentucky River to Lock 5 and want to open the rest of the river all the way up to Lock 10.

under-keel clearance when available. It’s a given that parts of voyages will almost always involve maneuvering in close proximity to hazards. A few prime examples of hazardous spots are British Columbia’s Seymour Narrows, the chokepoint of Discovery Passage, and New York City’s Hell Gate — the bottleneck of the East River. There are many others. Then why do mariners, often by choice, give up the space, time and water depth that improves safety margins when they don’t have to? This can be very hard to understand. Nevertheless, choices made regarding courses steered and the selection of throttle settings should never be random or arbitrary. If you wouldn’t feel comfortable explaining why you made these choices after an incident occurs, then you should make better choices before the fact. The age-old human tendency towards taking shortcuts usually brings with it additional risks. How carefully and, most importantly, how accurately you’ve analyzed those risks will largely determine how successful you are likely to be. But without good raw data you’re starting out in a hole.

The Kentucky River is as scenic as any river a mariner will ever navigate. Above Lock 5, the river becomes a sheer gorge with limestone walls that ascend hundreds of feet in the air. The natural beauty is staggering and it keeps getting better and better as you continue up the river. There are also some very famous places along the river. Among them are Clays Ferry, which was the site of an old shipyard, and Fort Boonesborough, the frontier fort founded by Daniel Boone. My wife and I were lucky enough to be able to navigate the Kentucky River on a houseboat before it was closed to navigation. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my river career. I was saddened when officials decided to shut down the locks to navigation. Now I’m extremely pleased that we will once again have an opportunity to navigate this beautiful historic river and benefit from all that she has to offer. If you have a chance to navigate the Kentucky River all the way up to Lock 10, I encourage you jump at the opportunity. You will never forget the experience. www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/8/15 12:40 PM

AUGUST 2015 DAY RATES, FLEET UTILIZATION VESSEL TYPE

OSV Day Rates Oil and barge demand By Bill Pike

n November, I enthusiastically wrote about the major increase in demand for barges to move oil in the U.S., due mainly to the shale boom. Barge transport of crude in the U.S. jumped from just over 44 million bbls. in 2008 to more than 175 million bbls. in 2013 — a four-fold increase in just five years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Major waterways that have seen significant increases in crude-by-barge traffic include the Mississippi River and its tributaries, particularly the Ohio River and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The trend continues, but there are ominous storm clouds on the horizon due to low oil prices. In his Aug. 24 Petrodollars column

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AVERAGE DAY RATES JULY '15

AUG. '15

UTILIZATION

AUG. '14 AUG. '15 AUG. '14

SUPPLY (DWT) in Oilgram 1,999 & below $ 9,729 $ 9,729 $15,474 74% 93% News, Joshua 2,000-2,999 $17,694 $17,694 $25,232 59% 95% Mann put 3,000-3,999 $23,750 $23,750 $31,500 81% 100% this in per4,000-4,999 $25,375 $25,375 $32,000 80% 100% spective. He 5,000 & above $34,200 $34,200 $40,089 100% 100% mentioned CREWBOATS that Kirby Under 170' $ 3,603 $ 3,603 $ 4,457 63% 86% Corp.CEO 170' & over $ 6,141 $ 6,141 $ 8,554 88% 80% David GrzeSOURCE: WorkBoat survey of 32 offshore service vessel companies. binski noted in July 2014 that “the waterborne transportation in the shales, resulting in some “200 markets have strong fundamentals, and inland barges in the U.S. switched to a good long-term outlook, with inland other services, leaving about 350 still contract pricing on the rise.” At the carrying crude,” Grzebinski estimated. same time, expanding production drove The second is the depressed price of increases in crude transport by rail also oil, which has left the industry very as the oil and gas industry awaited the cautious. creation of a pipeline infrastructure to While the spot price for barges is ship oil and gas out of the shale plays. still increasing, with utilization at 90%, It looked promising for a while. contract prices are falling in the wake Two things have dampened the picof $40 oil and the prospect that oil ture for barge transport of crude. The prices have not hit bottom yet and are first is the rapid progress in the conunlikely to recover before 2017. struction of an off-take pipeline system This destroys confidence.

9/8/15 12:40 PM

WorkBoat Composite Index

INDEX NET PERCENT COMPARISONS 7/31/15 8/31/15 CHANGE CHANGE Operators 327.17 324.17 -3.00 -0.92 Suppliers 2716.97 2493.52 -223.45 -8.22 Shipyards 1864.15 1736.59 -127.56 -6.84 Workboat Composite 1671.32 1557.05 -114.27 -6.84 PHLX Oil Service Index 179.74 184.33 4.59 2.55 Dow Jones Industrials 17689.86 16528.03 -1161.83 -6.57 Standard & Poors 500 2103.84 1972.18 -131.66 -6.26

he WorkBoat Composite Index had another rough month in August, Index loses 7%, down losing 114 points, or almost 7%. For the month, losers topped winners by a 9% in 2015 2-1 ratio. The Index has now lost ground four straight months and is down over 9% for the year. In 2014, the Index lost 4.7%. As expected, Hercules Offshore Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August. The Houstonbased rig operator filed a pre-packaged plan of reorganization. The company said it anticipates Our famous MARQUIP line brings you the that it will receive very best in tow plates, shackles, connectcourt authority ing links, and associated gear you need to to pay employee work the tough jobs, day in and day out. When your reputation’s on the line, make wages and benefits sure our gear’s on your boat. without interruption and continue to CUSTOMER SERVICE 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK pay trade creditors Visit our website for more: www.wachain.com ASK FOR OUR FREE CATALOG and suppliers in the ordinary course 1-866-WACHAIN of business. The WASHINGTON CHAIN Chapter 11 reorganiAND SUPPLY, INC. zation was expected P.O. Box 3645 • 2901 Utah Avenue South Seattle, Washington 98124 USA to conclude by mid-

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October. The company had announced back in June that it planned on filing for bankruptcy. The Hercules filing comes on the heels of other energyrelated bankruptcies including Houston offshore service company Cal Dive and oil producers American Eagle and Dune Energy. The drop in oil prices since 2014 that has brought layoffs and cold stacking of rigs is compounded by the industry’s levels of high-yield debt, according to analysts. The company announced in July that the pre-packaged plan provides a substantial deleveraging transaction under which more than $1.2 billion of Hercules Offshore’s outstanding senior notes would be converted to 96.9% of new common equity, and $450 million in new debt financing would be provided by holders of the senior notes who wish to participate. Hercules operates a fleet of 27 jackup rigs and 21 liftboats. As of Aug. 25, nine of its 18 Gulf of Mexico jackups were cold stacked, three were warm stacked, and three were ready stacked. — David Krapf STOCK CHART For the complete up-to-date WorkBoat Stock Index, go to: www.workboat.com/ workboat-index.aspx

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www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/8/15 12:41 PM

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8/31/1512:54:09 10:42 PM AM 7/17/2014

Inland Insider Expect more economic instability in 2016

he summer has almost come to an end, and depending on who’s talking, it’s closing with a big bang or a big bust. The long anticipated correction of the overheated domestic stock market finally occurred in August. The Dow Jones industrial average closed on Sept. 4 at 16,102.38, down almost 10% in 2015. From its high of 18,351.36 on May 19 to its 15,370.33 low set on Aug. 24, the Dow plunged 16.2%. Chicken Little prophets of doom have emerged with different sets of anxious worries. Some claim that the U.S. economy has been negatively affected by the slowing Chinese economy and devaluation of its currency. However, the Chinese economy has been slowing for some time. The steady consistent economic growth numbers regularly

Insurance Watch What’s the hurry?

n my business I see all sorts of vessels and projects that aim for completion by a certain deadline. In many cases it’s for a promotion, meeting, a larger contract, a payday or a contract deadline. In fact, most of the time the deadline is met with significant amounts of work still needed within six months to a year after “completion.” Nobody wins in that scenario, nobody. I’ve got many examples to share, but a very recent one comes to mind. Many not-for-profit companies have struggled in the past decade and one of them had to surrender a couple of its ships to auction. Both ships were repairable but 14

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reported by the Chinese government are fabrications. The real growth rate of the Chinese economy is likely about half of the 7% reported by the Chinese government. Bets on a resurgence of the Chinese economy are long shots. Then there is the Federal Reserve. It has used zero interest rates and an inflated money supply in an attempt to stimulate the U.S. economy. The U.S. economy that was stimulated by this misguided monetary policy has, until now, seen the stock market flooded with cheap money with the dearth of alternative investments. The track record of the Fed growing the economy through increased money supply has been poor at best. That is what the meager domestic economic growth statistics tell us before subsequent downward revisions. Eventually the money supply will have to be deflated and interest rates permitted to rise. I don’t think this will happen this year or in 2016. There will likely be little to no economic changes domestically until the

next presidential election and after the new president takes office. It’s discouraging to see the current batch of presiBy Kevin Horn dential candidates sparring over issues that are largely unrelated to the economy. I expect continued economic instability and uncertainty through the next calendar year. The transport sector has basically maxed out with the peaking of domestic oil and the continuing underlying weakness in coal. There is no saving grace for major transport providers, ranging from the packaged goods carriers, UPS, etc., to the major railroads and barge lines. Hopefully, what freight is regularly moving now will continue. That is the best we can hope for.

in less-than-perfect shape to complete their missions. A savvy businessman bought them both with the intention of operating them as a for-profit business after a well planned rehabilitation of each. One of the vessels required extensive work under a relatively short deadline. It needed plank and mast work, frames replaced and some work on its deck as well as its cabin top. The rehab proceeded nicely and it looked like the deadline was going to easily be met. However, the crew was showing some strain as it pressed to stay ahead of schedule. Finally a day of reckoning arrived and the owner recognized that his fine crew was pushing too hard to get the vessel ready. The vessel owner’s dilemma was easily solved. He practiced the best judgment that he could muster and blew off the deadline and missed a potentially profitable promotional trip. He realized that the ship needed to be ready

for long-term use and his crew needed to step back and take a deep breath. With the deadline pressure removed, the crew set about to methodically finBy Gene ish the rehab work McKeever and in the process won’t have the headache of having to redo hasty work in six months to a year. So what’s the lesson here? We all know that haste makes waste. Sometimes having the wisdom and courage to slow down helps the bottom line the most.

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

Gene McKeever is a marine insurance agent with Allen Insurance and Financial. He can be reached at 800-439-4311 or gmckeever@allenif.com

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/8/15 12:40 PM

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8/31/15 10:42 AM

Legal Talk

What does the concept of ‘bad faith’ mean?

orkBoat has covered 2010’s Deepwater Horizon disaster from the onset, right through the criminal prosecutions to the civil damages claims. A federal court in Louisiana recently dealt with another aspect of the

spill — injury sustained in the course of beach cleanup. The court also tackled the familiar concept of “bad faith.” In the maritime industry, we tend to think in terms of Jones Act benefits if someone is injured in connection with a vessel and the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) when it involves a shoreside facility. However, the 5th Circuit case Global Management Enterprise LLC v. Commerce and Industry Insurance Co.

showed that courts also look closely at the policy when determining available benefits. In this case, an employee By Tim Akpinar of a temporary employment agency was injured while lifting a bag of oil-laden sand during beach cleanup operations in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill. The agency’s workers’ compensation policy excluded bodily injury to employees eligible for coverage under the LHWCA. But the employment agency had also purchased an endorsement extending coverage to street cleaning and drivers. The insurance carrier refused to provide benefits under the street cleaning endorsement, relying on the LHWCA exclusion. The agency sued the insurance carrier for breach of contract and for violating Louisiana’s bad-faith insurance practices statute. The lower court ruled in favor of the insurance carrier. The higher court reversed and benefits were paid, but the bad-faith issue was still contested. While bad faith may be defined differently from one statute to another, everyone pretty much knows what it is when they see it. A creditor that doesn’t disclose all the terms of a tricky business loan could be accused of bad faith. So can a car seller who pretends to forget that the car had been involved in an accident. Louisiana’s bad-faith statute imposes monetary penalties if an insurer fails to pay a claim in a timely manner when that failure is “arbitrary, capricious, and without probable cause.” The employment agency claimed bad faith because the insurance carrier concluded that the street cleaning endorsement should not override the LHWCA exclusion. The higher court ruled that the carrier did not act in bad faith. Tim Akpinar is a Little Neck, N.Y.-based maritime attorney and former marine engineer. He can be reached at 718-2249824 or t.akpinar@verizon.net.

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www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/8/15 12:41 PM

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8/31/15 10:42 AM 2/4/15 3:18 PM

OCTOBER 2015

NEWS LOG NEWS BITTS

SHELL DRILLS IN CHUKCHI SEA

LNG MAKES GAINS ON THE WEST COAST

Shell

wo weeks after granting Royal Dutch Shell permission to begin drilling for oil in the Chukchi Sea, President Obama was in Alaska to talk about his strategy on climate change — and pushing back on environmental activists who bitterly oppose his decision on the Shell venture. “Our economy still has to rely on oil and gas,” Obama said. “As long as that’s the case, I believe we should rely more on domestic production than on foreign imports.” As Obama visited a shrinking glacier and coastal villages besieged by shoreline erosion, Shell’s team was dealing with high seas and gale-force winds that forced suspension of operations on the Polar Pioneer semisubmersible rig leased from Transocean Ltd. High water was a problem on Alaska’s north shore too, as Shell temporarily relocated some workers from housing in Barrow, Alaska, because of road flooding.

Court tosses out Hawaii challenge to Jones Act

n appeals court has rejected a challenge to the Jones Act by Hawaii residents who claimed it causes them “unconscionable, inequitable harm and inflated prices.” The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals not only upheld a lower court’s dismissal of the case but also concluded that Congress had the authority to enact the law. The district court said the challengers lacked standing to bring the case. The Jones Act, specifically Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, requires that cargo moved from 18

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one U.S. port to another be on vessels that are U.S. owned, built and crewed. The three-judge panel turned aside arguments that the law violates protections guaranteed under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and amounts to an unlawful restraint of trade in violation of the Constitution’s commerce clause. Furthermore, the plaintiffs haven’t shown “a likelihood that the shipping companies would lower their prices” if the law were invalidated, the court said. The suit against the U.S. govern-

he future of liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion on West Coast waters took a step forward with Totem Ocean Trailer Express’ plan to convert its 839'x118' roll-on/roll-off trailership Midnight Sun to dual-fuel LNG. The company says this will be the world’s first major conversion of a large Ro/Ro trailership. The vessel will come off its usual Tacoma, Wash. to Anchorage, Alaska, route at the end of November, before the 90-day conversion project starts in December with Singapore-based Keppel Offshore & Marine. TOTE said it will convert the other Orca-class sister ship North Star in 20162017. TOTE is part of the Saltchuk group of companies, which owns Foss Maritime Services. Meanwhile, TOTE and its partner WesPac Midstream are building North America’s first LNG bunker barge at Conrad Industries’ Amelia, La., shipyard. In Seattle, Jensen Maritime is moving into that market with conceptual plans for LNG bunkering barges that can be built to customer specifications.

ment was filed in 2012 by seven people including an exporter, rancher and distributor seeking unspecified damages for losses caused by “the monopolistic environment created” by the law. They wanted the Jones Act declared invalid for interstate commerce involving Hawaii. “By one estimate, 98.6% of Hawaii’s imports arrive by ocean shipping,” they said, noting most goods from the continental U.S. were carried by Matson Navigation and Horizon Lines. (Horizon, which operated in Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico, has since shut down and sold its Hawaii business to the Pasha Group.) Ocean shipping is their only viable

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/2/15 4:17 PM

option, they argued, because Hawaii is inaccessible by land and competition by air is limited “due to the lack of large and affordable air cargo space.” The challengers asked the appeals court to rehear the case before more judges, arguing “the Jones Act has been directly responsible for the exorbitant cost of living which Hawaii residents must contend with.” — Dale K. DuPont

Coast Guard cracks down on ‘Uber for boats’ business

n online phenomenon that has upended the taxi and limousine industry in big cities is hitting the water. However, the U.S. Coast Guard in Florida is not impressed with the new trend, clamping down over Labor Day weekend on unlicensed and illegal for-hire boat operators who get their customers from the Internet.

They are calling it “Uber for boats,” smartphone ride-sharing applications that connect tourists who want a cheap and convenient boat trip with private vessel owners. The services have proliferated in recent months, but officials at Coast Guard Seventh District headquarters in Miami suspect most of the operators don’t even have the bare requirements to legally carry passengers. “We had heard through the grapevine that there were applications out there to pair people up with boat owners,” said Cmdr. Michael Capelli of the Coast Guard Seventh District inspection and investigations division. To legally carry paying riders, those operators need to be at least licensed to carry up to six passengers — the socalled “six pack” certification for small charter fishing and tour boat operators. “If he’s carrying seven or more, that vessel needs to be inspected,” Capelli said. “We love seeing more people

“The industry does a really good job of policing itself.” Lt. Cmdr. Tim Tilghman 7th District, Inspections & Investigation Division getting involved in for-hire. But if they do it illegally, the penalties are pretty serious,” Capelli said. The hotspots for ride-sharing this summer appear to be south Florida and the St. Petersburg-Tampa Bay area on the state’s Gulf Coast, Coast Guard officers said. One service, Coastalyfe, started up in the St. Petersburg area in the spring. Through an application on iOS and Android devices, it offers boat rides with a taxicab-like fare structure: $7 to start, $2.97 per mile plus 37 cents per minute. The company promises state motor vehicle and criminal background checks on its operators, and says it inspects their 18' to 25' boats for seawor-

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Ocean Marine Division

9/2/15 4:17 PM

— Kirk Moore

Cape Cod fast ferry overhaul a success

oston Harbor Cruises’ 126'10"×39'×12'6" ferry Salacia returned to service last spring after an engine overhaul. The popular ferry shuttles 600 passengers on the 90-minute trip between Boston and Provincetown, Mass., on Cape Cod. 20

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Boston Harbor Cruises

thy condition and safety equipment. In late August, the company said it wants to partner with water taxis and other commercial operators in Florida. Miami-based BoatDay went live in early July, also offering reliable, screened operators, required to have their own insurance, plus $500,000 in excess insurance the company is obtaining for operators. But the companies’ websites are silent about Coast Guard licensing. Marilyn Fajardo, a spokeswoman for the Seventh District office, said the Coast Guard used public service advertisements and radio spots over the Labor Day holiday weekend to educate the public. But because they fall under federal laws and regulations, private boat owners who enter into casual commercial deals expose themselves to fines for being unlicensed. “Random drug testing is required for captains and crews too. For vessels five tons and more, they need documentation. They could be in violation of those regulations as well,” Capelli said. There have not been any known casualties yet associated with a ride-share boat, but the Coast Guard has its sector and field station operators out looking for illegal operations — and checking in with legal passenger and charter operators. “The industry does a really good job of policing itself,” said Lt. Cmdr. Tim Tilghman of the Seventh District inspections division. Nationally, the Coast Guard is asking the Passenger Vessel Association to keep an eye out for unlicensed operators

The 600-passenger fast ferry Salacia got new engines last winter.

“The reliability is the No. 1 thing,” Capt. Jon Stasinos said during a late August run to Provincetown. “They’re quieter engines, and they make the ride better for our passengers.” The ferry reentered service in the spring after a nearly $3 million repowering during a winter drydock at Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, part of the Duclos Corp., Somerset, Mass., which built the Salacia. “The engines were pretty well worn out,” said Robert Tarrant, BHC’s director of engineering. Installed when the catamaran was built in 2000, they had been overhauled several times and were approaching 40,000 hours. "That coupled with the fact that there have been so many upgrades to engines since 2000 — particularly in the fast ferry market” — propelled the project. The boat now has four MTU 12V4000M64 Tier 3 engines rated at 1,950 hp each at 1,830 rpm, supplied by Stewart & Stevenson Power Products, as well as two new John Deere 4045 AFM85 powered Tier 3 generators. It also has four ZF Marine 465D reduction gears (1.659:1) identical to the originals and built from scratch, since they were no longer in production. So, how is Salacia doing? “When we’re running at our sweet spot — about 1,750 rpm, we’re still getting

very good horsepower at good vessel speed and the engines are not working as hard,” Tarrant said. Normal cruising speed is about 32 knots. The engines also run cooler because of the triple walled exhaust manifold. What’s more, BHC expects longer times between maintenance — 15,000 hours for a top end overhaul and 30,000 for a major overhaul compared to 6,000 and 12,000 for the old diesel engines. — D.K. DuPont

Obama calls for new icebreaker fleet

resident Obama and Congress could be closer to an agreement to build a new icebreaker fleet, after months of growing unease in Washington over the Coast Guard’s Arctic capabilities. The president used his August trip to Alaska to call for moving up completion of a new icebreaker by two years, to 2020, and getting sustained funding from Congress to plan and construct a new icebreaker fleet that would keep pace with Russia’s expansion of its own Arctic capabilities. “The growth of human activity in the Arctic region will require highly engaged stewardship to maintain the open seas necessary for global com-

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/2/15 4:18 PM

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8/31/15 8/21/15 10:42 12:53 AM PM

NEWS BITTS merce and scientific research, allow for search-and-rescue activities, and provide for regional peace and stability,” according to a fact sheet issued by the White House. “These heavy icebreakers will ensure that the United States can meet our national interests, protect and manage our natural resources, and strengthen our international, state, local, and tribal relationships.” Scientists say parts of the Arctic are warming faster than other parts of the

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GLOSTEN ACQUIRES NOISE CONTROL ENGINEERING

world, reducing sea ice and enabling access to higher latitudes. That’s set off moves by Russia to extend its maritime domain hundreds of miles north of its shores. While Russia has 40 icebreakers — and plans to build 11 more — to exploit its maritime and energy ambitions in the Arctic, the U.S. has just two heavy icebreakers, the 399'×83' Polar Star and Polar Sea, both about 40 years old. A medium icebreaker, the 420'×82'

oise Control Engineering LLC has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Glosten Inc., a Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm. The merger combines Glosten’s capabilities in vessel design and engineering with NCE’s 25 years-plus expertise in shipboard noise and vibration control, said NCE president Raymond Fischer. NCE will continue to operate out of its offices in Billerica, Mass., and Mobile, Ala.

Healy was commissioned in 2000. It’s primarily used for scientific missions like this summer’s research cruise north of Alaska. The Coast Guard is weighing whether to refurbish and reactivate the Polar Sea, or permanently decommission it while moving ahead with the new heavy icebreaker. The Polar Sea had an engine failure in 2010, and recently the Coast Guard had to take parts off it to keep sister ship Polar Star operational, Gary Rasicot, the Coast Guard’s director of marine transportation systems, told members of Congress in July. There had been some partisan sniping over Coast Guard funding for new ships, with Congressional Republicans saying the Obama administration has not set aside enough in budget requests, and the administration contending military cuts forced by budget sequestrations have been the problem. But in recent months lawmakers from both parties have proposed legislation that would set up funds for expanding the icebreaker fleet. An independent study by the General Accounting Office this year reported that the Coast Guard needs at least three heavy and three medium icebreakers to fulfill anticipated mission needs in the Arctic and waters around Antarctica. The day after Obama's comments Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. and General Dynamics, both U.S. Navy shipbuilders, said they were eager to build the new icebreakers. — K. Moore

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

8/21/15 3:16 PM

9/2/15 4:18 PM

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8/31/15 10:42 AM

Coal Market

Coal Hard Facts Coal movements in the U.S. continue to shrink.

By Dale K. Dupont, Correspondent

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he last coal barge docked at Mississippi Power’s Plant Watson in Gulfport in February, ending annual deliveries of 1.65 million tons. In neighboring Alabama, two units of the Greene County plant will cease coal operations by next April, after receiving about 1 million tons a year by barge. Both are switching to natural gas. And both reflect the turmoil in a coal market that’s seeing not only coal plant closings and conversions but also coal company bankruptcies, falling prices, lower export demand and tough federal environmental regulations — all of which hit barge operators who haul one fifth of the nation’s coal. Coal as a power source is not going away completely, but its growth prospects are dim. Consider

the following: • Under the Obama administration’s new Clean Power Plan, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects that 90 gigawatts of coalfired capacity will be mostly retired by 2020 — about one third of the existing U.S. capacity, and more than twice as much as earlier anticipated. • Coal and coke on the inland waterways fell from 14.1 million short tons (MMst) in July 2012 to 11.8 MMst this July, Corps of Engineers statistics show. • The average sale price of Illinois Basin coal in August, for example, was $34.35 per short ton compared to $53.08 in August 2012 – a 35% drop. • EIA expects coal exports to fall by 14 MMst to 83 MMst this year and remain at that level next year.

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www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

8/31/15 3:20 PM

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STUNTED GROWTH Workboat operators are coping by diversifying their loads and services, scrapping — even though prices are low — selling, idling or redeploying equipment and laying people off. “I’m hoping we’re at the bottom right now,” said Tom Moosbrugger, president, Wabash Marine Inc., Waverly, Ky. “Obama lobbed another hand grenade.” Volume is down this year and he expects another drop next year. “We’re not growing,” said Moosbrugger, who provides terminal development, construction and repair as well as transportation services. “We’ve done some work for some aggregate companies, too, but even that’s down.” He’s considering selling two of his five boats — 1,200 hp and 800 hp — “if somebody came up and wanted to buy them.” “The most positive thing I can tell you is that as of 2015’s long-term en-

In spite of the drop in demand, coal remains a major energy industry player.

ergy outlook, coal is still a significant part of the U.S. energy picture,” said Brent Dibner, a maritime industry management consultant at Dibner Maritime Associates, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

“It’s not that it falls apart, it’s just that it’s not growing.” Consumption this year will be similar to what it was last year, “but it will be a tougher row to hoe for eastern

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high sulfur coal,” he said. Western coal will hold a greater share of the market. “Of course, there will be utilities that will make an effort to refit, but the overall situation is a tough one,” Dibner said. Inland Marine Service, Hebron, Ky., is also feeling the pinch. “We move a lot of coal, and coal has dropped off for us,” said Dave Hammond, president of the family business that supplies crews and vessel management services. Historically, they have four or five boats on the Ohio River, but “right at the moment, we don’t have a boat. So it’s affected the whole industry.” The company is diversifying and finding other ways to survive. “We saw this coming,” he said. So they made the necessary preparations, and now “we can do more liquid business.” They’ve been growing not because of the commodity market “but due to other companies not being able to find skilled people to operate their boats,” Hammond said. “We’re still able to find skilled labor.” No precise figures are available for the overall impact of coal’s woes on workboat operators. Major carriers declined to comment on the market. The latest blow to the coal market came in early August when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Clean Power Plan, which aims to cut carbon emissions from power plants by 32% by 2030. The final rule has guidelines for states to follow. If states don’t act, the EPA will put a federal plan in place. The American Coal Council, an industry trade group whose membership includes several large barge companies, called the plan “a risky, expensive, and misguided regulatory scheme, devoid of any real climate impact. The increased emphasis on inefficient, intermittent renewables for electricity generation in the final plan only intensifies concerns about grid reliability,” the council said. “The rule will impose enormous and unnecessary burdens on states, businesses and families.” Fifteen states, led by West Virginia,

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

8/31/15 3:10 PM

COAL MARKET BANKRUPTCIES Several coal companies have filed for bankruptcy protection this year, including: • Alpha Natural Resources, Bristol, Va. (August) • Walter Energy Holdings, Birmingham, Ala. (July) • Patriot Coal Corp., Scott Depot, W. Va. (May) Xinergy Corp., Knoxville, Tenn. (April)

have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to postpone the rule’s deadlines while challenging its legality. Peter Stephaich, chairman and CEO, Campbell Transportation Co. Inc., Pittsburgh, points out that the newest environmental rule comes on top of a number of challenges already facing the industry, including the upcoming towboat inspection rule and a deteriorating infrastructure. “Certain coal plants are closed and certain coal plants are going to remain open — for the medium term at least,” he said. One plant closing directly affecting Campbell is the Tennessee Valley Authority’s 55-year-old Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis, Tenn., which will be replaced by a natural gas plant expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 60%. TVA said it has until December 2018 to either retire or install emission controls at the plant. “We’ve tried hard over the last four or five years to diversify,” said Stephaich, whose business ranges from marine transportation and tank barge services to new construction, fabrication and shipyard repair. Company revenues have grown, but the percent of steam coal handled has dropped. As for the future, “if we build fewer coal barges or scrap more barges, demand and supply will come back into balance,” he said.

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Ferries

Ferry Tale

Ferry owners are demanding lighter construction and more power.

By Kirk Moore, Associate Editor

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ig, fast and stylish, a new generation of passenger and commuter ferries is making its mark. What’s more, the trend will continue, as cities reorient to their waterfronts to solve traffic and economic development problems. All-aluminum catamarans with 400-plus passenger capacities are one hallmark of this age. Hy-Line Cruises, Hyannis, Mass., has a 153'×34' boat on order from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corp. It’s the fourth Incat Crowther fast ferry to be built by the Massachusetts yard, and will carry up to 493 passengers between Hyannis and Nantucket. It will be propelled by four Cummins QSK60-M, EPA Tier 3 diesels, each delivering 2,200 hp at 1,800 rpm, that will drive a quartet of HamiltonJet HM721 waterjets. The whole package will make for a speed over 30 knots, even when fully loaded at 64 tons deadweight. That sweet spot of lightweight aluminum and big power is coming together in NY Waterway’s new ferry Molly Pitcher and sistership Betsy Ross,

built at Yank Marine, Tuckahoe, N.J. While some operators are going for the new generation of waterjets, NY Waterway is taking a step back below the waterline. “The design directive was they wanted a simple boat. They had gotten a lot of boats with a lot of jets, so they knew what the maintenance was like … a big nut to swallow every year,” said Michael LeMole of LeMole Naval Architecture, who designed the catamarans. The other requirements, LeMole said, were the basics. “Seating for 350, ticketing for 400. Twenty-eight knots loaded service speed. Draft was an issue, so we tunneled the bottom.” The 109'×31'×6' ferries are being powered with a pair of Caterpillar Tier 3 compliant 3512C engines, rated for 2,367 hp at 1,800 rpm. Those turn two 5-bladed ZF 56"×66" propellers, linked by ZF 7600 remote mount gears of 2.905:1 ratio and Vulkan couplings. That will give the ferries a service speed of 28 knots and top end around 30 knots. The propel-

Kirk Moore

The Molly Pitcher is one of two new passenger ferries for NY Waterway.

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/1/15 1:43 PM

lers turn in recessed tunnels, helping with the vessels’ shoal draft when they come and go from their Belford, N.J., terminal in the confines of Compton’s Creek. NY Waterway is touting style and spaciousness on the boats, with extra legroom seating on two decks, Art Deco styling, and fully tiled bathrooms. There will be public Wi-Fi so passengers — many of them financial district workers — can have Internet access to and from work. LED lighting and flat panel video screens illuminate the interior. Passengers can go to a full service drinks and snack bar, complete with a marble countertop, on the lower deck for coffee in the morning and cocktails on the ride home. There’s a heating system to keep the open bow deck warm, safe and more comfortable. COMMUTER NEEDS NY Waterway had hoped to have

the Molly Pitcher in service before the end of the summer, but the company and Yank Marine were still waiting on final sign-offs from the Coast Guard and other paperwork, said NY Waterway spokesman Pat Smith. The Molly Pitcher completed sea trials in July, and delivery of the Betsy Ross is expected by the end of 2015 to complete the $10.4 million contract. Significantly, these are the first city ferries to be built in New Jersey since the industry’s heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the expansion of commuter rail and highway connections to Manhattan. Now, city planners are looking to create new short- and long-range ferry connections between the five boroughs – at a much lower cost of $2.75 one-way per trip for commuters. The city requested proposals from ferry operators, and New Yorkers are already debating the details of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan for a $55 million

"The design directive was they wanted a simple boat." Michael LeMole LeMole Naval Architecture expansion of local ferry service. It will expand NY Waterway’s East River service, launched in June 2011, with multiple East River crossings and five new routes to the Brooklyn waterfront. For the city’s longest ferry route — the free 25-minute ride from Staten Island to Manhattan that carries 22 million passengers a year — Elliot Bay Design Group, Seattle, is designing new vessels to replace the New York City Department of Transportation’s aging Barberi- and Kennedy-class ferries, along with a shared propulsion system that can be retrofitted to the NYC DOT’s Molinari-class vessels. “We’re sort of experiencing a renaissance,” said Roland Lewis, executive

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Ferries director of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, a union of community and industry groups that seeks smarter use of the city’s waterways. “The city’s population is growing, and much of the population that’s growing is along the waterfront.” When the city began new ferry service on the East River in 2011 it exceeded expectations, Lewis added. CHOPPY SEAS Washington State Ferries went through a management shake-up this year in an effort to deal with systemic problems: an aging fleet (average vessel age 33 years), sailing cancellations due to mechanical problems, and insufficient crewing, labor relations and other issues. In July, four of the fleet’s car ferries were out of action, a serious situation for one of the world’s largest ferry systems – traffic like New York’s Staten Island line, carrying 23 million people a year, but over many more

routes. Ridership has dropped from its peak of 26 million in 1999, and the system has been losing money since then, with a projected shortfall of $1 billion in the next 10 years. After losing revenue from a motor vehicle excise tax, the system has become reliant on fares for 70% of its revenue, and passengers are looking at another fare increase in October. One bright spot was the May 20 delivery of the 362'×83'×18' ferry Samish, a new 144-car ferry from Vigor Industrial, Seattle. The $126 million Olympic-class ferry will be joined by the Chimacum, the third vessel in the class now under construction. The vessels accommodate more tall vehicles, and feature Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant restrooms on the vehicle decks, flexible seating configurations and better heating and air handling ventilation. On the east side of North America,

Canadians are still awaiting the arrival of the 265'×56'×14' Ro-Pax ferries Veteran and Legionnaire, built for the provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador by Netherlands-based Damen at its shipyard in Romania. Rated for operations in heavy ice, the ferries can carry vehicles and up to 200 passengers to remote island communities, replacing vessels now 40 years old. But delivery on the $50 million project has been delayed, most recently by trouble with one of the Veteran’s three diesel engines as it was making its Atlantic crossing in August. Damen and its Canadian customers agreed to return the vessel to Romania and replace the engine, provincial Transportation Minister David Brazil told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “The agreement was we want a state-of-the-art ferry ... so she’s going back to Romania and have a brand new engine put in,” Brazil told CBC.

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ON THE WAYS Blount building U.S. offshore wind energy crewboat

Kirk Moore

Blount Boats

South Boats IOW design.

First U.S. wind energy crewboat underway at Blount Boats.

he first crewboat built to service an offshore wind energy facility in U.S. waters was well underway at Blount Boats, Warren, R.I., in late August, when the shipyard hosted an unusual event to mark the start of construction. Ribbon cuttings are usually held for big public works or commercial projects on land. But in its way, the start of Blount’s 70'6"×24'×4' crew service vessel (CSV) signaled that the state of Rhode Island could take the lead in U.S. offshore wind development. A crowd of more than 100 supporters at the shipyard was a reminder of how deeply committed Rhode Island’s political leadership is to the Deepwater Wind Block Island project, with five turbines planned to generate up to 30 megawatts. “We’re here today to show you the naysayers were wrong, and they were right,” Deepwater CEO Jeff Grybowski said of Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation and state legislators sitting in the front row. In a shed where the catamaran hull is being built, Blount worker Al Tay showed visitors down the tunnel between the two hulls, featuring longitudinal frames just 7" apart on center, part of the design’s extremely strong construction. “This is much stiffer than a lot of boats,” he said. 32

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Built under license from South Boats IOW, a UK boat builder and primary supplier to the European wind industry, the vessel will be powered by a pair of MAN V-12-1200CR Tier 3 engines, turning 1,200 hp at 2,100 rpm. Those are linked to ZF Marine 3050 gears and HamiltonJet HM571 waterjets. Tankage will include 2,250 gals. of fuel oil and 130 gals. fresh water. A Manuplas fendering system like those used on European offshore wind installations will permit workers to safely get on and off in wave heights up to 5'. The interior of the deckhouse will have a head, a small galley area with settee seating, 12 suspension seats, storage lockers, entertainment system, Wi-Fi, and sound absorbing decking. The steering system and controls will be from HamiltonJet. The entire deckhouse will be isolated from the hull with vibration mounts for a quieter and smoother ride to and from the work site. Ship’s service power will come from a single Cummins Onan genset, producing 17.5 kW of electrical power. The CSV will be dual certified to USCG Subchapter T specifications to carry up to 49 passengers and Subchapter L (Offshore Supply Vessel) regulations to carry up to 16 offshore workers. The operator will be Rhode Island Fast www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

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Master Marine

Ferry, whose owner Charles A. Donadio Jr. pioneered fast offshore ferries to Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard. “This vessel can go about 30 knots on a full load,” said Donadio, who created a new division in his company, Atlantic Wind Transfers, to serve the Deepwater project. “We have a really good package. We want this vessel to be dependable to run these technicians back and forth.” Starting in May 2016, the crewboat, with its 15-ton cargo capacity and Palfinger PK 6500 M knuckle-boom crane, will deliver components to the Block Island site along with workers and continue as the operations and maintenance boat. — Kirk Moore

Master Marine delivers 78' towboat to Marquette

n August Marquette Transportation took delivery of its latest towboat from Master Marine in Bayou La

New 2,000-hp Z-drive towboat for Marquette.

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On TheWays Z-drive boats have deeper drafts — nine feet to nine-and-a-half feet.” Master Marine’s Steven Authement said that the shallow draft is a big difference between a towboat built at his yard and at others. “One thing about our Z-drives is we have one of the lowest drafts out there for 2,000 horsepower — eight-foot draft fully loaded.” This isn’t the first Z-drive towboat Master Marine has built and it won’t be the last. “The towboat operators love them,” Authement said. “They have such control and direct power, where you need it and when you need it — 100 percent in any direction.” Another difference between the St. Peter and other towboats of its size is its four decks. “Most of the 72 and 78 footers have three decks,” said Jalili. That and the fact the main deck house extends all the way back on the deck allows for a larger accommodations area. “The accommodations area on the

main deck is pretty large,” said Jalili. Authement called the lounge on the main deck “huge.” There’s also a galley and mess area on the main deck, as well as walk-in pantries, laundry room and bathroom. Above that, the 01 deck has two staterooms with double bunks, a single stateroom for the relief and another for the captain. The 02 deck has the electronics room and an exercise room. “They like the exercise room,” noted Authement, “so we are putting them on every boat for [Marquette].” When it comes to the business of moving barges, the St. Peter has a pair of 1,000-hp at 1,800 rpm Caterpillar C32s that are matched up with ZF AT 5111 WM-FP Z-drives from ZF Marine Propulsion Systems. The Zdrives have 65", 4-bladed propellers in nozzles. The propulsion combination gives the new towboat a running speed of 10 knots in a loaded condition.

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Also in the engine room are two 80kW Marathon Mariner gensets driven by John Deere 4045AFM85 generator engines. Patterson 40-ton, electrically powered deck winches secure the barge tows. Master Marine has orders for more Z-drive towboats for Marquette and is building two at a time. The next towboat was due to be launched by mid-September. — Michael Crowley

A&B completes 1,260-hp towboat for Devall Towing

&B Industries, Morgan City, La., delivered the 64'×27'×10' towboat Aidan Devall in late August to Sulphur, La.-based Devall Towing & Boat Services Inc. Designed by Parfait Maritime Designs, Daphne, Ala., the new steel 1,260-hp towboat and a sistership, Finli

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Ryanne, feature drafts of 7'6". “These boats will be moving chemicals around,” said James “Bubba” Devall, one of the towing company’s owners. “We’ve been successful. Our dad always took care of his people, and that’s what we try to do. Service means a lot to our customers, and our people deliver that service.” Twin Mitsubishi S6R diesels (supplied by Laborde Marine Products) producing 630 hp at 1,600 rpm each, provide the boat’s main propulsion. The engines connect to 70"×56", 4-bladed Texas Wheel Works propellers through Twin Disc MGX-5222 marine gears with 5.95:1 reduction ratios. The package gives the Aidan Devall a running speed of 8-10 knots. In the wheelhouse are Twin Disc E3000 controls from Sewart Supply and a hydraulic/electric steering system from Hydra Force LLC. The electronics suite was supplied by B&G Communications.

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On TheWays

The 64' Aidan Devall.

Ship’s service power comes from two John Deere-powered gensets supplied by Devall Diesel LLC. Tankage includes 19,766 gals. of fuel; 6,150 gals. potable water; 486 gals. lube oil; and 238 gals. gear oil. A&B also has a new 172'×44'×12' dive support vessel under construction

for C-Dive LLC, Houma, La. Parfait Maritime also designed the vessel. The new steel-hulled DSV will have a draft of 10'. The rear cargo deck will measure 86'×44' and contain a 20'×20' moonpool. There will also be a four-point anchor system and 20-ton hydraulic

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On TheWays

BOATBUILDING BITTS

Ken Hocke

hem Carriers LLC, Sunshine, La., christened its new 82'×28'×10' double-deck Z-drive towboat Capt. Robert J. Banta in Houston on Aug. 21. Designed by Chem Carriers’ Harvey Landry, the vessel has a 8'6" draft and features a retractable wheelhouse. It will move petrochemical barges on the inland waterways system. Capt. Robert Banta said that it’s unusual to see a towboat of this size with two decks. “It’s the only one that I know of,” he said prior to the christening. “It’s got two decks for more crew.” The boat has accommodations for 12 but will probably carry 10 crew, Banta said. Main propulsion comes from 82' towboat will push petrochemicals barges. two Cummins QSK 38 diesels, producing 1,000 hp at 1,800 rpm each. The engines connect to ZF 5000 Z-drives.

Ship’s service power is the job of twin John Deere powered gensets, sparking 99 kW of electrical power each. Capacities include 21,500 gals. of fuel and 560 gals. lube oil. Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corp., Somerset, Mass., has delivered the second of five aluminum 68'10"×19' tactical response vessels to the New York Police Department Harbor Unit. The new boat features designer C. Raymond Hunt’s deep V hull and a squared-off bow, with fendering and knees installed above the main deck to facilitate bow landings. The vessel is powered by twin 12-cylinder MTU 12V2000M94 diesel engines, each producing 1,920 hp at 2,450 rpm, giving the boat a top speed of over 41 knots, and at 30 knots a range of about 225 miles. The engines turn a pair of HamiltonJet HM571 waterjets through ZF 3050 gearboxes. A 30-kW Northern Lights/Alaska Diesel generator provides service power. Twin Humphree interceptor units, each fitted with an automatic trim and list control system, adjust the vessel’s running trim and list at various speeds and load conditions.

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On TheWays

Kvichak Marine Industries is building the fourth 44'6"×13'8" Response Boat Medium-C for the New York Police Department Harbor Unit. Designed by Camarc Design, the aluminum RBM-C is powered by Tier 2 twin Detroit Diesel 60 series engines rated at 825 hp each. The engines are coupled to Twin Disc MG-5114 SC marine gears that turn Rolls-Royce Kamewa FF375S waterjets. Panama City, Fla.-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group has signed a contract to build four 134'×42'×9' inland river towboats for IWL River Inc. The boats, which will feature retractable wheelhouses, will service the inland waterways of Latin America. Main propulsion will come from twin Caterpillar 3512C IMO II diesel engines, each producing 1,280 hp at 1,600 rpm. Great Lakes Shipyard, Cleveland, has signed a contract to build one of its HandySize-class tugs for Guatemala. Designed by Jensen Maritime, Seattle, the new tug — 74'×30'×11'6", 3,400-hp and specifically designed for coastal work and harbor towing — will be delivered in 2016. Main propulsion will come from Cummins QSK-50 diesels, each rated at 1,700 hp at 1,600 rpm, and will meet Tier 3 emission regulations. American Cruise Lines, Guilford, Conn., launched its new 260'×53'×8' passenger stern paddlewheeler America in August, the third Mississippi River overnight passenger vessel for the small ship cruise line, at its Chesapeake Shipbuilding affiliate in Salisbury, Md.

crane. Capacities will include 54,593 gals. of fuel and 35,582 gals. fresh water. Main propulsion will be provided by two Cummins QSK38 engines, producing 1,000 hp at 1,800 rpm each. The diesels will connect to 72"-dia. Kahlenburg wheels through Twin Disc MG-5321 DC marine gears with 5.59:1 reduction ratios. There will be accommodations for 42 crew and passengers, a 26-seat theater, eight marble showers and eight heads. Two Cummins QSK9 gensets, sparking 125 kW of electrical power each, will handle ship’s service power. The dive support vessel, which will be USCG-certified Subchapters L and I, loadline only, is scheduled to be delivered in April 2016. “It comes down to the little things,” said Sean C. Torgrimson, the yard’s general manager. “We’ve had a lot of repeat customers.” — Ken Hocke

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Plan B

Shipyards that have primarily built OSVs are doing everything they can to weather the sluggish market.

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Ken Hocke

Gulf shipyards seek more contracts that don't involve OSVs.

9/2/15 3:18 PM

Ken Hocke, Senior Editor

he decline in the price of oil is having an effect on many aspects of the workboat industry. Along the Gulf Coast, shipyards are definitely feeling the pinch. Backlogs to build record numbers of offshore service vessels just two years ago are little more than a memory now, as OSV operators stack boats in canals, bayous and tributaries all around southeast Louisiana. There are still some OSVs being built from earlier contracts, but new construction contracts for energy industry vessels are rare. Trinity Marine Products, which built a record number of tank barges in 2014, announced recently that it was closing its Allen/Brusly, La., shipyard, laying off 283 people beginning in October. No reason was given. However, Trinity’s senior vice president and group president for inland barges, William A. McWhirter II, said during an earnings call in July that “demand for larger tank barges that transport oil is currently soft.” It’s a tough time to be a shipyard owner in the Gulf. Some get out of the business while others “improvise, adapt and overcome,” said Joseph Rodriguez, president, Rodriguez Shipbuilding, Bayou La Batre, Ala.

'When it rains, it pours. We had to turn away business in August.' Sean C. Torgrimson Sr. General Manager A&B Industries NEWBUILD VS. REPAIR The repair side of the industry got particularly slow this summer. Sean C. Torgrimson Sr., general manager, A&B Industries, Amelia, La., said it’s been feast or famine for the repair side of the business. “We didn’t see anything in July,” he said. “Then when it rains, it pours. We had to turn away business in August.” A&B has always built towboats for the barge industry. That is what has sustained it through the down cycle in the oil and gas industry. In August, the yard delivered the 64'×27'×10' towboat Aidan Devall to Devall Towing & Boat Services Inc. Designed by Parfait Maritime Designs, Daphne, Ala., the new steelhulled vessel and a sistership, Finli Ryanne, feature a draft of 7'6" (see page 34). “Devall is very easy to work with,” said Torgrimson. “We’re trying to build up some trust with our customers. It comes down to the personal care

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you give them.” A&B is also building a new 172'×44'×12' dive support vessel for CDive LLC, Houma, La. With a draft of 10', the new steel-hulled dive vessel has a deadweight tonnage of less than 100 tons (see page 36). “It’s the first dive support vessel we’ve built,” Torgrimson said. “We’re having a good time with it. Hopefully, it will lead to more work.” Conrad Industries reported a financial dip and decrease in its backlog in

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the second quarter compared to 2014’s second quarter. The Morgan City, La., shipbuilder had net income of $5.2 million and earnings per diluted share of 89 cents for the six months ended June 30. That compares to net income of $13.2 million and earnings per diluted share of $2.21 for the six months ended June 30, 2014. Conrad’s backlog was $131.7 million on June 30, down from $180.2 million on Dec. 31, 2014, and $173 million on June 30, 2014.

SHIPYARDS FACE NEW RULE FOR BUILDING FERRIES WITH GRANT MONEY

erry operators are facing a new requirement from the federal government: If they want construction grants, some of their contractors must be Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE). The DBE program will affect shipyards, which are now considered transit vehicle manufacturers under rule revisions adopted late last year. Previously, the rule applied to makers of buses, rail cars and trolleys but not ferries. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has $30 million in grants available for passenger ferry projects in urban areas. Ferry and yard operators will have to survey the people they do business with to determine the percentage of DBEs, which are defined as small minority and womenowned businesses. Then that’s the amount the government requires they use in the project, said Ed Welch, legislative director of the Passenger Vessel Association (PVA). “It’s a complicated process,” he said. The shipyard has to have its own DBE program and goal, “and a grant recipient hiring a shipyard has to be sure the yard is on an approved FTA list. Right now there are no shipyards on the FTA list.” “That is worrisome to a couple of our people getting ready to go out for [newbuild proposals],” Welch said. “So there’s a lot of uncertainty.” FTA said it has not received “any shipyard DBE goal submissions, although a few FTA recipients have established project goals for upcoming ferry purchases, which are now under review.” Contractors can range from major component manufacturers to professional services in a yard’s geographic market. Goal percentages differ, and the agency said it will “only concur with goals that satisfy the regulatory requirements and are submitted in good faith.” As for concerns the pool of DBEs may be small in a specialized field, FTA said it “rejected a similar assertion from land use

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Yards that layoff workers may not get them back.

vehicle manufacturers,” and as a result has seen greater DBE participation in the industry. As part of its bid on an FTA-funded ferry contract, a yard must commit to actively seeking DBE participation during the project and provide documentation outlining its efforts. Once a goal is submitted, FTA said, the approval process takes about 30 days. — Dale K. DuPont

Conrad said that the company has seen a softer repair market, “which we believe is due primarily to the decline in crude oil prices.” That said, Conrad is working on some interesting newbuild projects. Its Orange, Texas, yard is building a 232'×48'8"×15'8" dedicated bunker barge — the first in North America — for WesPac Midstream and its affiliate, Clean Marine Energy. The barge will be based in Tacoma, Wash.,

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and feature GTT’s LNG cryogenic membrane containment technology. “It’s a big deal to get the first one on the books and get cranking on it,” Robert Sampey, a Conrad spokesman, told WorkBoat after the project was announced. Orders for vessels for the oil and gas industry haven’t completely dried up. Another Conrad project involves the construction of a new articulated tug/barge unit. It will be made up of a 399'×74'×30', 80,000-bbl. tank barge and a 120'×40'×18'6" ocean service tug for John W. Stone Oil Distributor. Both vessels are currently being built under ABS survey at Conrad’s yard in Amelia, La., with delivery late this year or early 2016. The new ATB will be used to support continually expanding shore bases as well as offshore operations. The ATB will be capable of transit and delivery of various marine fuels and associated products. Matthew Paxton, president, Shipbuilders Council of America, said he is very interested in a potential change

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/2/15 3:18 PM

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2:52 PM

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NAVY LIKES WHAT IT SEES IN NEW RIB DESIGN

L Kirk Moore

New 7-meter RIB being put through the paces in Portland, Maine.

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1046 South Seaside Avenue • Terminal Island, CA 90731 Contact: Jack Wall, President • jackwall@larsonboat.com Tel: (310) 514-4100 • Fax: (310) 831-4912 www.larsonboat.com 48

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ast December Ribcraft USA, Marblehead, Mass., won a five-year Navy contract to produce 7-meter (24'x8'8") rigid hull inflatable boats used for everything from lifesaving to ship escort and force security. (California’s Willard Marine also has a five-year contract to build the same sized RIBs.) The latest iteration by Ribcraft has pumped up the Navy’s high-speed launch. The Cummins diesels of earlier models are replaced by smaller, lighter Steyr multifuel engines that can burn diesel or JP-4 or JP-8 aircraft fuel. “For the Navy, it’s all about weight,” explained Matthew Velluto, director of business development with Ribcraft, who put the late-model Navy version through its paces for a WorkBoat photo shoot earlier this year. The boats have a 254-hp inboard Steyr engine linked to a Bravo Two stern drive. The RIBs float in 15" of water with the drive raised and run a draft around 24" with the drive down. There’s a waterjet option for special purpose boats. At the stern stands a spiked antenna, the transmit/receiving end of a Briartek ORCA man overboard indicator system that’s triggered when someone falls over the side and a personal radio transponder goes off. To protect the crew and other vessels, there’s a mount forward for the standard M-60/M-240 medium 7.62-mm machine guns. But it’s a speedboat, not a gunboat. Designed to carry up to 18 people crammed along the gunwales and holding on to the lifeline, the RIB will approach 30 mph, and easily exceed that with just a security team on board. Velluto said the Navy is a valued client, but certainly not Ribcraft’s only customer. “We’re pretty diversified with the products we build,” he said. “We’ve built lots of boats for first responders.” — Kirk Moore

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/2/15 3:19 PM

Ken Hocke

Washburn & Doughty have a healthy order book and loyal employees.

TUG MARKET IS WHERE IT’S AT FOR MAINE BOATBUILDER

ashburn & Doughty has been building tugs for decades and expects to build more of them in the years to come. The East Boothbay, Maine-based shipyard began building fishing boats in 1977 and gradually got into building commercial workboats, delivering a range of vessels including ferries, barges, passenger vessels, research boats, and, of course, tugs. For years now, the yard has been putting together 92' and 93' tugs for a variety of customers, particularly Moran Towing Corp., New Canaan, Conn., and Washburn & Doughty’s reputation for building some of the finest tugs in the world has grown along with its order book. “We’ve always looked at the [whole workboat] market,” said the yard’s Bruce Washburn. “Right now the tug market is still very good. We’re booked.” Literally rising from the ashes of a major fire that virtually destroyed the shipyard in 2008, Washburn & Doughty, with help from its employees and the East Boothbay community, came back to life in 2009 and opened a new 70'x120' fabrication building last year to help handle the workload. For many shipyards training and retaining employees is an every day chore, but not for Washburn & Doughty. “No, we have a pretty good retention rate,” said Bruce Doughty, another of the yard’s founders. “Most of these people are like family. They like living in this area and they like working here. We like having them.” Doughty said of far more concern to him are the mounting regulations coming from Washington, D.C. including EPA regulations for operating diesel engines. “Tier 4 engines, for example, require more space, which leads to other problems when you’re trying to build a boat efficiently.” — K. Hocke

in the industry that would help move the cycle in a more positive direction. “If the crude oil export ban is lifted that would push production,” he said. Some experts predict that the U.S. will be exporting oil in the near future, maybe as soon as 2017. If that proves correct, those same experts say that infrastructure at U.S. ports and other facilities is inadequate to handle it. “Are we going to be building for sec-

tors that we haven’t been building for in the past?” Paxton asked. At present, Paxton said offshore service vessel operators are assessing their fleets during this down period, separating the wheat from the chaff. “I think they’re looking at some of their boats, identifying those that are more energy efficient,” he said. “We’ve seen this before.”

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www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

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9/2/15 3:19 PM

NASA Barge

Mission to Mars Retrofitted barge to play role in sending rocket into space.

By Ken Hocke, Senior Editor

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he marine industry probably doesn’t come to mind when the subject of space exploration comes up. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has plans to send a robotic science rover to Mars in 2020, with humans to follow about 15 years later. Interestingly, the mission literally couldn’t get off the ground without Conrad Deepwater South in Amelia, La. That’s where NASA’s 310'×50'×15' barge Pegasus underwent a recent refurbishing. The barge contains a nonfunctioning wheelhouse, so the actual cargo deck measures 240'×36'×15' and 41' in height. Pegasus will feature a four-person crew in two staterooms. The barge, which carried NASA’s space shuttle flights’ external tanks and other hardware, will now haul the core stage of the agency’s Space

Launch System (SLS). The SLS will be the most powerful rocket in history for deep-space missions, including to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars. The core stage, which is currently under construction at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, is made up of the engine section, liquid hydrogen tank, intertank, liquid oxygen tank and forward skirt. Conrad Industries signed an $8.5 million contract with NASA to refurbish the Pegasus. NASA estimated that a new barge would have cost another $8 million. Conrad’s history with the Corps of Engineers didn’t hurt its chances with NASA. The Corps, along with Bristol Harbor Group, handled the refurb design, and the shipyard took possession of the barge in May 2014. Conrad delivered the Pegasus in August 2015.

Eric P. Bordelon, NASA

The 310' barge contains a non-functioning wheelhouse.

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/2/15 11:23 AM

“I went over to Mississippi to see the barge at Stennis [Space Center] where it had been stored since, I believe, 2011,” said David J. Mercer, Conrad’s project manager for the refurb. “It was in good shape. They took care of it. But we had to cut out a 110-foot section and put in a new heavy-duty 165foot plug section, a new canopy, and increase the ballast system. All cables had to be reworked. It was an interesting project.” Built at Halter Marine in 1999, it was the first time the barge has undergone a refurbishment. “Bristol Harbor Group was lucky enough to get involved with this unique design challenge due to our contract with the Army Corps of Engineers,” said Nathan Seelig, the lead mechanical engineer on the project for the Bristol, R.I.-based design company. “This project was a joint effort between Bristol Harbor and the Corps.”

Ken Hocke

The retrofitting and refurbishing of the Pegasus took place at Conrad Deepwater South.

“We don’t do a lot of retrofits and overhauls,” said Joe Cieslak, the Corps’ senior ships surveyor, “but we did with this project.” HEAVYWEIGHT Because the SLS core stage is

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

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59' longer, 50' taller and more than 500,000 lbs. heavier than the shuttle system, Conrad had to add a 165' center section to the barge. Pegasus will have a fully loaded draft of 8' once it starts hauling the core stages around. “They were excited to know that

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we were so experienced in stretching vessels,” said Mercer. “We’ve done numerous stretches, but this was a unique situation. There is no other barge like it anywhere, so this project was a first of its kind in many ways. You don’t stretch too many barges that carry rockets.” Mercer said first-of-a-kind vessels can present a shipbuilder with a number of challenges. “NASA has a different way of doing things,” he said. “With that comes the learning curve of making it work their way. So this became a first-of-its-kind vessel because of the testing of the fixtures that were put on the barge.” The designers came up with two large test fixtures to substitute for the core stage rocket to test the pedestals,

PEGASUS

Steel pedestals that the rocket will sit on must adhere to exact specifications.

Ken Hocke

MARINE ALUMINUM

Eric P. Bordelon, NASA

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The refurbishment included removing a 110' section of the barge and replacing it with a new 165' section.

which will carry it. Twelve tests were done to simulate the rocket under Sea State 5 conditions during transit across the Gulf of Mexico. The next hurdle was how to test the structure in three directions at once. Bristol Harbor Group and the Corps “came up with an efficient means to test two fixtures at once, but this testing fixture presented many chal-

SPECIFICATIONS

Builder (Refurbish): Conrad Deepwater South Designer: Corps of Engineers; Bristol Harbor Group Owner: NASA Mission: Transportation of core stage rocket Length: 310' Beam: 50' Depth: 15' Height: 41' Draft: 8' (loaded) Deadweight Tons: 1,405 LT

Rear Cargo Deck: 240'x36'x15' (41' height) Ship’s Service Power: (3) John Deere 6090AFM85 gensets, 200 kW Crew: Four (two staterooms) Tankage (Gals): Fuel, 8,500; potable water, 3,000; gray water, 3,000; (6) ballast tanks Classification/Certification: ABS Classed Maltese Cross A-1 Barge, Circle E, Loadline, Ocean Service Delivery Date: August 2015

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/2/15 11:23 AM

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8/31/15 10:45 AM

NASA Barge

HANDLE WITH CARE NASA set specific limits on how

much the cargo can move during a voyage. This is particularly important when crossing open water like the Gulf of Mexico. Any damage to the SLS during delivery could delay the Mars mission schedule. “For this we had The rear cargo deck of the barge measures to make sure that 240'x36', with a height of 41'. while under transit the barge would not deflect beyond the set limits,” said at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Seelig. “To check our design we used Bay St. Louis, Miss., in August. Its computational fluid dynamics to find next move will be to the Michoud facilthe barge motions under transit and ity and then on to NASA’s Marshall took that information and performed Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., an FEA to determine the deflections. to deliver the core stage structural test We had to place the cargo attachment articles for testing to ensure that they points at the appropriate location on the can withstand the tremendous launch deck in order to limit the deflections stresses. the cargo would see from the natural “[NASA] said they were happy with deflections of a vessel in a seaway.” it,” said Mercer. “I think the customer Murphy said it’s not just while the is very satisfied.” barge is underway that concerns him. “It was a challenging project,” said “It’s critical that the transporters that Cieslak. “The midsection replacement bring the rocket on and off the barge went together very well.” perform as they should,” he said. Eventually, Pegasus will cross the “That’s 700,000 pounds coming onto Gulf of Mexico to deliver the first core the barge.” stage to the Kennedy Space Center. The The Pegasus left Conrad and arrived first SLS test flight is set for 2017.

WARNING: Trying Leads to Buying 54

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Corps of Engineers

lenges,” said Seelig. “First, the loads that this particular fixture would see were extremely high, so the fixture had to be strong enough and had to be stiff enough to transfer the loads to the structure efficiently. Also, it had to be built with the available materials limiting the use of high strength and exotic steels not normally found in the marine industry. We were able to accomplish all of this and the test was a success.” Alan Murphy, NASA’s team lead for the Pegasus project, said modifications to the barge were needed because of the size of the SLS. “This barge — we don’t have a warehouse full of them,” he said. “It’s very critical that we get it down to Kennedy (Space Center) safely.” Seelig said the project presented a couple of challenges, referring first, as Murphy did, to the heavier cargo. “The original Pegasus was designed to carry a much lighter cargo. The new extended Pegasus is designed to carry roughly [six] times the previous cargo's weight,” he said. “This particular hurdle was overcome by increasing the size of [the] structure. We determined the size via a couple different methods using standard engineering practices and finite element analyses (FEA).”

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www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/2/15 11:23 AM

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Deck Equipment

Decked Out

Companies continue to develop innovative deck equipment systems.

By Michael Crowley, Correspondent

ost captains and crew working with a tug’s deck winch probably take it pretty much for granted. They likely know its line speed and holding capacity but probably next to nothing about the winch’s development. And there’s no reason they should, for it’s not a requirement for operating a winch — except it does add an interesting dimension to that very expensive piece of equipment operators depend on day in and day out. JONRIE INTERTECH Take the JonRie InterTech winch for an escort tug, tentatively called the Staple Torque Aligning Winch System for Escort Tugs. That’s a long product name, but this winch has been in development for a long time. In fact, it’s still in the development stage. It began back in 2007 when Gregory Castleman, president, Castleman Maritime in Panama City Beach, Fla., contacted Brandon

WB_BG_DeckEquipment_LINO.indd 56

Durar, JonRie’s president, in Manahawkin, N.J., with the concept of building an escort winch with a rotating fairlead. After some discussions, Durar expanded the idea. “I said, ‘Why don’t we just turn the whole winch, this way the level wind and everything lines up with the load.’ ” That’s not something that’s currently offered, so Durar and Castleman figured that they better protect their idea and applied for a patent. After eight years the patent was granted in June. In the meantime, the winch has been extensively model tested in the U.S. and abroad. Burchett Marine, Ladysmith, British Columbia, developed two models, a 33-meter (108') ASD (azimuth stern drive) tug and a 39-meter (128') VSP (Voith Schneider Propeller) tug, and computer models were developed at Glosten in Seattle where simulated model testing produced conservative results, said Durar,. The testing showed that the tugs had

Markey Marine

Markey’s newest winch is designed with a reduced footprint to free up deck space around the winch.

www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

8/31/15 2:37 PM

A somewhat surprising result of the testing related to the feasibility of the VSP for escort work. The VSP, said Durar, “normally loses about 25% efficiency against ASD.” However, the Each reel holds 2,000' of 3" petroleum hose. Staple Torque Aligning Winch System “brought the [VSP] efficiency right single 75-hp electric motor, “instead of back over an ASD. I thought that would a gearbox with multiple motors on it,” get VSP back into escorting tugs,” said said Moore. A planetary reduction gear Durar. drives the gearbox’s main gear. Though some electric winches come RAPP MARINE with hydraulics for the brakes, the Another winch still in the design Rapp Marine winch utilizes pneumatic stage is a 50-ton towing winch at Rapp cylinders. Marine in Seattle. “It’s a completely The winch will be available in both new design for a proposal we are work- single and double-drum models. An ing on,” said Rapp Marine’s sales and emergency payout will be a standard marketing representative, Finn Moore. feature and a constant tension control The electric powered winch has a will be an option. J.K. Fabrication

increased tanker turning forces and reduced tug heel angle. That was followed by two days of model testing at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. “We did, like, 150 to 170 runs and got a lot of data,” said Durar. The information indicated that the lifting forces on the tug made it more stable, and the possibility of it being capsized negated. Additionally, side loading on the staple, winch and level wind was eliminated. The problem at the Stevens testing facility was the carriage the model was working against was at a fixed point. Thus the 39-meter VSP model was taken to France’s Port Revel Shiphandling Training Center, which uses models to simulate real-life conditions on a man-made lake near Grenoble. The VSP model was matched up with a scale-model oil tanker for two days of model testing. The results produced a bollard pull of over 200 tons.

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Deck Equipment The line pull on the first layer will be 48 metric tons (105,000 lbs.), and that’s at 19' per minute. The braking force on the barrel layer is 250 tons. The winch is rated at 50 tons. However, Moore said, if the boat owner wants a slightly bigger or smaller winch, it can be custom engineered by Rapp Marine.

J.K. FABRICATION When Harley Marine Services’ new petroleum barge, the 220'×64'6" Petro Mariner, was christened on Aug. 19 at Zidell Marine in Portland, Ore., she carried two newly designed petroleum hose reels and an emergency towing reel, all from J.K. Fabrication in Seattle. “I don’t know of anyone else in the

world that’s making one,” said J.K. Fabrication’s general manager Jim Kreider. The emergency towline storage reel that’s on the Petro Mariner is a redesign of a previous model. The reel is mounted on the front of the barge. A float line will go down the side of the barge and then out behind it. If the tug loses control of the barge, it drops back behind the adrift barge, grabs the float line, pulls up to the front of the barge, and with its winch, spools the cable off the emergency winch. Once all the cable is off the reel, a THE RIGHT CHOICE WHEN YOU NEED TO socket engages an emergency-towing bridle, said Kreider, Petroleum hose reels also seem to be in short supply. Kreider said the people he was working with at Harley Marine told him that they weren’t finding them anywhere and wanted J.K. Fabrication • Class-defining 80,000 pounds nabrico-marine.com to come up with a design and run it by of bollard pull 615.442.1300 Elliott Bay Design Group. That was • High-tensile alloy shaft done and now there are two (88" high, • Oversized bearing surfaces 109" wide) hydraulically driven petroleum hose reels mounted side-by-side on the Petro Mariner. FIVE GULF COAST Each reel holds 2,000' of 3" petroLOCATIONS to serve 15-NAB-1780 Workboat Mag Oct HiCap M lf.indd 1 7/20/15 9:08 AM hose. The storage reel has a 30:1 CONRAD CONRAD leum your MARINE REPAIR & INDUSTRIES INC planetary gearbox and high-speed gear SHIPYARD motor. It develops 8,000 lbs. of line NEW CONSTRUCTION needs. pull at a line speed of over 200 feetper-minute.

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www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

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www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/1/15 10:59 AM

LOOKS BACK OCTOBER 1965

• The revised international rules of the road, designed to reduce the possibility of collisions at sea, has gone into effect. The new rules must be followed by all U.S. vessels when navigating the high seas. Although the international rules do not cover the inland waters, Great Lakes and western rivers of the U.S., they are being used as a guide for the proposed

“United States Rules,” which will combine Inland, Great Lakes and Western Rivers Rules. The proposed unified rules will be presented to Congress by the Coast Guard in early 1966. • The first of three 4,320-hp towboats for Midland Enterprises Inc., Cincinnati, was launched into the Ohio River recently by Dravo Corp., Neville Island, Pa. The 160'×40'×11' Helen S. will be powered by a pair OCTOBER 1975 of Fairbanks-

Morse engines that turn 9'-dia. stainless steel propellers in steel-lined Kort nozzles through Western reverse reduction gears. The new towboat will enter service by Dec. 1 for Midland subsidiary Orgulf Transport Co., New Orleans.

• The first commercial grain shipproceeded through locks at eight dams ment to move down the recently opened — four on the Columbia River and four waterway from Lewiston, Idaho, to on the Snake River, a route that was Kalama, Wash., was completed in officially completed in June with the August. A tow operated by Shaver dedication of the Snake’s Little Goose, Transportation Co., Portland, Ore., Lower Granite and Lower Monumental carried about 100,000 bushels of white dams. wheat down the 374-mile waterway between Lewiston and Portland. The grain was delivered to the North Pacific Grain Growers Inc. elevator for OCTOBER 1985 export. The trip • Tidewater Inc., New Orleans, has purchased five vessels from Otto Candies Inc., Des Allemands, La. Tidewater purchased one 135', 5,600-hp tug; three 135', 3,600-hp tugs; and one 300' offshore deck barge for 600,000 shares of common stock. Plans call for three of the tugs to join Tidewater’s international fleet and one tug and the cargo barge will be placed in service in 72

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the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. • Moss Point Marine Inc., Escatawpa, Miss., has launched the 800-passenger sternwheel excursion boat Colonel. The 152'×40'×8'6" vessel will be powered by a pair of Caterpillar 3408 diesel engines developing 365 hp each at 1,800 rpm. The Colonel will be operated by New Orleans Paddlewheels (Texas) Inc. out of Galveston, Texas. www.workboat.com • OCTOBER 2015 • WorkBoat

9/3/15 1:01 PM

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Has extremely high load capacity

DuraBlue Composite is used for rudder stocks, ®

Extensive inventory available for quick shipment. Bushings available in diameters: 1'- 42" (2.5 - 107cm)

www.DuramaxMarine.com

Sheet Stock: 30.5" x 48" – Thickness: .500", .750", 1"

Duramax Marine® is an ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company

Products And Knowledge You Trust Duramax_durablue_workboat8.125x10.875.indd 1 WB_CVRS.indd 3

p: 440.834.5400 f: 800.497.9283 3/25/15 10:47 3:08 AM PM 8/31/15

PROPELLING

EXCELLENCE

Karl Senner, LLC would like to congratulate Harley Marine on the delivery on the first two vessels in this three boat series. Karl Senner, LLC equipped the M/V Emery Zidell, M/V Jake Shearer, and M/V Barry Silverton each with two Reintjes WAF 1563 Reverse Reduction Gearboxes, with Internal Hydraulic Shaft Brakes.

Owner: Harley Marine Services Shipyard: Conrad Shipyard

WEST COAST Karl Senner, LLC. Seattle, WA (425) 338-3344

EAST COAST Karl Senner, LLC. New York, NY (917)722-8118

PADUCAH SERVICE FACILITY Karl Senner, LLC. 2401 Powell Street Paducah, KY

GULF COAST HEADQUARTERS Karl Senner, LLC. 25 W. Third St. Kenner, LA (504) 469-4000

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