Maritime News and Comment

October 2005

   FORMER APEX MARINE EXECS INDICTED.  Two former executives of US-flag operator Apex Marine, former CFO Cliff Spelke and former General Counsel Steve Sheinbaum, have been indicted for wire fraud and money laundering in connection with Apex's purchase of eight ships from ship sales.  October 30, 2005.

   FIRST LHA DECOMMISSIONED.  The USS "Belleau Wood", (LHA 3), was decommissioned last week, the first of the class to go.  Belleau Wood was built by Ingalls (Hull 4103) and delivered in 1978.  Visit the web site here.   October 30, 2005.

   HOW MUCH?  Reliable sources report that Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' budget for the design of the U.S. Coast Guard's new 140-foot patrol boat, (WPC), is $53 million.  That's right, $53 million.  If true, and someone please tell me that it's not true, this would not merely be disgraceful, it would be daylight robbery.  You ought to be able to design a 140-foot patrol boat and build three of them for $53 million.  Why would the Coast Guard agree to this, Admiral Stillman?   October 22, 2005.  Even more reliable sources say that only $42 million of this budget is for NGSS, the balance being for Lockheed Martin.  Still way too much.  October 30, 2005.

   ROWAN SELLS "ROWAN-MIDLAND".  Drilling contractor Rowan Companies, which is the owner of the LeTourneau jack-up builder, has sold its only semi-submersible drill rig to ATP Oil & Gas, for conversion to a production platform.  The "Rowan-Midland" was built in 1976 by Levingston Shipbuilding (Hull 742).  Read Rowan's announcement here.   October 22, 2005.

   NEW TENANT FOR ERIE SHIPYARD.  A joint venture of Van Enkevort Tug & Barge and K & K Warehousing, called Erie Shipbuilding, LLC, has taken over the Erie shipyard owned by the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Ports Authority.  The new company has committed to building a 780-foot self-unloading barge and four 135-foot icebreaking tugs, and to converting four 780-foot self-unloaders.  Read the Governor's announcement here.  Are these guys crazy or what?   October 22, 2005.

   AUSTAL TO BUILD SECOND LCS.  The Navy has exercised an option on its contract with General Dynamics for the detailed design and construction of the second LCS, the first to be built by Austal USA.  The contract price is $223.2 million and the completion date is end-December 2007.  Read the DefenseLink announcement here.   October 16, 2005.

   OSG'S IPO FALLS FLAT.  OSG's IPO for its spin-off, Double Hull Tankers, (DHT), ended up producing $180mm, about $100mm less than sought in the original filing.  OSG will sell seven VLs and Aframaxes to DHT and then lease them back.  Why the lack of market enthusiasm?  Is the boom in tanker stocks over already?  OSG's stock price is down about 25% from its high of 67 in early August.   October 16, 2005.

   LIBERTY CHARTERS IN ANOTHER CAR CARRIER.  Liberty Global Logistics has chartered in the new Daewoo-built, 6100-car "Hoegh New York" and reflagged it in the U.S. as the "Alliance New York".  The ship will be chartered back to Hoegh Autoliners but operated by Liberty.  The new ship will replace Liberty's current US-flag car carrier, the similarly-sized "Splendid Ace".   October 15, 2005, corrected October 30, 2005.

   ORANGE SHIPBUILDING GETS TWO TUGS.  Conrad Industries has announced that its Orange Shipbuilding subsidiary has been awarded contracts worth $9.4mm for the construction of two tugs.  One is a 4200-hp vessel for South Puerto Rico Towing Company, while the other is the 16th in Orange Shipbuilding's long series of STs for the U.S. Army.  Read Conrad's announcement here.  October 13, 2005.

   JOHN ROGERS DEAD.  The charismatic Chairman of World City Corporation, John Rogers, has died in New York of myeloma.  After a distinguished career as a maritime lawyer - I worked with him on a project in Saudi Arabia in the mid-70s - John spent the past 20 years single-mindedly trying to build a 250,000-GT US-flag cruise ship cum convention center.  The design was wonderful, the build strategy was unconventional but practicable and he assembled an astonishing team of high-caliber investors and participants.  But the financing always remained just out of reach.  Sad.  October 9, 2005.

   IS THIS ACCEPTABLE?  Look at this photograph and ask yourself "If I were one of the Navy's Supervisors of Shipbuilding, would I accept this?"  "If I were a commercial Marine Superintendent, would I accept this?"  "If I were the representative of the least demanding shipowner in the world, would I accept this?" 

To see more, click on any of the following links: b  c  d  e  f  g  h  i  j  k  l  m  n.  October 8, 2005.

   AMFELS GETS TWO MORE JACK-UPS.  Scorpion Drilling, a subsidiary of Scorpion Offshore, has ordered two more Super 116 jack-ups from Keppel AMFELS, bringing its total commitment to four.  Read Keppel's announcement here.  One could be a lot more enthusiastic about this apparent bonanza for AMFELS if one had any clue as to who these Scorpion people are.  Scorpion Offshore describes itself as "a Bermuda based corporation founded in 2005 to own and operate state-of-the-art offshore drilling rigs. Scorpion has an experienced management team located in Houston, Texas."  I guess that Keppel has checked them out but one cannot help remembering the difficulties that resulted from two other rig contracts entered into by special-purpose corporations with limited resources - Ocean Rig and Petrodrill.  October 8, 2005.

   HORNBECK RAISES $290MM.  In striking contrast to the dismal failure of Horizon Lines' IPO, Hornbeck Offshore Services has raised $215mm from the sale of 6.1 mm shares at $35.35 and an additional $75mm from a private placement of 6.125% senior notes.  Read their announcements here and here.  It seems that Hornbeck's plan to use the funds for construction of new Jones Act tonnage is more attractive to the market than was Horizon's plan to use its funds to pay off other investors.  October 8, 2005.

   SHIPBUILDER TO MANAGE SHIPYARD!  Following the retirement of the doyen of U.S. shipbuilding, Dick Vortmann, General Dynamics has appointed Frederick J. Harris to be President of NASSCO.  Mr. Vortmann will continue as Chairman of the Board.  Read NASSCO's press release in the News Releases section of their web site here.  Mr. Harris is currently Senior VP Programs at Electric Boat and is not a retired admiral.  He has spent 32 years at EB, since coming ashore from service in the U.S. Merchant Marine.  October 8, 2005.

   US MARINE TO GULFPORT TOO.  Hot on the heels of the news that Trinity Yachts is to move from the old Higgins yard on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans to the former Halter Gulfport yard, comes news that United States Marine, Inc., is moving from New Orleans to vacant premises on Lorraine Road in Gulfport, a short walk from Trinity Yachts' new digs.  Read the article in the Sun-Herald here.  The link between the two moves is, of course, John Dane, the guiding light of both companies.  Smart move.  October 3, 2005.

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