Maritime News and Comment

October 2006

    TRINITY YACHTS PLANS MARINA.  Trinity Yachts is planning to convert part of the former Halter Gulfport shipyard into a major megayacht marina.  Read an article describing the plan in the Biloxi Sun-Herald here.   The idea of a "maritime complex where big boys and girls can go play with boats, Jet Skis, food, exotic drinks and volleyball in the sunshine" on the Industrial Seaway in beautiful Gulfport, seven miles from the beach, across the street from the county jail and right next door to Northrop Grumman's plastics facility, is laughable.  A very Hallowe'en kind of story.  October 31, 2006.

    DEFENSE INDUSTRY DAILY SUMMARIZES THE DDG-1000 STORY.  The authoritative journal "Defense Industry Daily" summarizes the DDG-1000 program in its current issue.  Read the article here.  Why do we need a destroyer that will cost more than twice what the destroyer we're building now costs?  (And ditto of course for the new CVN.)  October 27, 2006.

    AUSTAL PLANS FURTHER EXPANSION.  Austal USA plans a second expansion of its shipyard in Mobile AL and is looking for a new waterfront site in the area for further growth.  Read the article in the Mobile Register here.  The company must be anticipating getting more LCSs to build.  October 27, 2006.

    LPD 18 BEGINS BUILDERS' TRIALS.  The second of the "San Antonio" class of amphibs, the future USS "New Orleans", (LPD 18), sailed on its builders' trials today.  All being well, she will be delivered early next year, almost three years after her original contract delivery date of February 18, 2004, and goodness knows how far over her original budget.  The unwritten story is that, to achieve this milestone, NGSS has been bussing large numbers of workers from Pascagoula to New Orleans and has effectively stopped work in Pascagoula on LPD 19, the trials for which have now been rescheduled from November to April.  Read Northrop Grumman's press release here.  October 23/24, 2006.

    TOWBOAT SINKS OFF CALCASIEU.  The towboat "La Marie" hit a submerged object 20 miles off the entrance to the Calcasieu Channel  yesterday and sank.  Read the Coast Guard's press release here.  October 23, 2006.

    ANOTHER COLLISION IN MISSISSIPPI.  The Hapag-Lloyd containership "Heidelberg Express" lost power while outbound from New Orleans yesterday and hit the Tsakos-owned 69,000-dwt ore carrier "Yerotsakos", which was inbound fully loaded.  Read the Coast Guard's press release here.  October 23, 2006.

    STRANGE BOAT EXPLAINED, SORT OF.  It's an oceangoing catamaran - well you knew that.  Here and here are links to two web sites with additional photographs but not much more info.  Apparently it was designed by San Francisco yacht designer Antrim Design, who are noted for their unusual ideas: it is shown, without discussion, in the power boat section of their web site.  It was built in Anacortes WA, by James Betts Enterprises (not, as I has guessed, by Dakota Creek Industries).  There is said to be a press conference coming up soon, at which, one hopes, all will be revealed.  At least it's NOT Navy: as one astute observer points out, it doesn't have enough bells and whistles on it for the Navy.  October 20/23, 2006.

    R&R MARINE TO BUILD LIGHTERING SUPPORT VESSELS.  R. & R. Marine Fabrication, of Port Arthur TX, has won a contract to build four 185-foot lightering support vessels for Pelican Offshore Services, with options for four more.  Delivery of the first boat will be in June 2008, with the others following at 4-month intervals.  Read R&R's announcement here.  October 19, 2006.

    WHAT IS THIS?  Now here's a picture of a VERY strange boat.  The outriggers appear to be made of rubber and the legs appear to be jointed.  Can anyone tell me what it is, what it does, and why?  It's painted grey: is this another ONR money-wasting nonsense?  October 18, 2006.

    WASHBURN & DOUGHTY TO BUILD SIX MORE FOR MORAN.  Niche boatbuilder Washburn & Doughty, of East Boothbay ME, has contracted with Moran Towing for the construction of six 92-foot, 5,100-hp ship docking tugs, similar to those it recently built for Moran.  Deliveries are scheduled from the spring of 2008 through the summer of 2009.  October 17, 2006.

    BULKERS ALLIDE IN NAWLINS.  Two almost identical Japanese-built Panamax bulkers allided in the Mississippi off Kenner LA, yesterday.  The ships were the "Torm Anholt", a 74,000-dwt bulk carrier built by Namura Shipbuilding in 2004 and owned by Japan's ND Shipping, and the "Zagora", a 73,000-dwt bulker built by Sumitomo H.I. in 2001 and owned by Greece's Goulandris Bros.  The "Torm Anholt" was at anchor: the "Zagora" wasn't.  Read the Coast Guard's announcements and see its pictures here.  October 17, 2006.

    DAVIE SALE CLOSES AFTER ALL.  Reliable sources report that, after a period of uncertainty, the sale of the venerable Davie shipyard, in Levis, Quebec, closed last week.  The new owners, about the 27th group to attempt to make something of this once-great but now fatally uneconomical shipyard, are TECO Group A/S, a bunch of crazy Norwegians.  (Not the same crazy Norwegians who invested in Aker American Shipping.)  October 16, 2006.

    LUTHER BLOUNT DEAD AT 90.  This news item is a bit late but I haven't seen it reported anywhere else.  One of the grand old men of U.S. shipbuilding, Luther Blount, died last month at the age of 90.  Blount started Blount Marine in 1947 and was still running it at the end, building unique boats with style and character.  Read an excellent remembrance of his life on the ACCL web site here, and another in the WSJ here (you will have to scroll down from the opening screen).  October 16, 2006.

    TEEKAY TANKER HITS FISHING VESSEL.  Teekay Shipping's 115,000-dwt "Erik Spirit" was in collision with the fishing vessel "Sunlight" last week, about 20 miles east of Portland ME.  Nothing from the Coast Guard, strangely, but read the report in the splendidly named Waldo County "Village Soup" here.  Ironically, the "Sunlight" is the vessel that was built to replace the "Starbound", a fishing vessel that sank after colliding with Primorsk Shipping's 29,000-dwt tanker "Virgo" in 2001, with the loss of three of its four crew members.  October 15, 2006.

    COAST GUARD PUBLIC AFFAIRS.  This isn't a news item, just a comment.  I hate to criticize the Coast Guard, which 99% of the time is a flat-out wonderful organization, overworked, underpaid and under-appreciated, but its Public Affairs web pages are very annoying.  First off, there are 15 of them: to find out what's going on, you have to visit them all.  Why?  Secondly, there's an excess of warm-and-fuzzy stuff, such as a report on the recent visit of two film stars to a Coast Guard station, at the expense of real news, such as the item above.  Grumble, grumble.  October 15, 2006.

    COMPETITION FOR EMMA.  Maersk's new 11,000-teu containerships, the first of which, "Emma Maersk", was recently delivered, have competition already.  This week's "Fairplay" prints the marvelous photograph reproduced here.  Apparently it was taken in Melbourne: those Australians certainly know how to unitize their cargo.  October 14, 2006.

    POLAR TANKERS FINED $540,000.  Polar Tankers, a unit of ConocoPhillips, has been fined $540,000 by Washington's Department of Ecology for spilling about 25 barrels of crude oil in Puget Sound.  The spill occurred on October 13, 2004 and allegedly involved the now retired 70,000-dwt "Polar Texas".  About 20 miles of waterfront were affected and the spill cost over $2 million to clean up, according to the State.  Read the report in the Seattle Times here.  October 14, 2006.

    SKIPPER OF "ZIM MEXICO III" GUILTY.  The captain of the "Zim Mexico III", which knocked down a crane in the Port of Mobile in March and killed an electrician who was working on it, has been found guilty of criminal misconduct.  Wolfgang Schroder will be sentenced in February and could get as long as ten years in jail.  Read the report in the Mobile Press-Register here.  October 14, 2006.

    BARGE HITS GAS PIPELINE.  The towboat "Miss Megan" and a barge belonging to Athena Construction hit a natural gas pipeline in West Cote Blanche Bay on Thursday.  Four of the eight men on board are dead and two are still missing.  No word yet on what happened.  Read the Coast Guard's press releases here.  October 14, 2006.

    NEWPORT NEWS LAUNCHES CVN 77.  The tenth and last of the "Nimitz" class of aircraft carriers, the future USS "George H. W. Bush", (CVN 77). was floated out of Dock 12 at Newport News Shipbuilding this weekend.  There was some kind of christening ceremony too but the photos are all of politicians.  Read Newport News' press release here.  Read the Navy's press release here.  October 8, 2006.

    AEP ORDERS 16 TOWBOATS.  The Inland Waterways Journal reports that AEP River Operations has contracted with Quality Shipyards for ten 6,000-hp towboats and with B. & B. Boat Builders for 6+6 1,550-hp switch boats.  October 5, 2006.

    MATSON HYPOCRISY.  In Matson's announcement last week of its contract with Atlantic Marine, its CEO, James Andrasick, said "Matson is proud to further demonstrate its commitment to supporting U.S. shipyards".  Yeah, right.  It turns out that the bulk of the work will be done in China and Atlantic Marine Mobile's measly little contract is what's left after the Chinese yard hits the 10% limit on steel structure.  Read the Coast Guard's ruling here.  Isn't it about time that someone challenged one of these Jones Act-busting rulings?  It seems pretty obvious that this is a rebuild project that's been split in two to suit the Coast Guard's new relaxed interpretation of its own regulations.  And where's the Maritime Administration on this?  According to MARAD's regulations, this ship should not be allowed to carry Government cargoes for the three years after it re-enters service.  I'll bet Matson's not betting on that.  Matson and companies like them are all for the Jones Act when it suits them but will do everything possible to weasel out of their obligations when it doesn't.  October 3, 2006.

    MORE JONES ACT-BUSTING.  The otherwise excellent Dutch offshore construction company, Heerema, wants a Jones Act waiver to bring a foreign-built launch barge into the Gulf.  Read the docket here.  This argument's been going on for years: will somebody - McDermott, maybe, or Chouest? - please build a Jones Act launch barge?  With four or five new platforms going in every year, it's got to be a decent investment.  October 3, 2006.

    INGALLS LAUNCHES LHD AND WMSL.  Ingalls Shipbuilding launched the last of the "Wasp" class of LHD, the future USS "Makin Island", (LHD 8), on Friday, September 22, and the first of the "Bertholf" class of High-Endurance Cutter, the future USCGC "Bertholf", (WMSL 750), on Friday, September 29.  October 3, 2006.

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