Maritime News and Comment

December 2006

    USCG COMMANDANT COMMENTS ON DEEPWATER.  Admiral Thad Allen has put out an "ALCOAST" message concerning recent problems in the Deepwater program.  Read it here.  December 30, 2006.

    EB GETS FUNDS FOR ANOTHER SSN.  The Navy has exercised options on its contract with Electric Boat for the construction of the "Virginia"-class of attack submarines.  These cover detail design and construction of the ninth boat, (SSN 782), and advance procurement for the tenth, (SSN 783).  The total value of these options is $1,275,545,405.  Read the DefenseLink announcement here.  December 28, 2006.

    USS KIDD SHOWS STRENGTH OF DDG 51 CLASS.  The USS "Kidd", (DDG 100), which was delivered to the Navy this week, underwent a combined Builders and Acceptance Trial in the U.S. Gulf last month, during which she was subjected to an unusually severe storm.  Her new skipper tested her to the max all through this storm, running her at 30 knots and experiencing 20-degree rolls.  She performed, of course, splendidly. 

Meantime, while the folks on the "Kidd" are chundering over the side and being slammed around inside, back in Pascagoula the Navy was holding a 3-day Quarterly Progress Review on DDG 1000, at which the principal topic of concern was, once again, how to prevent this new ship from capsizing.  How bad can the design be if they are concerned about capsizing?  Exactly whose brilliant idea was it that this ship needed so much tumblehome?  I thought that tumblehome was discredited in the early 19th century.  This ship not only has stability problems, it's going to have icing problems if it ventures too far north or south.  Maybe the NAVSEA wizards should be required to read "How to Buy a Canoe" before they are allowed anywhere near a U.S. Navy program:

STEP 6: Examine the tumblehome (the inward curve of the upper edges) of your canoe. Tumblehome is added to canoes to strengthen the sometimes flimsy materials used to construct them. More tumblehome makes a canoe stronger and easier to paddle, but also easier to capsize. Avoid excessive tumblehome if you expect rough water.

Does it never occur to anyone in the Navy that the DDG 1000, like DD(X) and DD-21, is a mess and they would be much better off, both economically and operationally, building more DDG 51s?  No, it doesn't, because they're brainless and they just love wasting the taxpayers' money and they should all be fired.  December 23/24, 2006.

    NAVY GETS THREE NEW SHIPS.  In a flurry of year-end celebrations, Electric Boat has delivered the third "Virginia"-class attack submarine, USS "Hawaii", (SSN 776), and Northrop Grumman Ship Systems has delivered both the 50th "Arleigh Burke"-class destroyer, USS "Kidd", (DDG 100), and the second "San Antonio"-class assault ship, USS "New Orleans", (LPD 18).  Read GD's announcement here and NGSS's here.  December 22, 2006.

    ANOTHER MOL SHIP IN TROUBLE IN NORTH PACIFIC.  The 9-year-old, 28,000-dwt bulker "Sea Honesty", operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, was escorted into Dutch Harbor AK by the USCGC "Alex Haley" last night after experiencing engine trouble.  Read the Coast Guard's statement here.  December 20, 2006.

    OSG TO PAY $37M FOR POLLUTING.  Overseas Shipholding Group has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice under which it will pay $37 million in fines for the "improper discharge of oil".  Read OSG's statement here and the Department of Justice's statement here.  December 19/20, 2006.

    USCGC MOHAWK MUSEUM OPENED IN KEY WEST.  The USCG gunboat "Mohawk", (WPG 78), which was built in Wilmington DE in 1935 by Pusey & Jones, has become a memorial and museum in Key West FL, where the present-day USCGC "Mohawk", (WMEC 913), built by Derecktor in 1990, is stationed.  Read the report here.  December 19, 2006.

    MIDSHIP MARINE TO BUILD FERRIES FOR EXPORT.  Emphasizing again that U.S. boatbuilders are internationally competitive, (at least as long as they avoid contact with Northrop Grumman), Midship Marine has secured a contract to build two ferries for Ultramar, of Mexico.  The boats will serve the Cancun-Isla Mujeres service.  Read the report in Marine Log here.  December 19, 2006.

    MORE BAD NEWS FOR DEEPWATER.  Congressman Bob Filner, the ranking Democrat on the House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, and presumably its next Chairman, has called for termination of the Coast Guard's contract with Integrated Deepwater Systems - the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman joint venture.  Read the New York Times story here and its slightly muddled editorial here.  December 14, 2006.

    BP COMMITS TO FIRST USS TANKER.  US Shipping Partners has chartered the first of its planned series of product carriers to BP Shipping.  Read the announcement here.  Note that it doesn't say what the term of the charter is, but anyway, it's a start.  December 13, 2006.

    8,960 FEET.  RigZone reports that Transocean's "Deepwater Millennium" has set a new record for deep-water drilling, completing a well in the Gulf of Mexico in 8,960 feet of water.  Stunning technology.  December 13, 2006.

    DPW SELLS TO AIGGIG.  Dubai Ports World, (the highly professional, US-friendly, international terminal operator headquartered in the UAE), has sold its U.S. interests, the ones it bought from P&O Ports, (the highly professional, US-friendly, international terminal operator headquartered in the UK), for an undisclosed amount.  The buyer is AIG Global Investment Group (AIGGIG, pronounced aaaargh).  AIG is the company formerly run by Spitzer target and Kissinger buddy Hank Greenberg, most of the managers of which were recently indicted.  It has absolutely no knowledge or experience of terminal operation, but I guess it's acceptable to all those idiot politicians, starting with Senator Chuck (I never met a microphone I didn't like) Schumer, who were so rude about the Ruler of Dubai.  It's a weird, weird world in which we live these days.  December 12, 2006.

    NG TO BUILD ALUMINUM BOATS.  Oh, great.  Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems appears to want to compete with Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in its continuing effort to bring high costs to the small vessel end of the shipbuilding industry.  They have formed a joint venture with Aluminum Chambered Boats, Inc., (ACB), of Bellingham WA, to go after the riverine patrol craft business: read the announcement here.  ACB is a boat manufacturer, rather than a boatbuilder with an actual boatyard, which has developed a healthy business in very small boats for a wide variety of applications: visit their web site here.  It's downhill from here, ACB.  December 12, 2006.

    DEEPWATER GETS THE SPOTLIGHT.  On Friday, the Washington Post had a major article ripping the lid off the Coast Guard's messed up Deepwater Program: read it here.  Then today, as if by magic, the New York Times rolls out an even more comprehensive exposé: read it here.  Can there be a whistle-blower in there somewhere?  (Apparently, yes, there was a whistle-blower at Lockheed Martin, [December 12].)  I don't need to comment on this.  Everyone in the industry knows that this program was ill-conceived at the outset and has been royally screwed up by the prime contractor, that wonderful team of LMT and NGSS, at the usual humongous cost to the taxpayer.  December 9, 2006.

    INCAT LICENSEES FORM JV.  Australian fast ferry designer/builder Incat has corralled its four U.S. licensees - Bollinger Shipyards, Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Nichols Bros. Boatbuilders and Kvichak Marine - into a consortium - apparently as yet unnamed - for the purpose of pursuing the DoD's Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) program, which is scheduled to start next year.   December 9, 2006.

    DERECKTOR GETS EXPORT ORDER.  Derecktor Shipyards, of Bridgeport CT, has won a contract for a second fast ferry for the Government of Bermuda, a sister ship to the "Warbaby Fox", which was delivered in August.  December 9, 2006.

    AUSTAL USA GETS LCS 4.  The Navy has executed an amendment to its contract with Bath Iron Works for the construction of LCS 4.  The ship will, of course, be built by Austal USA: the value is $208 million, with delivery in August 2009.  Read the DefenseLink announcement here.  December 8, 2006.

    T-AKE 3 LAUNCHED.  NASSCO launched the future USNS "Alan Shepard", (T-AKE 3), yesterday.  Read the announcement here.  December 7, 2006.

    THE PEARL HARBOR SALVAGE STORY.  Today the New York Times has a special section on the salvage operation at Pearl Harbor, including a terrific six-part article that was written a year after the attack but that was never published.  It's all well worth reading: find it here.  December 7, 2006.

    MARATHON BUYS REPUBLIC BARGE.  Pat Collins and John Bludworth have sold their fleet of five towboats and ten 30,000-barrel hot oil barges to Marathon Petroleum.  Nice timing.  December 7, 2006.

    SHIPYARD WORKER SHOT.  An employee of Austal USA was apparently shot in the head by a co-worker yesterday.  Read the report in the Mobile Press-Register here.  December 7, 2006.

    MORE MONEY FOR CVN.  The Navy has executed a mod. to its contract with Northrop Grumman Newport News that provides another $754 million for design and engineering, planning and procurement activities for CVN 78.  Read the DefenseLink announcement here.  December 1, 2006.

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