Maritime News and Comment
November 2008
SECNAV INSPECTS "SAN ANTONIO"
SECNAV visited LPD 17 in Bahrain yesterday and actually went down into the machinery spaces with her skipper to look at all the crappy workmanship. See the news release here. Where was the rep from No Good Shipbuilding? November 29, 2008.
CSX LIES
The latest CSX television ad, "Close to Nothing" is very nicely done: see it here. But it is a lie. Here's the direct quote: "Until we can move a ton of goods using no fuel, we've got the next best thing." No, they don't: the maritime industry does, but the useless maritime industry associations and industry leaders are apparently afraid to say so. What is the matter with you people? How do you expect to get the "National Marine Highways" up and running or to achieve any growth in our industry if you let the railroads get away with this crap? You're pathetic. November 29, 2008.
HAWAIIANS TO PAY MORE, AGAIN
In another of its regular contributions to the quality of life in Hawaii, Matson has just raised the cost of almost everything. In a press release with the grossly dishonest headline "Matson's 2009 Westbound Hawaii Service Rates To Increase by $120 per Container", they tell Hawaiians that the cost per westbound container will actually increase by $295, because there is also an increase of $175 in the "terminal handling charge". Wonderful. Read the press release here. Note that Matson's spokesman says that the increases will support "support ongoing investments": I always thought that capital investments were supposed to result in cost reductions, not cost increases, but not, apparently, in the predatory, screw the Hawaiians, world of Matson Navigation. Note also that he calls the increase "modest", a curious use of the language when the $120 per box is almost 4% and that doesn't even include the increase in the terminal handling charge. November 26, 2008.
DELIVERY OF LHD 8 DELAYED ANOTHER 6 MONTHS
The Navy Times reports that delivery of LHD 8 has been rescheduled for May 15, 2009, which will be 21.5 months after the original contract delivery date. Read the story here. The reason seems to be the need to re-run all that cable, of which we showed you pictures back in May (here). Note that No Good Corporation's Chairman, Ron Sugar, is quoted as blaming his workers: no mention of the performance of his supervisors, QA personnel or production managers. I'm sure the unions will remember that. November 26, 2008.
SCRUB THE LCCs?
Inside the Navy reports that Under-Secretary John Young told reporters last week that the Marine Corps can manage without the two $2-billion LCCs that are currently planned and the capability can be land-based. This is not a radically new idea - it's actually one of the four alternatives being evaluated for the Navy by the CNA, the others being (1) build an LCC based on an LPD 17 hull, (2) build an LCC based on a T-AKE hull, and (3) spread the capability over several ships. I think Young's right. And from the shipbuilding pov, the money's needed for other programs. November 24, 2008.
TAMPA TO BUILD OSVs
The Tampa Port Authority has approved the transfer of the lease on its Hookers Point shipyard from Tampa Bay Shipbuilding & Repair to the newly formed Tampa Ship, LLC. Read the story in the Tampa Tribune here. Note that the new owners plan to build a 300-foot OSV, starting in January, presumably in addition to all those big barges for OSG. That will stretch the yard's capabilities to their limit. More to come, no doubt. November 19, 2008.
LPD 17 - "IT'S CRIMINAL"
The Navy Times joins in the chorus of criticism today, quoting the respected naval analyst Norman Polmar as saying "It's criminal". Read the story here. No need to click on the link to see the pictures - they're the ones published here ten days ago: the Navy Times doesn't credit this column as the source, but who else had them? November 17, 2008.
Later yesterday, the Navy Times published a second story, in which SECNAV says he's "unsatisfied" with the ship. Read it here. This article credits this column as the source of the photographs. Such fame! November 18, 2008.LET'S HAVE A POOL
Lockheed Martin's LCS 1 has been commissioned. It now has two crews, a Blue one and a Gold one: they have my sympathy. The question is: On what date in which year will LCS 1 return to port after completing its first full, unconditionally successful, operational deployment? Send me your thoughts. I suppose we should come up with a suitable prize for the winner but we've got a couple or three years to work on that. November 16, 2008.
PICK JUST ONE OF THREE
For a long time now, it's been part of NAVSEA's basic philosophy that you can't achieve cost, quality and schedule in shipbuilding: you have to settle for some combination of two out of the three. But now, it seems, they are settling for just one and not always getting that. Wouldn't the advent of a new Administration be a good time for a house-cleaning? November 16, 2008.
"THE NAVY'S FLOATING FIASCO"
Even Time magazine is following the LPD 17 program. Read their article here. November 16, 2008.
USS FREEDOM GOES TO SEA
Read a report from Navy Times reporters on board LCS 1, here. November 14, 2008.
US SHIPPING ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS
US Shipping filed a 12b yesterday that reads like the tolling of the tenor bell. Read it here. How much longer can they last? Who will end up owning the assets and who will then get to operate them? November 13, 2008.
More interesting reading: they filed their 10-Q today. Read it here. November 14, 2008.AUSTAL WINS JHSV
The Navy has picked Austal USA to build the new Joint High-Speed Vessel, or JHSV, a 10-ship program that could be worth about $1.6 billion. They beat out Bollinger Shipyards and Bath Iron Works. Read the story in the Mobile Press-Register here. Read Austal's press release here. Read the Defense Link announcement here. The initial contract value, covering detail design and construction of the first ship, is $185.4 million, with delivery by Nov-10. November 12/13/14, 2008.
NAVAL AVIATOR TO SELL SHIPS
NG Shipbuilding has appointed a recently retired flyboy as its VP of Business Development. He's VADM Marty "Streak" Chanik. Read NGSB's announcement here. "In his new role, Chanik will be responsible for all marketing, customer and government relations initiatives." Apparently Chanik "brings vast and proven experience, great leadership capabilities and a true understanding of the complexity of our products and their capabilities." Jeez, ain't that believable? November 11, 2008.
GOOGLE SNUBS THE COAST GUARD
Google's home page today - see it here - has the usual embellishment, as is Google's custom on public holidays. But hold it, there are only four hats! Where's the Coast Guard hat? Shame on you, Google. November 11, 2008.
Since I wrote this at about 1100 EST, Google has added a Coast Guard hat. Yay! Such power! November 11, 2008, 1800 EST.SEA TRIALS OF LHD 8 PUT OFF A MONTH
Insiders report that the sea trials of LHD 8 have been postponed a month. More propulsion problems, no doubt. What will Northrop Grumman's story be this time? November 10, 2008.
LCS 1 COMMISSIONED, BUT WHY?
The USS "Freedom", (LCS 1), was commissioned today in Milwaukee. Congratulations to the guys at Marinette who built her. No congratulations to the Navy or Lockheed Martin or anyone involved in her design - you know who you are. Unlike LPD 17 - see below - which was badly built to an adequate design, LCS 1 was well built to a grossly inadequate design. Let's face it, the LCS 1 design is not big enough and is undermanned for all the Navy's desired missions. She can't do her advertized and much ballyhooed top speed in
many of the sea states that are expected for this class. Her helos and small craft cannot be launched and recovered in many of the sea states that are expected for this class. Far too much equipment has been crammed into her and she will be too heavy when fully loaded out with all the Navy's desired mission packages, helos and boats. Probably top-heavy too. And the propulsion plant is vastly over-complicated and the machinery spaces are so overcrowded that she cannot be maintained effectively, especially in an overseas deployment. Disgraceful. November 8, 2008.LPD 17 IN SHIPYARD IN BAHRAIN - HORRIFYING PICS
The Navy Times reports that the USS "San Antonio", (LPD 17), is in a shipyard in Bahrain for repairs to its lube oil system, interrupting its maiden deployment. Read the report here. See some absolutely amazing pictures of some of the weld defects here. This is just fundamentally disgraceful. Doesn't anyone at Northrop Grumman know how to build ships any more? Why did the Navy ever accept delivery of this piece of %&*#? If DoHS can strip the Coast Guard of its acquisition authority because of Deepwater, can DoD not strip the Navy of its acquisition authority because of the LPD 17 program? And, no surprise, informed sources report that LPD 18 has similar problems. And while we're on the subject of the LPD 17 class, what were the results of LPD 19's shock test? (See picture here.) I'm told the results are classified but are the taxpayers not entitled to know? After all, we are spending about $3 billion per ship for these beasts. November 7/8, 2008.
TODD TOO
The New York Stock Exchange has notified Todd Shipyards Corp. that it may be delisted, because it no longer meets the market capitalization and equity requirements. Read Todd's announcement here. November 7, 2008.
US SHIPPING MAY BE DELISTED
The New York Stock Exchange has suspended US Shipping. Read the announcement here.
November 4, 2008.MARITIME METAPHORS
The NYT's banner headline today is "The '08 Race: A Sea Change for Politics as We Know It". Ignoring the NYT's curious decision to treat "politics" as a singular noun, don't you like the maritime metaphor? It's great that there are so many maritime metaphors in daily use, an indicator of the importance of the sea and maritime matters in our history. But, how many people actually know what a sea change is and where the phrase comes from? OK, I know you can Google it: no need to e-mail me the answer. I'm almost inspired to start a glossary of maritime words and phrases that are commonly used in non-maritime contexts, but someone has probably already done that. November 4, 2008.
ODYSSEA MARINE WINS BOLLINGER OSVS
The high bidder for the two 193-foot PSVs that Bollinger Shipyards sold in an on-line auction last week was Odyssea Marine. The price has not been revealed. Yet. November 1, 2008.
$37MM FOR LCS PSA
The Navy has awarded a contract to the dreaded Lockheed Martin for the PSA of the delivered but incomplete and unproven LCS 1. Read the DefenseLink announcement here. It's valued at $37.5 million and completion is to be by end-January 2011. $37.5 million and 27 months for the PSA of an offshore patrol vessel! Have they no shame? November 1, 2008.
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