TIDEWATER TOO

Like just about everybody, Tidewater Marine reported reduced revenues and profits in the third quarter.  Revenues were down about 15% and pre-tax profits were down about 36%..  Read the announcement here.  The really interesting thing in this announcement is the company's continuing restructuring of its huge fleet.  Among other things, the construction of another PSV at Quality Shipyard is announced, but I think we've already reported this.  October 31, 2009.

A&B AND MATSON DOWN

Alexander & Baldwin's revenues were down 18% in the third quarter and its net profit was down 76%.  Matson did rather better, with revenues down 14% and operating profit down 23%.  Read the announcement here.  October 31, 2009.

K-SEA FACING DEBT PROBLEMS

K-Sea Transportation's 3rd-quarter results were predictably disappointing - revenues down about 20%, profits down about 235% - but the real bad news is their warning of probable non-compliance with their credit agreements some time around the middle of next year.  Read the release here.  October 29, 2009.

KIRBY TO BUILD MORE BARGES IN 2010 THAN IN 2009

What recession?  Kirby Corporation released its 3rd Quarter results yesterday and while the numbers were disappointing - revenues down about 23%, profits down about 14% - it also announced that it plans to build fifty 10,000-barrel and five 30,000-barrel tank barges in 2010, more than it built this year.  Read the press release here.  October 29, 2009.

US NAVY ATTACKS POLAND

Just over 70 years after the start of World War II, the U.S. Navy has mounted its own attack on Poland.  Read the story in Navy Times here.  Yes, this is from Navy Times, not The Onion.  October 29, 2009.

SAIPAN GOES FOR SCRAP

The first of the Tarawa class to go for scrap, the USS Saipan, (LHA 2), was towed out of the Philadelphia Inactive Ship Facility today, bound for International Shipbreaking, in Brownsville TX.  (Photo on the right by Capt. Allen Baker.)  The five ships of this class were built by Ingalls in the late 1970s, for $112 million each: that's about $500 million in today's money.  By comparison, the contract price of the first of the new class of LHAs is about five times that much, at over $2.6 billion, so you could say that we got all five Tarawas for about what we are now paying for a single ship.  Are we doing something wrong?  (That was a rhetorical question: there's no need to answer.)  When I see numbers like these I am always reminded of President Coolidge, who, according to Norm Augustine, responded to being told the unit cost of a new fighter by asking if we could just buy one and let the boys take turns flying it.  October 28, 2009.

MARINETTE SHIPS FINAL INLS MODULES

With all the attention paid to nightmare programs like the ludicrously expensive LPD 17s, it’s a pleasure to report the satisfactory conclusion of a Navy shipbuilding program.  Marinette Marine shipped the last of the INLS (Improved Navy Lighterage System) modules this week.  This was a firm-fixed-price four-phase contract, the first phase of which was awarded back in August 2003, valued at about $400 million and covering the design and construction of about 400 tugs and other lightering modules.  A mid-sized shipyard once again shows the big guys how it should be done.  Imagine if they had gone to Northrop Grumman for this system: it would have cost three times as much, taken three times as long to build and it probably wouldn't work.  October 28, 2009.

FIRST FPSO FOR U.S. GULF CHRISTENED

The first FPSO to go into service in the U.S. Gulf, the BW Pioneer, was christened yesterday at Keppel's yard in Singapore.  Owned by BW Offshore and chartered to Petrobras America for eight years, she will produce, store and offload crude oil from the Cascade and Chinook fields, about 180 miles off the Louisiana coast.  The BW Pioneer, illustrated on the right, is 800 long, 138 feet broad, 66 feet deep and has a draft of 46 feet.  She will operate in water that is deeper, at 8,500 feet, i.e. about a mile and a half, than any FPSO has before, can store 600,000 barrels of oil and process up to 80,000 barrels of oil and 16 million standard cubic feet of gas a day.  Read BW Offshore's announcement here and Keppel's here.  Note that the 11th and 12th OSG tankers from Aker Philadelphia are intended to be the shuttle tankers needed to bring all that oil to Petrobras' 200,000 bpd refinery in Pasadena TX.  October 26, 2009.

LOCKHEED MARTIN SINKS SECOND BRITISH CARRIER

The Royal Navy has been forced to reduce its CVF construction program from two ships to one as a result of the sky-rocketing cost of the Joint Strike Fighter being built by Lockheed Martin.  The second hull will still be built but will be modified to become an LHD.  Read the story in the London Times here.  October 26, 2009.

COST OF OVERHAULING ENTERPRISE BALLOONS

The Newport News Daily Press reports that the cost of the current dry-docking availability of the 48-year-old USS Enterprise, (CVN 65), has grown from $453 million to $605 million and completion has been delayed by at least four months.  Read the story here.  Given that she's scheduled to retire in 2013, why don't we just retire her now and not spend any more money on her, either for this contract or on her operation and that of her flight wing in those last three years?  You could buy a whole bunch of OPVs, i.e., affordable LCSs, for $600 million.  October 26, 2009.

MORE ON THE POOR OLD INDEPENDENCE

It now appears that the Independence, renamed Platinum II, arrived at Alang on October 7 and has been beached for breaking, although apparently without the necessary permits.  As a result, the Indian Ministry of the Environment is on the case and the Indian Platform on Ship Breaking is demanding that the ship be returned to the U.S.  Read the story in The Hindu here and in The Times of India here.  Some kind of public statement from MARAD and/or the EPA now seems mandatory, wouldn't you say?  October 22, 2009.

TAYLOR LANGUAGE WATERED DOWN AND ABANDONED

Rep. Gene Taylor's proposed amendment to the Jones Act was magically modified on its way to the House floor.  Read the original draft here and the language that was actually introduced here.  Note that the 7.5% limit in para (b)(1)(B) was increased to 10% and that subparas (b)(2)(B) and (C) were deleted.  So who got to him?  October 22, 2009.  But it really doesn't matter: the Rules Committee threw Mr. Taylor's amendment out because it doesn't comply with the GATT.  Of course the whole Jones Act doesn't comply with the GATT but that never bothered us before.  Oh, well.

INDEPENDENCE NOW AT ALANG?

Sources say that the other Independence, the former US-flag passenger liner, pictured on the right, is now sitting off Alang, awaiting the breakers' torches.  If so, what do MARAD and the EPA have to say about this?  October 22, 2009.

LCS 2 COMPLETES BUILDERS TRIALS

A major milestone is finally achieved.  Read Austal's release here.  Now on to AT and delivery in November.  October 22, 2009.

TAYLOR PROPOSES RESTRICTIONS ON FOREIGN REBUILDING

Rep. Gene Taylor, (D-MS), has introduced legislation that would amend the Jones Act to clarify the meaning of rebuilding, effectively blocking the use of foreign shipyards that has been so outrageously taken advantage of recently.  Read the language here.  October 20, 2009.

CONRAD TO BUILD TWO CRANE BARGES

The Waterways Journal reports that Associated Terminals, the major midstream terminal operator, has ordered two crane barges from Conrad Industries, of Morgan City LA.  October 20, 2009.

BLOUNT BOATS TO BUILD ANOTHER FOR WENDELLA

Wendella Sightseeing, of Chicago, has ordered a second 300-passenger tour boat, to be delivered in May, from Blount Boats, of Warren RI.  October 20, 2009.

NICHOLS BROS GETS PROFESSIONAL MANAGER AS CEO

Marine Log reports that Nichols Bros. Boatbuilders has hired John Collins, a Georgia Tech-trained professional industrial manager, as CEO.  Read the story here.  October 20, 2009.

47 KNOTS

Sources report that USCGC Bonito tracked an unidentified naval vessel doing 47 knots on Mobile Bay on Thursday.  Thursday was one of the days that LCS 2 was out on trials.  Not bad.  October 18, 2009.

THE GREAT GREEN FLEET IS COMING

SecNav sets the Navy some ambitious goals.  Read the story in Defense News here.  October 15, 2009.

LCS 1 TO DEPLOY NEXT YEAR

In a surprise announcement, the CNO says that USS Freedom, (LCS 1) will deploy early next year to SOCOM and PACOM.  That's two years earlier than they had previously intended.  Read the announcement here.  A bit of an embarrassment for the GD/Austal team too, wouldn't you say?  October 14, 2009.

ONLY ONE BIDDER FOR THE ARRV?

Sources say that only one shipbuilder is putting together a proposal for the Alaska Region Research Vessel, (ARRV), a high-value 330-foot ship.  Is the State of Alaska such a difficult client?  October 14, 2009.

WISDOM ON SHORT-SEA SHIPPING

Read Bob and Ken Beegle's latest words of wisdom on the subject of short-sea shipping and our industry's apparent inability to compete with CSX.  It's here, on Marcon's web site, where you will usually find something stimulating.  October 14, 2009.

TEXTRON PURSUES SSC PROGRAM

Textron Marine and Land Systems, builder of the Navy's LCAC and the Coast Guard's MLB, has announced a teaming arrangement with L-3 Communications for the Navy's Ship-to-Shore Connector Program.  Read the announcement here.  October 13, 2009.

WORK STOPS ON AHL/SHELL TANKERS

Persistent rumors of Shell's dissatisfaction with the AHL product carrier program at Atlantic Marine's Alabama shipyard received further confirmation today with news that the dispute has now resulted in a work stoppage, followed by the lay-off of all the Atlantic employees assigned to the program.  The program is said to be seriously over budget and behind schedule.  Would anyone be surprised if Shell were to terminate the contract and go to NASSCO for some ships?  October 13, 2009.

LPD 21 LEAVES NAWLINS FOR NYAWK

The future USS New York, (LPD 21), left New Orleans this morning for New York City, where she will be commissioned on November 7.  Read the story here.  October 13, 2009.

ACL ORDERS 50 FROM JEFFBOAT

ACL has announced an order for 50 covered hopper barges from its JeffBoat subsidiary.  Read the press release here.  This represents two to three months work for the yard when it's operating at full capacity.  October 13, 2009.

BASIC MARINE GETS A CRANE BARGE

The Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract to Basic Marine, of Escanaba MI, for construction of a crane barge.  The contract is valued at $7.7 million, with delivery by the end of next year.  Read the DefenseLink announcement here.  October 9, 2009.

T-AKE TO BE NAMED FOR MEDGAR EVERS

The Secretary of the Navy, former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus, has announced that the next T-AKE to be built by NASSCO will be named for civil rights activist Medgar Evers.  Read the announcement here.  October 9, 2009.

TITLE XI FOR CANAL BARGE PROGRAM

MARAD has approved Canal Barge's application for Title XI financing for the construction of nine asphalt barges at Trinity Port Allen and 30 open hopper barges at Trinity Caruthersville.  Read the announcement here.  October 9, 2009.

MORE ON THE LCS FLOODING

Apparently the accident happened when Austal transferred fuel from tanks forward to tanks aft.  The resulting change of trim allowed river water into the jet drive room.  October 9, 2009.

WSF SHOOTS ITSELF IN FOOT AGAIN: TODD ONLY BIDDER FOR FERRIES

The stupidity of the Washington State law that restricts ferry construction to Washington State shipbuilders was underlined yesterday when they opened the bids on a contract for two-plus-an-option Island Home-class 64-car ferries and found that they only had one.  The apparent winner is, of course, Todd Shipyards, whose price is $114 million for the pair, $51 million for the option.  Read the WSF announcement here and the Seattle Times report here.  Note that the original Island Home was delivered by VT Halter in 2007 for only $32 million.  Costs may have gone up quite a bit recently but you can still see the premium that Washington State pays for its anti-competitive law.  October 9, 2009.

US SHIPPING'S ITBS ON THE WAY OUT?

They've already dumped two of their six old ITBs - Groton and Jacksonville - and now rumor has it that two more are on the way out.  New York is said to be loading a cargo of grain, often an indicator of a one-way trip to a port conveniently close to the breakers, while Philadelphia is said to be laid up.  Does anyone have any confirming info, or news of the other two, Mobile and Baltimore?  I'm told that Mobile is in Violet LA, but is she operating or laid up?  News, please.  October 8, 2009.  By the way, I have added a row to the table lower down on this page - highlighted in yellow - that shows USS' current estimate of the value of the vessels in its fleet. It's interesting to see the differences between these values and the prices that USS actually paid.  Gehegan and company really know what they are doing, right?  Additional news: New York is in the Galveston anchorage, Philadelphia is on its way to join Mobile in lay-up in Violet and Baltimore is laid up in Portland OR.  October 9, 2009.

CONGRESSMAN POE IS AN IDIOT

Completely by chance, I caught the U.S. Representative for the 2nd District of Texas, which includes Beaumont, Port Arthur and a good part of the eastern suburbs of Houston, making a speech on the floor of the House yesterday.  You can read his speech here.  He seems to be basing his observations on the WSJ article of August 18, which he describes as "breaking news" and which I debunked - here - on August 20.   Would someone on Mr. Poe's staff, or from one of his constituents, or from the ExIm Bank, please explain to him how the ExIm Bank works? And, by the way, you could also tell him how to pronounce Petrobras.  This would not be worth commenting on if Mr. Poe were from Nebraska, say, but  he's from southeast Texas, where there are companies and voters who actually stand to benefit from ExIm Bank financing of the supply of US-built boats and US-manufactured equipment to Brazil.  What a dummy!  October 8, 2009.

BANKRUPTCY COURT ALLOWS USS REJECTION OF NASSCO CONTRACT

In a ruling published yesterday, the federal bankruptcy court has allowed US Shipping Partners to reject its contract with NASSCO for construction of up to four additional product carriers, but it also allowed NASSCO the immediate right to market the four ships to third parties.  Read the ruling here.  Does NASSCO have a buyer?  Let's hope so, or they will soon be laying people off.  October 8, 2009.

AUSTAL FACING NEW LABOR PROBLEMS

An administrative law judge has ruled against Austal USA and the company may have to hold yet another vote on unionization.  Read the story in the Mobile Press-Register here.  October 8, 2009.

LCS 2 FLOODED

Three separate sources have now told me that Austal accidentally left some valves open and flooded a shaft alley and/or a steering gear space on LCS 2 on Monday.  Not good.  Depending on the extent of the damage, trials could be further delayed.  October 7, 2009.

SECOND NSC PERFORMS WELL

The future USCGC Waesche (WMSL 751) - pictured on the right - has completed her Acceptance Trials.  Read Northrop Grumman's press release here.  Delivery will be in early November.  Independent sources report that she really did do very well in almost all areas.  October 2, 2009.

LCS 2 ACCEPTANCE TRIALS SCHEDULED FOR MID-NOVEMBER

Sources say that LCS 2 has now just about finished its start-stop-start Builders Trials and Acceptance Trials have been scheduled for just before Thanksgiving.  October 2, 2009.

US SHIPPING'S REORGANIZATION PLAN CONFIRMED

The Bankruptcy Court has confirmed US Shipping's reorganization plan and they should emerge from Chapter 11 within two or three weeks,  Read the company's press release here.  Now let's see if the management has learnt anything from this experience.  See the following table of the USSP fleet.  October 2, 2009.