Bollinger Larose News

Modern Offshore Service Vessels come in a variety of shape, size and technical outfit, dependent largely on their intended area of operation. But as offshore assets are constantly mobile and global, finding work where work is to be had, there is an increasing trend towards larger, steadier platforms that are multipurpose and able to shift seamlessly from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Sea to offshore Africa, Asia or Brazil … and back again. Following here are some of the more significant OSV developments in recent months.

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. has been awarded a contract by Hornbeck Offshore Services (HOS) to convert six (6) 200 class DP1 offshore supply vessels (OSV’s), to 240 class DP2 OSV’s. The announcement was made by Bollinger executive vice president, Ben Bordelon, who said, “We are very pleased to announce the award of the HOS Super 200 conversion program. The news of the conversion program was announced by HOS on September 4th 2012, saying they have decided to implement a retrofit program to stretch and upgrade six 200 class DP-1 OSVs into 240 class DP-2 OSV’s.

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. has received awards for Excellence in Safety, Improvements in Safety, and Occupational Safety awards from two industry groups. The Award for Excellence in Safety and the Award for Improvement in Safety for 2009 were presented to Bollinger by the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA). The awards were received during the association’s April 26-28, 2010 general membership meeting held in Washington, D.C. The Award for Excellence in Safety is given to member companies who have an end-of-year Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) that is below the average SCA rate.

Bollinger Shipyards returns 95 percent of its 14 locations back to work following Hurricane Gustav's plowing through the heart of the based shipyard community. According to Bollinger’s website, all but two locations are back up and running, with several locations on generators with supervisory staff only. The corporate office, located in , is on generators and is coordinating the efforts of the 3000 member workforce. Bollinger is working with the local and state authorities to insure the safe return of their employees and shipyard services to the Oil and Gas community, said Robert Socha, Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing. We are communicating with our employees over the web, via local radio, telephone and community interaction.

The decision to repower a vessel is a multi-faceted one, and it can be safely assumed that no two decisions in this arena are exactly the same. Whether it's a crewboat that needs new power units to accommodate a new scope of operation; extending the life of an old, but otherwise stable boat; a rip and refit to replace under performing engines; or as a simple factor in the overall vessel conversion equation - the decision to install new engines on a vessel entails a significant financial investment for the owner. This year has seen a number of significant and unique marine repowerings. The vessels covered in this report are unique in that they range from a 149-passenger tour boat to an 846-ft. long military freighter powered by gas turbine engines.

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., has performed conversions and modifications to three separate dive support vessels for EPIC Divers & Marine. The first of the three conversions was completed on the 220-ft. x 45-ft x 21-ft dynamically positioned (DP) Class II Dive and ROV support vessel EPIC Diver at the Bollinger Algiers location. The EPIC Diver is one of the newest acquisitions to the EPIC fleet and will be their primary DP and ROV support vessel. While at Bollinger the vessel renewed her regulatory status and documentation, received DP system upgrades with the installation of the L3 Communications (Nautronix) NMS 6000 Duplex DP System, while taking on the new colors and name EPIC Diver. The vessel is ABS Certified, DPII, and SOLAS.