Neuville News

Geodis Wilson is pleased to announce the appointment of Eric Martin-Neuville as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Freight Board Member of Geodis Wilson with immediate effect. Eric will be taking over responsibility from Fernando Gea who is retiring from his position as COO of Geodis Wilson. Eric Martin-Neuville joined the Geodis Group in 1985, and as well as holding the position of Managing Director, Geodis Wilson France, for many years, Eric has spent a considerable time working for the Group in Asia-Pacific.

Work has been slow in a lot of Louisiana shipyards in the past couple of years. With orders for big crew boats in short supply, Neuville Boat Works of New Iberia, has been meeting steady orders for their 47-foot crew boats. The yard has been building this design, with a few modifications, for several decades. In the earlier days they built a 41-footer many of which are still working. Neuville recently delivered one of their 24-passenger vessels to Inland and Offshore Contractors Ltd. of Trinidad and are currently building another for the Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO).

Laborde now has the ability to supply builders on the US Gulf Coast with the complete line of Yanmar 360-1,822 hp commercial engines for export. Laborde recently supplied six Yanmar 6CX-GTYE engines to Neuville Boat Works for crewboats headed for Trinidad. Inland and Offshore Contractors Ltd., a diversified transportation company serving the petroleum industry, will take delivery of three 47' boats to carry crew and cargo to offshore installations. The fully mechanical Yanmars were chosen for their reliability and durability and because they can be easily serviced in the West Indies.

In June of 2006 Neuville Boat Works of New Iberia, La., delivered a 150 x 28-foot crew boat to Capt. Elliot Cundieff of Feeport Texas for his Texas Crewboats fleet. In late January of 2008 Neuville will deliver a larger vessel to the same owner. The new boat, the Greater Scott, is 158 x30 feet with a 12.5-foot molded depth. It is powered by four Cummins KTA38 M2 engines each producing 1350 HP at 1950 RPM for a total of 5400 HP. The engines turn into Twin Disc MG6650 gears with…

The area directly south of Lafayette, La., is authentic bayou country, known for Cajun culture, excellent food, unique music and, for boat lovers, the crew/supply boat capital of the world. Four boat yards in this area build these multi-engine, all- aluminum, speedy vessels, almost exclusively. Each yard turns out up to six crew/supply boats a year. In fact, three of the shipyards are located within just a few miles from each other in the tiny hamlet of Loreauville, La., a town that seems to be made up mostly of aluminum welders. That, of course, is an exaggeration, but not by much. Not every vessel delivered from these shipyards goes to work supporting the search for oil and gas…

Steve Miguez is adding a fourth crew boat to his Iberia Crewboats fleet. Like the Mr. Blake, Mr. Ridge and Lady Glenda that he already operates, the Lady Marie is being built across the road from his New Iberia home at the Neuville Boat Works. This is the thirteenth boat that Steve has had built at the yard since he started in the business as a 21-year-old in 1975. Like the last one that he had built there, it is 150 ft. over all with a 28-ft. beam. Tankage and most other aspects of the new vessel are the same. The major departure from earlier vessel is to be found in the engine room. The earlier boat was powered by five of Cummins six-cylinder KTA19 M4 engines rated at 700 hp each for a total of 3,500 hp.

Colin Black addressing the guests at the new vessel's commissioning. The Colin B. McCall, named for noted mechanical engineer Colin Black, is a 160 by 30 ft. crew boat with an aft deck that is 91.5 by 24.75 ft. that can carry 280 long tons with about 7,000 gallons of fuel on board. Seating is provided for a total of 68 passengers with 52 of those in business class seats. Main propulsion is provided by four Cummins KTA38 M2 engines delivering 1,350 hp each in a Heavy Duty rating at 1,950 rpm for a total of 5,400 hp.

The Colin B. McCall, named for noted mechanical engineer Colin Black, is a 160 by 30 ft. crew boat with an aft deck that is 91.5 by 24.8 ft. that can carry 280 long tons with about 7,000 gallons of fuel on board. Seating is provided for a total of 68 passengers with 52 of those in business class seats. Main propulsion is provided by four Cummins KTA38 M2 engines delivering 1,350 hp each in a Heavy Duty rating at 1,950 rpm for a total of 5,400 hp. A Thrustmaster 75 hp electric over hydraulic bow thruster is installed in a 24-in. tunnel. Electrical service is provided by two Cummins-powered 99 kW generator sets. The vessel's U.S gross registered tonnage in under 100 tons while the International Gross tonnage is under 400 tons. It is built to U.S. Coast Guard Subchapter T/L and ABS load line.

As noted in the accompanying article the Gulf of Mexico is in the midst of a drilling malaise. The days when southern shipyards routinely turned out 50-60 supply boats and an equal number of crew/supply vessels is over at least for the time being. The last three years has seen an unprecedented number of OSVs joined the fleets of Tidewater, Hornbeck, Otto Candies, Edison Chouest and other major offshore operators. Leevac Shipyards is a prime example. For the last four years they have built almost exclusively for Hornbeck Offshore Services, producing a number of 200-260 ft. very capable supply boats including four 240-ft. platform supply vessels in 2003. Today their order book includes a huge casino boat and a large 445-ft. by 78-ft. tank barge, but no OSVs. Quality Shipyards, Houma, La.

In recent years the demand for large crew boats has continued to grow in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and has increased in some foreign markets, such as West Africa and Mexico. As their size has grown, so has the horsepower employed by these boats as customers demand greater load capacities and greater speed. "The trend in the 170-ft. (51.8 m) class of boats is to more power and faster speeds," affirms Swiftships' A.J. Blanchard, at the Morgan City yard, "These boats have gone up in power from four 1,000-hp engines to four 1,350-hp engines and bigger jets. We've had more interest from both U.S. and foreign customers in all jet boats since the increase in jet size has removed concerns over the loaded speeds," Blanchard adds.

Kerry Neuville recently built an 18-ft. aluminum skiff with his son and now parks it in the same shed where he and his brother started their boatbuilding careers. Across the yard from the little shed Neuville Boatworks huge building sheds bustle with their usual activity. With a 154 x 30 x 12.5-ft. crew boat (160-foot overall) nearing completion for Steve Miguez’s Iberia Crewboats and scheduled for a March delivery. A sister-ship is being framed up on an inverted jig in one of the other building sheds. Both vessels will be powered by four Cummins KTA38 M2 engines provide power for the vessel. Each engine produces 1350 hp at 1950 RPM into Twin Disc MG-6650 gears with 2.47:1 reduction. The 5400 hp crewboats will achieve speeds of 26 knots.

Mud, Mud, Mud. Liquid mud is the name of the game in the design of today's offshore service vessels. The drilling rigs not only want huge volumes of mud, but they want the vessels that serve them to be able to carry several different types of liquid mud. That means two or three separate piping and pumping systems to keep the mud from cross contamination. That also increases demands for automated control and alarm systems, many of which utilize touch screen controls. The rigs also need dry bulk cement, barite and other such products, so dry bulk tanks with 6,000 or so cu. ft. of capacity would be desired. Many rig owners would also like the vessels to carry methanol and…

As the size and cargo capacities of crew boats has increased so has the combined and individual horesepower of the engines. Compared with 1998, the 1999 Cummins Mid-South order book for crew boat engines has shown a decrease in the numbers of six-cylinder KTA19 M4 engines that, with a 700 hp rating, has been the standard in the past. At the same time they have, to date, sold, for crew boat application, a total of 55 of the 12-cylinder KTA38 M2 engines with a Heavy Duty rating of 1350 hp at 1950 rpm. McCall Boat Rentals took delivery of Doreen McCall, its second 183-ft. model from Gulf Craft early in 1999. This will be followed by a third boat, Hull #424 to the same basic design, in November. Main engines for each of these boats are six KTA38 M2. McCall is also building two 165-ft.