Conrad Industries has been a major force in repair and conversion of vessels for decades from their Morgan City, La. shipyard on the Intercoastal Waterway. Problem was, with more and more deep draft vessels going into service working in deepwater parts of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), their Morgan City location did not have the water depth necessary for a dry dock to get under these vessels and lift them from the water.
Conrad solved this problem in two ways. First, they built a large 10,000-ton dry dock measuring 280 ft. long with 140 ft. between wing walls that could accommodate the largest of these new bred of vessels.
Next they opened a new 52-acre repair facility in Amelia, La. with much deeper water access.
The 10,000-ton dry dock has been moved to the new facility along with two smaller dry docks, 1,100 ft. of waterfront, two cranes, offices and stockrooms and the normal infrastructure a repair needs such as stations for gas, oxygen, air, potable water and sandblasting sand.
One of the vessels to call on this new Conrad shipyard was the Ocean Intervention II, a large multipurpose deepwater OSV that is 254 ft. long with a 54-ft. beam and a hull depth of 19 ft.
The deepwater construction vessel is owned by Oceaneering, Inc. of Houston, Texas and deploys an ROV through its forward moon pool, has 4,000 propulsion horsepower through z-drives and is certified for DP-2 operation.
"This is the type of vessel we hope to attract with this new facility," said Gary Lipely, director of marketing for Conrad Industries.