Harvey Canal News

An obstructed check valve on a bilge pump led to the flooding and partial sinking of a towing vessel last year while moored at a shipyard near New Orleans, the National Transportation Safety Board reports.Marquette Transportation's vessel Joanne Marie was found partially submerged a day and a half after being moored and deactivated at the Bollinger Quick Repair Shipyard on the Harvey Canal. The vessel was unattended at the time. No injuries were reported and damage to the vessel was over $176…

Three people are dead following a shooting incident at a shipyard in Harvey, La., near New Orleans.The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating a double homicide at the FMT Shipyard & Repair facility on the West bank of the Mississippi River, and that a suspect was later killed after a shootout with deputies.Around 1 p.m., deputies were dispatched to a report of a shooting at the shipyard. Upon arrival, officials located two unresponsive adult males—both contract employees at the shipyard—who had suffered gunshot wounds.

A lack of procedural compliance and complacency were key factors in several marine accident investigations concluded so far in 2021, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).The agency said it determined the probable cause of the flooding of the towing vessel Alton St. Amant on May 17, 2020, in Harvey Canal, New Orleans, Louisiana, was the absence of shipyard pre-inspection and monitoring procedures for water transfer, which resulted in potable water tanks…

A  1,600-horsepower towboat delivered to Harvey, La.-based operator L&L Marine Transportation in June is now operational with a full range of Thordon oil-free and grease-free bearings.Designed by Entech, the 65-foot twin-screw towboat Amelia Ray is purpose-built by Rodriquez Shipbuilding in Coden, Ala. for the transportation of petrochemicals along all inland and coastal waters in the southern states of the U.S.In addition to newest towboat addition, L&L Marine operates the 2,000-horsepower Melissa Lee and three 1,200-horsepower vessels Angela Rae, Myrna Ann and Madeleine Michelle.

Bollinger Quick Repair, LLC, a Bollinger Shipyards LLC company, has taken delivery of a new 3,400 ton dry-dock.Built at Bollinger Shipyard’s Amelia, La. facility, the dock is now in service and measures 219’7” X 84’, with a wing wall depth of 15’, and is rated for 3,400 tons, said Bollinger President & CEO, Ben Bordelon.The dry-dock is named in honor of long-time Bollinger employee Eddie Barnes, Jr., who joined Bollinger Shipyards on June 29, 1972 and during his tenure with the company has held various key production positions such as Dockmaster, Foreman and Superintendent.

Louisiana based shipbuilding and repair group Bollinger Shipyards, LLC, announced it has promoted Matthew Kuehne to General Manager of Bollinger Quick Repair.Bollinger’s CEO and President, Ben Bordelon, said, “[Kuehne] will be responsible for leading and growing the facility as we continue to service the needs of our current and future customers.”Kuehne joined Bollinger in 2011 and has held the positions of Assistant Estimating/Project Coordinator, Estimating/Project Coordinator, Assistant Operations Manager and Operations Manager.

Gulf Island Marine Fabricators has recently delivered a new drydock named the J.B. Barthelemy to FMT Shipyard and Repair. The new drydock, which is 180 feet long and 73 feet wide with 63-foot clearance between the wingwalls, seven-foot deep pontoon with 18-foot high wing walls, has a 2,400-short-ton capacity and will be located at FMT Shipyard and Repair yard on the Harvey Canal. The drydock has a 225 kilowatt genset provided by Kennedy Engine, eight eight-inch ABS submersible…

Bollinger Shipyards has taken delivery of two drydocks with a total lifting capacity of 12,000 tons. Terms and conditions of the purchase were not made available. One of the docks, a 10,500 ton dry-dock will be located at the Bollinger Port Fourchon facility, and measures 320-ft. x 100-ft. between the wing walls. Bollinger now has three commercial drydocks located in Fourchon with a combined lifting capacity of over 22,000 tons. The second dock, a 1,500 ton drydock will be located at the Bollinger Quick Repair (BQR) facility in Harvey…

MarineNews spoke with Jim Stark, Executive Director of the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association (GICA) about his background in the industry, current projects on the canal, issues facing GICA’s nearly 250 members and his goals for the organization. Can you describe your background and how you came to be Executive Director for GICA? I spent 28 years in the Coast Guard. I’m a commissioned officer and have served all over the country including a considerable amount of time on the Gulf Coast.

Bisso Marine performed two heavy lift jobs involving a 200-ton vessel and a 560-ton hull. Using the D/B Cappy Bisso, the crew launched a 200-ton crew boat from shore to the Harvey Canal. The project took place at Midship Marine, Inc. In Moss Point, Miss., the D/B Cappy Bisso lifted a 560-ton hull from the Pascagoula River and set it ashore at a fabrication yard. The crew had to ballast down the 700-ton derrick barge so it could squeeze under the 40-ft clearance of the nearby Interstate 10 bridge. www.bissomarine.com

The building of commercial vessels is very much a boom and bust business. Those of you that have been around for a while remembers the oil and gas boom days of the late 1970's and the bust that followed in the 1980's. Most of the southern shipyards did not actually recover from those dog days until the late 1980's when passenger vessel owners started ordering excursion/dinner boats in significant numbers. Typically these vessels had two or even three enclosed passenger decks with passenger capacities in the 450-600 range. Following on this mini-boom was the emergence of the gaming boat, actually an excursion boat with slot machines.

“One of the really gratifying aspects of ship repair and conversion is the satisfaction we get by being able to give new service life to vessels. And that’s exactly what we did with the 40 year-old Guardian, said Allen Stein, operations manager of Bollinger Quick Repair, in Harvey, Louisiana. The 150- by 35- by 20-ft. Guardian, originally named Gale B. was built by Southern Shipyard in Slidell, La., in 1963. It was owned by Midland Enterprises (Ohio River Company) and was part of a tug/barge unit with the hopper barge Martha B.

Bollinger recently gave new life to an old boat, the 150-ft. Guardian, originally named Gale B., which was built by Southern Shipyard in 1963. It was owned by Midland Enterprises and was part of a tug/barge unit with the hopper barge Martha B. Midland sold the barge to Moran about three years ago and the tug was on the market when it was acquired by Velvet Maritime, LLC. "It was in good shape with a good purchase price," said Andre Ledoux, president of Velvet Maritime. "It had marketable power that we wanted to upgrade to meet new regulatory requirements, practically new Lufkin gears, a good Detroit Diesel auxiliary engine package, good Markey deck equipment…

Bollinger Shipyard's Quick Repair facility on the Harvey Canal in New Orleans is unique among workboat repair shipyards. It has capabilities well beyond the normal vessel dry-docking and repair. Not only is the work done there, but also most of the needed underwater parts can be fabricated or repaired there. The shipyard has a machine shop to fabricate and repair shafts; an electrical shop where motors and generators can be rewound and load tested plus a complete propeller overhaul facility with a large inventory of propellers on hand. Mighty valuable capabilities if you are a towboat owner and one of your vessels just hit "something" and the resulting vibration tells your crew the vessel needs service now. Bollinger Quick Repair's (BQR) strategic location, just 1,100 ft.

The design challenge for towboats in the new Millennium is they are being called upon to do tougher jobs on the water but at the same time have be more environmentally friendly to the water on which they sail. Also, many of today's towboats are light years ahead of their predecessors of just a few years ago in crew amenities and berthing spaces. "Much of the new technology we are seeing on towboats is because of new IMO, EPA, OSHA and ABS regulations," said Terry Boffone, president of Progressive Barge Line, Westwego, La. Progressive's business is mid-streaming fueling, so careful delivery of the products they carry such as diesel fuel and gasoline from the tank barge to the ship is critical.