Conrad Aluminum to Deliver First Crew/Supply Boat
Conrad Industries, Morgan City, La. opened a crew/supply boat fabrication and repair facility in nearby Amelia, La. about a year ago. Since that time they have used their 330-ton Marine Travelift to haul out and repair various crew boats. "We do a lot of basic underwater repairs such as shafts, props and rudders, said Jerry Hoffpauir, general manager of Conrad Aluminum. The 16-acre facility sits on Route 90 in the heart of south Louisiana boat building country. The company also built a two bay fabrication building on the site and one of those bays hold what Conrad thinks will be the future of this facility. Conrad Aluminum is building a 180-ft. by 32-ft. aluminum crew/supply boat for Diamond Services, also of Amelia.
Designers Aim for More Flexibility, Efficiency and Multi-mission Capabilities
Four years into the new Millennium designers of workboats are incorporating new technologies and greater efficiencies into their designs to produce vessels that can do more work and do it better than designs of just a few years ago. This is very prevalent in the oil patch where today's supply boat designs emphasize more efficient vessels that can carry as much material to the rig or platform as vessels 30-40 ft. longer in years past. "Our new 207 ft. supply vessels can carry over 6,000 barrels of liquid mud," said Robert Socha, marketing manager of Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, La. "That is a key feature of these vessels that can work the new deeper gas wells on the shelf and also carry drilling liquids to the growing number of deepwater wells now in service," Socha added.
