Larose News

Bollinger Shipyards has delivered the newest Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter (FRC), the USCGC John Scheuerman, to the U.S. Coast Guard in Key West, Fla. nearly one week ahead of schedule despite a three week shutdown due to the significant damage sustained to Bollinger’s facilities during Hurricane Ida. The storm made landfall in late August near Port Fourchon, La. as a Category 4 storm. Bollinger’s facilities in Port Fourchon, Lockport, Houma and Larose suffered significant damage as a result of Hurricane Ida…

A 2020 fire aboard a dive support vessel docked at a  Larose, La. shipyard was able to start and spread without notice because no one was continually monitoring the vessel while fire detectors were shut off during repairs, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report issued Tuesday.The April 16, 2020, fire aboard the Iron Maiden at the Allied Shipyard caused $900,000 in damage, and no injuries were reported. While the fire caused extensive damage throughout the generator room, the NTSB found fire pattern and damage indicating the fire started near the forward bulkhead.

Anchorage-based Crowley Fuels yesterday completed an asset acquisition of the aviation fuels business of Ace Fuels, LLC, a fixed base operator (FBO) headquartered at Merrill Field in downtown Anchorage offering Jet A and AV 100LL fuels. The acquisition includes the company’s six, 24-hour self-service aviation fuels pump stations (cardlocks) and associated buildings located at the Merrill Field Strip, Merrill Field Main Airport, Willow Airport, Wasilla Airport, Lake Hood Strip and Fairbanks International Airport. “Congratulations to the entire team on completing this acquisition of two like-minded, privately-owned and operated businesses,” said Rocky Smith, senior vice president and general manager.

Torrential rainstorms battered Louisiana on Sunday, leaving thousands without power, after pounding southeastern Texas as the remnants of Hurricane Patricia converged with a second storm. The heaviest band of rain moved over the Gulf of Mexico, triggering coastal flood warnings and flash flood watches in southwest Louisiana and soaking New Orleans, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). About 22,000 people were left without power in the greater New Orleans area. Some streets were flooded, while a high tide surge brought some coastal flooding as well. Rainfall has totaled as much as 7 inches (18 cm) since late Saturday night, and forecasters predicted another 5 inches (13 cm) could fall.

Proliferation of energy related transport continues to drive commercial U.S. As the United States aims towards energy independence by the end of this decade, domestic shipyards and vessels owners are reaping rewards from this most unexpected turn of events. Hydraulic Fracturing, or fracking, has been the main (and well publicized) culprit in the rapid turn of events. While the proliferation of gas has been widely known for years, the presence of oil, in quantity, was a pleasant…

U.S. marine vessel operators have invested in their fleets, adopted new technologies and switched to cleaner burning engines and fuels to stay in business. In this edition, we take a look at how industry leading marine operators have flourished, sometimes in tough circumstances. At family-run McAllister and Chouest, sons and daughters learned operations from the ground up, while CEO Todd Hornbeck revamped the first version of a company started by his dad. All value their employees and say workplace safety is a priority. Each of these companies is quick to meet customer demands.

Danos, a family owned oil and gas service company, announced plans to expand its fabrication capabilities, by opening a 120,000 square-foot fabrication facility in Amelia, La. The new facility, set to begin operations in October 2014, sits on about 45 acres of waterfront property and will create employment opportunities for about 150 workers. “The demand for our services is growing rapidly, and the size, location and condition of the Amelia facility allows us to better meet the needs of our customers,” Eric Danos, executive vice president, said. The company’s current fabrication shop, a 14,000 square-foot, 50 employee operation located in Larose…

Danos recently added an Environmental Services Division to the company’s collection of oilfield related services, which includes production workforce, construction, fabrication, coatings, instrumentation and electrical, and shorebase and logistics. Located on the Intracoastal Waterway in Larose, La., the Environmental Services Division provides full-service environmental cleaning – from spill kits to tank cleaning and small releases to large magnitude spills. Executive Vice President Paul Danos said, “Adding environmental services to our family of capabilities positions Danos to better serve our customers’ oilfield needs. Danos’ environmental services team…

Oil and gas—and also mining—are the drivers today propelling Arctic maritime operations and the construction of new vessels able to operate in extreme latitudes. While the gas and oil resources can be recovered in the Arctic or far north and shipped to markets by sea or pipeline, the cost of doing must be balanced upon the global market price for those commodities. Ships and marine structures able to operate in the harsh conditions of the extreme latitudes require special designs and construction techniques.

Nupas-Cadmatic has signed a deal with North American Shipbuilding (NAS), part of Edison Chouest Offshore and based in Larose, Louisiana. The contract includes the complete configuration of more than 50 structural, outfitting, electrical, production and nesting licenses. The deal was signed after a trial period that challenged the software’s capabilities. The test showed that Nupas-Cadmatic provides the yard with a wide range of benefits not covered by their former CAD/CAM software. nupas-cadmatic.com ncg.nl

Conrad Shipyard, L.L.C., a Conrad Industries, Inc. company, has delivered the M/V J.B. Moffett to Alliance Offshore of Larose, La. The J.B. Moffett is a 200’ class liftboat equipped with CAT C18 main propulsion coupled with Twin Disc MGX516 gears delivering 600HP, each at 1,800 RPM. There are eight Braden C400 gearboxes per leg being driven by auxiliary Cat C18’s. The Gensets are CAT C9 175 Kw. The lifting devices are by TechCrane International. There is one F60 fixed boom and an L200 125 ton lattice boom. The interior accommodates 43 with mess seating for 24.

Ongoing infrastructure and newbuild activity not expected to let up. Modern, sophisticated and quality tonnage arrives at just the right time. Vessel builders are ramped up for strong demand from the Gulf of Mexico, where oil drilling is very soon expected to return to pre-Macondo levels. Utilization rates for offshore vessels are rising in the GoM, along with associated dayrates. Three Louisiana leaders--Edison Chouest Offshore in Cut Off, Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc. in Covington and Harvey Gulf International Marine in New Orleans--are engaged in aggressive newbuild programs.

Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG), a naval architecture and marine engineering firm with offices in Seattle and New Orleans recently acquired new talent for both of its locations, helping to grow the company's presence and expand on its core services –marine engineering, naval architecture, shipyard services and analysis. "We're pleased to welcome Joey, Michael, Luisa and Sam to EBDG," said President, Joe Pritting. Naval Architects Michael LaRose and Samuel Waterhouse hold Bachelor…

The Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) global family of companies, plans to enlarge its fleet and expand its terminal facilities in support of its customer base. The Chouest newbuild order book contains over 40 vessels, a vast majority to be constructed at its four U.S.-affiliate shipyards: North American Shipbuilding (Larose, LA), LaShip (Houma, LA), Gulf Ship (Gulfport, MS) and Tampa Ship (Tampa, FL), as well as its Brazilian shipyard, Navship. ECO’s worldwide fleet now approaches 250 highly specialized offshore service and support vessels.

The Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) global family of companies announced plans to enlarge its fleet and expand its terminal facilities in support of its customer base. The Chouest newbuild order book contains more than 40 vessels, a vast majority to be constructed at its four U.S.-affiliate shipyards: North American Shipbuilding (Larose, La.), LaShip (Houma, La.), Gulf Ship (Gulfport, Miss.) and Tampa Ship (Tampa, Fla.), as well as its Brazilian shipyard, Navship. ECO’s worldwide fleet now approaches 250 highly specialized offshore service and support vessels. The largest portion of the newbuild program contains 17 vessels, with options for an additional 20, in a new class of 312’ x 66’ x 26’ new generation, clean design, diesel-electric platform supply vessels (PSV).

Caveats and some doubts remain. Marine companies along the Gulf of Mexico will be busy in 2013 producing offshore vessels to meet expected growth in the region’s deepwater drilling sector over the next several years. Vessel repairs will be active too. Worker training will be stepped up to address a skilled labor shortage. And nearly three years after BP’s spill off coastal Louisiana, safety will remain a priority. But with the nation teetering on a fiscal cliff – which may spur tax increases and government spending cuts – demand for official and military vessels could be affected…

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. announced the upcoming retirement of its Vice President Central Division, Larry Vauclin. Vauclin’s retirement was announced by Bollinger Executive Vice President, Ben Bordelon, who said, “Larry has been a critical part of the growth of Bollinger over the past 16 years, and a mentor to many in the shipyard industry over his 52 year career. His attention to detail, hard work and focus on client satisfaction have helped create a solid foundation for us going forward.

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. announce the upcoming retirement of its Vice President Central Division, Larry Vauclin. Vauclin’s retirement was announced by Bollinger Executive Vice President, Ben Bordelon, who said, "Larry has been a critical part of the growth of Bollinger over the past 16 years, and a mentor to many in the shipyard industry over his 52 year career. His attention to detail, hard work and focus on client satisfaction have helped create a solid foundation for us going forward.

Claimed to be the world's largest and most powerful anchor-handling icebreaker the US$200 million, 360 ft vessel was christened Aiviq in the presence of dignatories including U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Sen. John Hoeven, several members of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission and Shell executives. The Aiviq whose primary task off the coat of Alaska will be laying anchors for drilling rigs will also be equipped to deal with oil spill clean-up operations…

The M/V Aiviq icebreaker, contracted by Shell Oil to support drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, is scheduled to be completed by Louisiana-based Edison Chouest Offshore in early 2012. The vessel, ordered in July 2009, is on track for April 1, 2012, delivery in Galliano, La., and will then head north, according to Shell Oil spokesman Curtis Smith. The $200m Aiviq is the largest vessel ever built by Chouest, and will be among the most advanced and powerful, non-military icebreakers on the waters.

MarineCFO Inc., a provider of Marine Software including On-Vessel, Marine Operations, Personnel, Fleet Maintenance and Financial Management Software Solutions to the Marine Transportation Industry, announced that International Offshore Services has chosen to implement the full MarineCFO Enterprise software suite. International Offshore Services, LLC was formed in 2006 by combining International Marine (started in 1996) and International Construction Group. Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries…