Steel Hulled Vessels News

Uncontrolled flooding through a hole in the plating beneath the engine room of a fishing vessel led to its sinking in the Gulf of Mexico, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday.The commercial fishing vessel Captain Alex was fishing offshore of Galveston, Texas on Nov. 25, 2022, when the vessel began flooding. The four crewmembers on board were unable to stem the flooding and evacuated to a responding U.S. Coast Guard boat. The sinking resulted in an oil sheen and debris field; a reported 17,000 gallons of diesel fuel were on board. There were no injuries.

The Turnbull Government today signed a contract with Austal Ships Pty Ltd to build and sustain up to 21 steel-hulled vessels to replace the existing fleet of Pacific Patrol Boats as part of Australia’s new Pacific Maritime Security Program. As part of the $280 million (ex-GST) contract Austal will design and construct the first 19 vessels in Henderson, securing more than 120 jobs for Western Australia. Two vessels have also been offered to a new member of the Program, Timor-Leste, with an option for these additional vessels to be constructed by Austal at an agreed fixed price should Timor-Leste accept the offer. Austal has also been awarded a $24 million (ex-GST) contract to provide support services to the replacement vessels for an initial seven-year period.

Australia based shipbuilder Austal Limited has been awarded preferred tenderer status by the Commonwealth of Australia for the Pacific Patrol Boats Replacement (PPBR) Project involving the construction of up to 21 steel-hulled patrol vessels and through life sustainment over 30 years in a total Government expenditure of up to $900 million. Austal’s share of the PPBR program will include the construction of the vessels and short to medium term maintenance components of the project.

The Minister for Defence David Johnston has announced the first set of key initiatives in the Abbott Government’s long-term strategic naval plan. The Government is moving decisively to tackle Labor’s Defence mess and to ensure that Australia does not face major capability gaps as a result of Labor’s defence cuts and failure to take crucial decisions, including on maritime capability. As a result of our plan, Navy will be properly equipped in the years ahead and Australian industry will have the long-term strategic direction that has been lacking for the last six years. Further steps in our strategic naval plan will developed as part of the White Paper process. We are moving now to address the most urgent capability shortfalls created by Labor.

Mr Maarten Jongen has officially been appointed Managing Director of Damen Shipyards Singapore (DSSi) from March 2012. In his new role Mr Jongen will focus on marketing, services and further improving efficiency at the yard that has been building (aluminium) Damen vessels since 2000. DSSi has been part of the Damen Shipyards Group since 2000. Mr Jongen originally joined Damen in 2002 straight from Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) where he studied Naval Architecture and Marine Technology.

A revised edition of the American Welding Society’s AWS D3.6M Underwater Welding Code, has been published. The standard known as D3.6M:2010 supersedes the 1999 edition. The 142-page book covers underwater welding in both dry and wet environments. All provisions of the document apply equally to new construction and to modification and repair of existing structures underwater. Initially applied as a means of temporary repair for damaged steel-hulled vessels, underwater welding has evolved into an accepted method of construction and repair of engineered structures. Recent applications included engineered repair and alteration of off-shore structures, submerged marine pipelines, underwater port facilities and nuclear power plant components.

Western Australian shipbuilder Strategic Marine has broken new ground by winning a contract to build a 23.9m new generation compact tug – the first tugboat signing in the company’s history. The vessel, which has a 60 ton bollard pull, has been ordered by the Port of Napier – another breakthrough since the Port becomes Strategic Marine’s first New Zealand client. The steel vessel, which will have a deadweight of 105 tons and a free-running speed of 12 knots, will be powered by a Voith Water Tractor.

Australian shipbuilder Strategic Marine has broken new ground by winning a contract to build a 23.9m new generation compact tug – the first tugboat signing in the company’s history. The vessel, which has a 60 ton bollard pull, has been ordered by the of – another breakthrough since the Port becomes Strategic Marine’s first client. The steel vessel, which will have a deadweight of 105 tons and a free-running speed of 12 knots, will be powered by a Voith Water Tractor. These propulsion systems have become a byword for safety, reliability and precision in ship-handling and escort applications, with 800 Voith tugs currently operating in 120 ports worldwide.

Australian shipbuilder Strategic Marine has broken new ground by winning a contract to build a 23.9m new generation compact tug – the first tugboat signing in the company’s history. The vessel, which has a 60 ton bollard pull, has been ordered by the of – another breakthrough since the Port becomes Strategic Marine’s first client. The steel vessel, which will have a deadweight of 105 tons and a free-running speed of 12 knots, will be powered by a Voith Water Tractor. These propulsion systems have become a byword for safety, reliability and precision in ship-handling and escort applications, with 800 Voith tugs currently operating in 120 ports worldwide.

Many companies can claim to be global, but Autoship Systems Corporation (ASC) of Vancouver, Canada talks the talk and walks the walk. ASC has been in the business of CAD/CAM software development for nearly 25 years. A core tenant of ASC has been to establish itself as leader in innovation, helping to ensure that as shipbuilding techniques evolved, the industry could rely on its CAD/CAM software to meet new design and construction needs. ASC recently assisted two shipyards to this end: Cantiere Navale Ippolito s.r.l. of Santa Maria di Castellabate, Italy; and Circa Marine and Industrial Ltd of Whangarei, New Zealand. Cantiere Navale Ippolito S.R.L. Cantiere Navale Ippolito s.r.l. is located in the Campania region of Southern Italy.

For many years Houma Fabricators, Houma, La. built passenger boats, offshore boats and other steel hulled vessels much like a dozen other shipyards in the Gulf south. In the mid-90's they built several large gaming boats for Iowa entrepreneur Bob Kehl. If you hadn't stopped by Houma Fabricators for the past two years, today you would not recognize the place. Purchased by Shipyard De Hoop of the Netherlands in 2001, the shipyard has undergone an amazing transformation with an $8.6 million expansion. The Dutch shipyard is turning the 42-acre Houma site into a shipyard to resemble the company's main facility in Lobith, Netherlands. " So far we have added three steel preparation halls, four subassembly halls, new slipways with bulkheads and a permanent launching system," said O.M.

Coast Guard Cutters are busy all over the Northern Chesapeake and Delaware Bay areas breaking through the ice that Jack Frost left behind on the area waterways. Large patches of ice at least one to two inches have been reported as far south as the area around Tangier Island, Md., in the Chesapeake Bay. Several tributaries to the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay are frozen over with ice as well. One of the tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay that is being heavily monitored is the Wicomico River that leads to Salisbury, Md., which was last reported to be 10 percent covered with a one-inch thick sheet of ice. Salisbury is a leading supplier of home heating oil to the Del Marva Peninsula. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is completely covered with four to six inches of ice.