Paint Floats News

Travis R. Short, President of Horizon Shipbuilding, Inc. announced that the U.S. Coast Guard Maintenance Command, Norfolk, Virginia recently awarded a five-year contract for maintenance of 41-ft. utility vessels stationed on the Gulf Coast from Florida to Louisiana. This is the second multi-year contract awarded to Horizon by the Coast Guard for maintenance and refurbishment of its vessels; a five-year contract for major overhaul of 30-ft and 40-ft fiberglass boats was awarded in 2003.

The U.S. Coast Guard uses four small steel barges specifically engineered to provide a safe working platform and reduction in pollutants from painting operations during routine maintenance of Coast Guard Cutters. Gone are the days of the staging or boson chair rigged over the side with a crew member wielding chipping iron and paint roller. The U.S. Coast Guard identified the need for an improved system to prevent paint chip and spatter from entering the environment, and after considerable research it was decided to design and construct a steel pilot model Paint Float to provide a safe working platform to conduct topside maintenance. The original float measures 30 x 12 ft. (9 x 3.7 m), with draft of just 1.5 ft. (.5 m) and displacement of 32,000-lbs.

Horizon Shipbuilding, Inc. of Bayou La Batre, Ala., won a contract by the Coalition Provisioning Authority (CPA), Baghdad, Iraq to construct a 70-Ft. Pilot Boat for the port of Umm Qasr, according to Horizon’s President, Travis R. Short. Detailed design and construction will commence immediately. Horizon recently completed a contract for the U.S. Navy to construct several environmentally safe multi-tier paint floats used in ship maintenance and overhauls. These were delivered to U.S. Naval Stations at Pascagoula, Miss., and Mayport, Fla., and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va. Current work includes the overhaul and repair of two U.S. Coast Guard Cutters and several high-speed small craft.