Robert J Coppedge News

Hvide Marine Incorporated (HMI) and subsidiary Sun State Marine Services, Inc., recently christened the first in a series of new cargo ships at its U.S. shipyard facility in Green Cove Springs, Florida. Constructed entirely on-site by Sun State Marine Services, Inc., the 190-foot 'landing craft' type freight vessel is specially designed and ideally suited for conducting trade with Bahamian and Caribbean markets that have minimal or unimproved facilities. "The landing craft has a reinforced hull that allows use of unimproved landing sites such as beaches or boat ramps by actually grounding the forward part of the vessel," noted Robert J. Coppedge, vice president of Sun State Marine Services, Inc.

Every year, MarineNews chooses a handful of vessels delivered in the past 12 months and bestows upon them the distinction of “Great Boats.” The boats are chosen for innovations in design, construction and utilization. Following are the 17 vessels or groups of vessels chosen as the Great Boats of 2000. Crowley Marine Services delivered Alert, Attentive, and Aware, a series of three 140-ft., 10,000-hp Prevention and Response Tugs (PRTs), to Alyeska Pipeline Service Company in Valdez, Alaska. Specifically designed and developed for Alyeska, the boats will be used by Crowley in the Trans Alaska Pipeline System trade. Alert was deployed in February; Attentive was delivered in June, and Aware was delivered in July.