Bollinger Delivers Bordelon Boat

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., Lockport, La., has delivered the 145-ft. supply/utility boat WES BORDELON to Bordelon Marine, Inc. It is the first of three nearly identical supply/utility vessels under construction at Bollinger for Bordelon, which will double the number of oil field support vessels (OSV) in the fleet of the Lockport-based vessel operator. Speaking at the recent christening of the boat on the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Bordelon's CEO, Terry Bordelon said, "We chose Bollinger as our partner in designing and building this boat. Boysie (Donald "Boysie" Bollinger, chairman and CEO of Bollinger) gave us insightful thoughts into what customers would want now and in the future along with the new requirements of the various regulatory bodies. I never thought we could afford this quality and we got the best to build our boats." The WES BORDELON, like others in the fleet is named after Bordelon family members. Wes is a co-owner and vice-president of operations. The next two OSVs, which will be delivered in July and August respectively, are the TERRY BORDELON and BUNNY BORDELON. Terry is co-owner and CEO and Bunny is Terry's wife and mother of Wes. The WES BORDELON is 145 feet long with a 36-foot beam and maximum draft of 11.5 feet. Normal operating draft is eight feet. It is powered by two Cummins KTA-38MO diesel engines rated @750 bhp at 1,600 rpm. They drive Bollinger 72 in. by 57 in., four-blade, stainless steel propellers through Twin Disc MG5301 reverse/reduction gears with a ratio of 4.96:1 Hydraulic steering is installed at two pilothouse stations and a 272 HP Schottel, STT-110 bow thruster aids steering. The Cummins engines feature a "package" that meets new IMO (International Maritime Organization) emission standards with direct drive liquid mud pumps off of the main engines thereby eliminating belt systems. The boat's electrical power is provided by two Cummins 6CTA8.36 diesels driving two Cummins 99 KW generators. Oil free bilge systems and dirty oil collection tanks are also installed. WES BORDELON is equipped with 4 liquid mud tanks with a total capacity of 49,332 gallons. It can carry 28,675 gallons of fuel, 400 gallons of oil, 250 gallons of hydraulic fluids and 13,776 gallons of potable water. Its large 95 foot by 32-foot aft decks is able to carry up to 390 long tons of cargo. There are accommodations for two officers, four crew and ten guests. The Bollinger design includes larger staterooms and living quarters with extra sound proofing and carpeting and 20 tons of Carrier air conditioning and 25 kW heating. The galley, which can serve 25 persons, has a Toastmaster four-burner range, an 18-foot GE refrigerator/freezer as well as hot and cold bottled water dispensers. A Copeland walk-in freezer/refrigerator is also part of the galley suite. A partial list of navigation and communications equipment includes: two Furuno radars; a Furuno GPS unit with plotter; an autopilot; two Furuno VHF radios; Nautex antennas and Motorola cell phones.