Abdon Callais News

Employers are hiring in coastal Louisiana, especially as offshore drilling picks up in the Gulf of Mexico. Companies are concerned about finding enough skilled workers in a locally tight labor market. For mariners, a variety of training programs at different levels and costs are offered in south Louisiana. For those businesses without the significant wherewithal and training resources of a Kirby Corporation, for example, there are other viable options for training. Fletcher Technical Community College: The college’s Louisiana Marine and Petroleum Institute or LaMPI was founded in the late 1970s to provide local maritime training. The institute provides Coast Guard-approved courses to about 2,200 mariners a year now. Fletcher and LaMPI are located in Houma on the Louisiana Gulf.

New Orleans based Harvey Gulf International Marine, has announced  the closing of its asset purchase of Abdon Callais Offshore, a deal worth $460 Million USD in cash, while simultaneously selling six of the older assets to Adriatic Marine for $72 Million USD. CEO Shane Guidry commented: "It's been a very busy year. Abdon Callais is the third company I have purchased in the last 12 months, adding 58 vessels to my fleet. Today, I have 14 vessels at 5 shipyards ranging in size from 220' to 340' in length under construction to meet our customer’s needs today and for the future.

Raceland, LA-based Adriatic Marine LLC has entered into a contract with Harvey Gladiator LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harvey Gulf International Marine LLC, for the purchase of six 205’ DP-1 Offshore Supply Vessels (OSVs). The transaction is expected to close in the early fourth quarter of 2013. The purchased vessels are a subset of a larger acquisition by Harvey Gulf of substantially all of the assets of Abdon Callais Offshore LLC. With the acquisition of the six 205’ OSVs…

Harvey Gulf International Marine, LLC and Abdon Callais Offshore, LLC (ACO) have executed a definitive agreement whereby Harvey Gulf is to purchase substantially all of ACO’s assets and business. Purchase includes 48 offshore supply vessels (OSVs), of which four are currently under construction. With its roots in the Callais family tracing back to 1945 and under the later leadership of Harold J. Callais followed by his sons, ACO has long been recognized in the industry as a high quality marine transportation company providing multiple sized…

While ten letters in all, “moratorium” might as well be the foulest four-letter word in the Gulf of Mexico oil patch right now. On May 27, the Obama Administration ordered a halt to drilling in water depths more than 500 feet, effectively cancelling 33 drilling projects and reversing a tide of industry optimism in the region. Bill Foret, president of Golden Meadow, La.-based Abdon Callais Offshore LLC, said the company could have placed 50 OSVs to work on April 19 — a day before BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed 11 crew members and set off a gusher of crude 5,000 feet below the Gulf’s surface for more than 80 days. “The OSV market was showing signs of improving,” Foret said. Kurt Crosby, CEO of Crosby Tugs Inc., based in Golden Meadow, La., agreed.

In January, Master Boat Builders, Inc., delivered the Callais Explorer, an offshore supply vessel to Abdon Callais Offshore LLC.

As noted in the accompanying article the Gulf of Mexico is in the midst of a drilling malaise. The days when southern shipyards routinely turned out 50-60 supply boats and an equal number of crew/supply vessels is over at least for the time being. The last three years has seen an unprecedented number of OSVs joined the fleets of Tidewater, Hornbeck, Otto Candies, Edison Chouest and other major offshore operators. Leevac Shipyards is a prime example. For the last four years they have built almost exclusively for Hornbeck Offshore Services, producing a number of 200-260 ft. very capable supply boats including four 240-ft. platform supply vessels in 2003. Today their order book includes a huge casino boat and a large 445-ft. by 78-ft. tank barge, but no OSVs. Quality Shipyards, Houma, La.

The picturesque town of Bayou La Batre, Ala. has long been known for its production of shrimp trawlers. Normally, about 150 of these 90-105 ft. vessels come out of 8-10 yards set up specifically to produce these boats. Increasingly, however, large deepwater offshore service vessels are taking their place along side of the trawlers as the Bayou La Batre boat builders join with their Louisiana cousins in producing vessels for the oil patch. Interestingly, it is many of the same builders who construct dozens of trawlers a year that are in the forefront of OSV production. One of the prime examples is Master Boat Builders, Coden, Ala., about three miles south of Bayou La Batre.

The one constant about the management of offshore vessel operating companies is the domination of family members of the founder. Except for the largest of these companies, Tidewater, Inc., that is a public NYSE-listed firm, most of the companies in this category, large and small, are run by the descendents of the founder. Many of these companies still bear the founder's name and most of the vessels are named after family members. In 1948, Abdon Callais converted a shrimp trawler into an offshore service vessel and that began a company that is in its third generation of providing transportation of fluids and cargo to offshore oil and gas rigs. Abdon's sons Harold and Ronald became involved with offshore oil buisness.

With few exceptions, marine power is diesel power and emissions levels from diesel engines are coming under increased scrutiny and regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency. The levels of acceptable NOx, carbon monoxide and particulate matter for diesel engines in U.S. flagged vessels depends on the displacement of the engine. The EPA has settled on a liters-per-cylinder measurement to determine the schedule to meet the emission requirements. For example, marine diesel engines between 1.2 and 2.5 liters per cylinder have had to meet what is known as Tier Two requirements since 2004. These are engines typically used to power small gensets, bow thrusters, fire pumps and other auxiliary engine requirements.