Willard Marine Nets Foreign Navy Boat Orders
Headquartered in Anaheim, California, Willard Marine is emerging as a leading supplier of patrol boats for international navies: recent sales include the Lebanon Armed Forces, Egyptian navy, Ukrainian navy and Iraqi navy, under U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programs. Lebanon has acquired four Willard Marine 11-meter cabin rigid-hull inflatable boats (RIBs) and four 11-meter open console RIBs for coastal patrol missions through the U.S. Coast Guard FMS office. The Lebanese navy had also acquired eight of the 11-meter boats under an earlier contract.
Tidewater Building Two 145 ft. Crewboats at Swiftships
Working from a proven Swiftship design with modifications to meet their particular needs, Tidewater Marine has ordered a pair of 145 x 26 ft. crewboats from Swiftships, in Morgan City, La. With space for 150 passengers and accommodation for up to nine crew, the boats will also be capable of carrying 16,000 U.S. gallons of fuel, 19,500 gallons of fresh water, 375 gallons of lube oil and 275 gallons of waste oil. An additional 6,600 gallons of ballast tankage is included. Deck cargo capacities will be approximately 150 tons. Power for the boats will be provided by five 12-cylinder Cummins KTA38 M2 engines. Four of the engines, rated 1,350 hp at 1,950 rpm, will drive through Reintjes WAF 430/1SC 2.5:1 gears with propellers designed for maximum speed at designated deadweight.
Crewboats More Size, Weight And Power
In recent years the demand for large crew boats has continued to grow in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and has increased in some foreign markets, such as West Africa and Mexico. As their size has grown, so has the horsepower employed by these boats as customers demand greater load capacities and greater speed. "The trend in the 170-ft. (51.8 m) class of boats is to more power and faster speeds," affirms Swiftships' A.J. Blanchard, at the Morgan City yard, "These boats have gone up in power from four 1,000-hp engines to four 1,350-hp engines and bigger jets. We've had more interest from both U.S. and foreign customers in all jet boats since the increase in jet size has removed concerns over the loaded speeds," Blanchard adds.
Conrad Rides the (Expansion) Tide
The business of predicting the course of financial markets has led many companies - good and bad, large and small - to ruin. Perhaps, then, it is better to rely on tenets of nature, such as "Only the Strong Survive" when laying out business plans. Conrad Industries of Morgan City, La., has obviously ascribed to the latter, building a formidable fortress of a marine company with a wide geographic scope, including the recent news of its pending acquisition of Swiftships, an apparent $12.5 million deal which is still under negotiation. Visitors unfamiliar with Conrad Industries would be immediately struck by the modernity of its facilities in Morgan City, La. In continuous operation since 1948, Conrad Shipyard, based here, specializes in offshore and inland vessel and barge repair.
