$197M for a US built rock carrier. If your drive is US seagoing jobs, would have to think you could build these in china for $40M - How many more projects get done, how many more sailing jobs would there be without that initial enormous capital requirement.
If your drive is to support US shipyards - mission accomplished.
I doubt 40M would cover the cost in China.
It is an Ulstein design so they should be well built. Jobs for ship workers and later mariners to install wind farms offshore. Triple play.
truly hope you are right - in general, rule of thumb for delta us built vs far east is about 4 X - I am probably a little light at 40M - lets say 50M ??
The people having the ship built in the USA apparently thinks the tradeoff is worth it. These folks don’t pay premium price if they don’t think there is an advantage, usually.
I wouldn’t want a Chinese built ship anyway. South Korean, definitely, but not Chinese.
Looking at some historical Ulstein builds, a foreign built OSV half the size of this one would have cost you $40-50mil 9yr ago. So all things considered in the current market I’d have thought the US build cost for this vessel would be higher. Hopefully they exercise for the second one!
Here is an article that is not behind a paywall:
Note; no X-Bow
Who partner with Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC on this project??
PS> Here is another Ulstein designed stone dumper (with X-Bow), Van Oord’s Bravenes:
Bravenes was built in China for an estimated 100-200 million Euros, a bit cheaper than this one, but not that much cheaper.
Things being built in East Asia aren’t as cheap as they used to be, rising living standards there are meaning workers are asking to be paid more, wages are getting closer and closer to what people would ask for in historically more developed countries. Good news for heavy industries in developed countries as competition abroad is getting less attractive.
Van Oord, the Dutch family-owned dredging and offshore contracting group, has launched its latest specialty ship, the SRI (subsea rock installation) vessel Bravenes. Although Van Oord did not provide financial details of Bravenes, the vessel is believed to have cost between €100m and €200m. The Rotterdam company invests an average of €200m a year.
Thanks Archive - That is great info, good to see the US build both be competitive, and not put us at a competitive disadvantage that could limit projects. Great to see.
Happy to see East Asian workers getting better wages and enjoying a higher standard of living. Anyone abandoning a race to the bottom mentality will be happier for it. I would hope that the US would see efficiency improvements if we directly invested in scaling up and modernizing the shipbuilding process.
Why?? Any good reason, other than “I don’t like China, they cheat us by selling thing we want at prices we like”?
The Chinese Shipyards build ship for every serious shipping company in the world today. You want foreign designs to highest standard and complexity and foreign supplied machinery (much of it made in China on license, or by Chinese subsidiaries of foreign manufacturers) to go with it you pay about the same as to build in Korea, Japan, or in Europe.
Come to think of it, isn’t that the same as what the few US shipyards that build commercial vessels do today??
If you can find the equipment list for any of the JA compliant OWF-vessels on order you can confirm that. (No foreign bent plates thought)
PS> Same apply to most newer fishing vessels, OSVs and tankers built at US yards.
That is one incredible ship. So versatile.
Ulstein design says well designed, its doesnt mean well built
8 posts were split to a new topic: Off topic of US Built Rock Carrier
FWIW another rock installation vessel with a similar capacity was built in Singapore around 2010 for 115 million Euros: Tideway receives third fall-pipe vessel | Offshore
In current dollars and exchange rate I think that is around $165 million. I don’t think there is any way that Philly would be building this vessel if it wasn’t required by the Jones Act. Perhaps also worth recalling that Philly lost money on their last commercial contract (two Aloha-class ships for Matson).
Final installation work was carried out in the Netherlands according to this article:
PS> Whether that is counted into the Eu 115 mill. is not said though.
Another assignment for Bravenes: