I was surprised to see Coastal Transportation has a new ship when I crossed the the Ballard Bridge today. She’s a nice looking vessel and a big change from the rest of their fleet incorporating some innovative features. Pacific Maratime Magazine had the best information I could find online, it’s worth reading the whole article.
Built by Dakota Creek Industries, in Anacortes, Washington, the unique new Coastal Standard carries palletized frozen product below decks with space for containerized or breakbulk cargo topsides. Photo courtesy of Dakota Creek Industries.
After more than 30 years of weekly liner service to Western Alaska with a fleet of five or six small fish tender vessels specifically designed for service between Seattle and the ports of Western Alaska, Coastal Transportation’s president Peter Strong decided that the time was right to commission a new vessel designed specifically to suit the company’s routes and cargo. Coastal Transportation’s refrigerated vessels are 210 to 244 feet long and are characterized by their yard-and-stay cargo gear, which is reliable and fast in most applications, but has its limitations. Peter Strong took several research trips to Norway, often accompanied by company VP Elliot Strong and port engineer John Fisker-Andersen, who was instrumental in the production of the vessel. In Norway, the men identified a new way of loading cargoes on and off a refrigerated ship: the sideport loading system built by TTS of Bergen (Norway). This loading system is based on the premise that the best way to load or discharge palletized cargo is by the shortest possible path – through the ship’s side. The system has been well tested in northern Europe on the Baltic Sea and Scandinavian coast but is new to North America.
[QUOTE=Capt. Phoenix;178578]I’m curious what the gross tonnage is.[/QUOTE]
I am more curious as to what the price tag was? $35M me suspects?
had Coastal not signed when they did, they could have picked up a less than 10 year old OSV of significantly greater tonnage for less than $10M and then converted it to their needs in Louisiana for maybe $10M more. I have always held that an OSV hull lends itself better to a conversion than just about any other out there.
Pallet loading through side gates is certainly nothing new. It has been a common feature in Norway since the 1960s.
Here a picture of the side ramp on a Hurtigruten (Costal Express) vessel:
In this case there are two ramps, one for palatalized cargo and one for cars. Fwrd. you can also see the “built-in” gangway for Pax.
Hurtigruten operate 11 ships on a daily service along the Norwegian coast, from Bergen to Kirkenes and return.
The round trip take 11 days, with 34 ports of call each way. Some stops are as short as 15 min.: https://www.hurtigruten.co.uk/our-ships/
[QUOTE=c.captain;178590]I am more curious as to what the price tag was? $35M me suspects?
had Coastal not signed when they did, they could have picked up a less than 10 year old OSV of significantly greater tonnage for less than $10M and then converted it to their needs in Louisiana for maybe $10M more. I have always held that an OSV hull lends itself better to a conversion than just about any other out there.[/QUOTE]
My hat is off to Coastal Transportation for building a nice new innovative (by American standards) purpose built vessel in a PNW shipyard for the Alaska trade. Hopefully, this is just the first of several profitable new fuel efficient vessels for Coastal Transportation.
Although they work, and may be relatively cheap during an offshore oil bust, I am sick and tired of ugly, fuel inefficient, old mudboat conversions. We have already had far too much of that.
[QUOTE=Kraken;178622][Flamebait] It’s nice to see that someone in the United States understands how superior the Norwegian way of doing things are [/Flambait][/QUOTE]
That is very old news in the Seattle fishing business where the Norwegians, and 1st or 2nd generation Norwegian-Americans, outnumber everyone else. Sometimes on the Alaska fishing grounds there is more radio chatter in Norwegian than in English.
However, I see very little application for this particular pallet side loading technology in the US.
Most US freight is either containerized or in bulk. Other than a few vehicle ferries, there are virtually no small freight ships. Coastal Transportation is a one of a kind operation that serves a few remote fish plants that are off the road system.
WHAT did I do? Nothing wrong with the new generation OSVs in the GoM? Big, well built with excellent engineering plus with the shipyards all not hurting getting the work done in LA would be lower than at Dakota Creek. I have drawn plans to convert the AKIRA CHOUEST to a fisheries mothership for a NW Fisheries Company with the plan to convert her in LA however Chouest found work for her and took the vessel off the market.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;178627]That is very old news in the Seattle fishing business where the Norwegians, and 1st or 2nd generation Norwegian-Americans, outnumber everyone else. Sometimes on the Alaska fishing grounds there is more radio chatter in Norwegian than in English.
However, I see very little application for this particular pallet side loading technology in the US.
Most US freight is either containerized or in bulk. Other than a few vehicle ferries, there are virtually no small freight ships. Coastal Transportation is a one of a kind operation that serves a few remote fish plants that are off the road system.[/QUOTE]
Isn’t much of the gods carried in containers actually palatalized?
There were probably “little need for” pallets and side loading anywhere before Fred Olsen started using it on his Canary - London Line, back in the early 1960s, or for containers before Sea and Land developed it as a means of modular transport.
If we cannot accept new technology because nobody has done it, (or in this case, nobody in the US is doing it) we’ll still be in the “stone age”, shipping wise.
[/Flambait]
