what the fuck is with these hurricane bows on new Gulf supply boats these days?..this ain’t the Goddamned North Sea for Christ’s Sake!
[B]Latest generation of OSVs are coming on line.[/B]
By Bruce Buls, Technical Editor
4/23/2013
(Turdwater’s butt ugly idea for their latest OSVs)
It’s time to practice swinging those champagne bottles. It’ll soon be christening time Down South for a steady flow of new offshore supply vessels that are starting to come down the ways.
The OSVs will be added to the fleets of most major players, and some smaller operators too, in the Gulf of Mexico’s offshore oil and gas industry.
Deepwater permitting increased steadily in 2012, and by November, there were more deepwater rigs in the U.S. Gulf than there were pre-Macondo. And the market should continue to strengthen.
With more activity farther offshore, supply boat operators are looking to design and build bigger boats. “You look at the rigs being farther and farther away and working in deeper waters, so the bigger boats make more sense because you can make a trip with a lot of product,” said Guido Perla of Guido Perla & Associates, Seattle, who has designed OSVs for both domestic and international clients. “But a smaller vessel gives you more flexibility to move the boat to different markets and the investment is less. When you start building a very big boat, then you are specializing a boat to a market.”
Christian Vaccari, president of LEEVAC Shipyards Jennings LLC, Jennings, La., said he remembers when 180-footers were the big boats. “More and more, we’ve now seeing guys want to move to the bigger vessels, the 270s, 290s, 300s. We’ve actually even quoted some 310s. It’s all about the capacities, especially liquid mud and overall deadweight tonnage.”
MORE HORNBECK OSVs
Covington, La.-based Hornbeck Offshore Services is placing its bets on bigger boats. In 2011, the company announced an aggressive $720 million newbuild program for 16 new U.S.-flagged, 300-class, DP-2 offshore supply vessels.
Last September, Hornbeck announced four additional newbuilds in its “Project Spartan/OSV Newbuild Program #5,” which now includes 20 new 300-class OSVs, 10 of which are being built at Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Panama City, Fla. VT Halter Marine, Pascagoula, Miss., is building the other 10.
The first new vessels of Project Spartan have been recently launched: the Red Dawn at Eastern in March and the HOS Commander at VT Halter in April. The Red Dawn is the first of four HOSMax 300 vessels that measure 292’×64’×24’6". Deadweight capacity is 5,650 LT. The diesel-electric HOSMax 300s will feature four Cat 3516C generators (1,825 kW each). Propulsion includes Schottel Z-drives and tunnel thrusters. Total horsepower is 6,700.
The remaining six Eastern boats are slightly larger HOSMax 310 diesel electrics (302’×64’×26’) with a total capacity of 6,144 DWT.
STX Marine, Houston, provided the designs for the HOSMax 300 and the HOSMax 310, which are based on the Tiger Shark-class PSVs, which have been built at Eastern for New Orleans-based Harvey Gulf International Marine and Aries Marine Corp., Lafayette, La.
The HOS Commander is the first of the 10 HOSMax 320-class 319’6"×64’, 6,200-DWT PSVs. The 320s are also powered by 3516C Cats, but the engines turn high-efficiency, controllable-pitch propellers instead of electric Z-drives. The 320s will have two Brunvoll tunnel thrusters in the bow and a Brunvoll tunnel thruster in the stern.
All the Hornbeck HOSMax vessels will be SOLAS certified and have firefighting capability. All are scheduled to be delivered by early 2015.
Hornbeck is also stretching six 200’×56’×15’6", DP-1 OSVs that were built in 1999 and 2000 purchased by Hornbeck in 2007. After adding a 40’ midbody extension, the boats will be able to carry an additional 600 tons (for a total of 2,850 DWT) and will double the liquid-mud capacity to about 8,000 bbls. Bollinger Shipyards got the $50 million stretching job, which includes upgrades to DP-2. All six should be back at work by the end of 2013.
Ambitious as this is, the 20 new OSVs and six stretched OSVs for Hornbeck could just be the beginning of a program to build an additional 44 boats, if all options are exercised.
Hornbeck’s new vessels would also include at least two — and as many as eight — HOSMax 300-class, DP-2 multipurpose supply vessels (MPSVs) with 250-ton cranes and ROV docking stations. In a presentation to investors in February, Hornbeck said its market share of new-generation, Jones Act OSVs with at least 5,000-DWT capacity will grow from its current 8 percent to 44 percent by 2015.
OTHER VESSELS
Harvey Gulf has also been adding new, high-spec OSVs to its fleet, including three DP-2 292’×64’×24’6" Tiger Shark-class boats built at Eastern. The Sisuaq, the Harvey Supporter and the Harvey Champion were all delivered within the past couple years. The Harvey Champion is the 10th vessel that Eastern has built and delivered to Harvey Gulf since 2002. The diesel-electric Tiger Sharks are powered by four Cummins QSK60-DM 16-cylinder Tier 2 diesel generators. Propulsion is provided by Schottel Z-drives aft and two tunnel thrusters forward. Total capacity is 5,650 DWT.
Eastern is also scheduled to deliver the Harvey Deep Sea, a DP-2 multipurpose light construction vessel (LCV), to Harvey Gulf in June. The 302’×64’×24’6" LCV, an STX CV310 design, will be equipped with an active heave-compensated 165-ton knuckle-boom offshore crane capable of lifting/setting 100 tons at depths up to 10,000’. Tankage on the diesel-electric Harvey Deep Sea includes 19,870 bbls. of liquid mud and 1,700 bbls. of methanol. Main propulsion will be provided by four Caterpillar 3516, 2,250-kW generators (12,064 total hp) powering two 2,500-kW SchottelZ-drives and three Schottel bowthrusters.
Harvey Gulf’s other big OSV project is the construction of four 302’×64’× 24’6" dual-fuel (LNG and diesel) DP-2 PSVs at TY Offshore, Gulfport, Miss. With a 5,520-DWT capacity, the four PSVs will be the first U.S.-flagged, LNG-powered vessels built in the U.S. Wärtsilä is providing the engines, tanks and fuel-management systems.
Harvey Gulf is also stretching five of nine 210’×56’ PSVs purchased in 2012 from Bee Mar. By adding 50’, the 2,700-DWT PSVs will increase to 3,700 DWT. Bollinger is doing the work.
Aries Marine recently signed a contract with LEEVAC to build two diesel-electric, DP-2, 270’×56’×21’6" PSVs. The 4,000-DWT capacity PSVs will be powered by four 3516C Caterpillar1,825-kW generators. Schottel will provide the propulsion drives and thrusters. Delivery dates for the two 270s are in 2014 and 2015.
In April, LEEVAC was awarded a contract from Tidewater Marine, New Orleans, for two 300’×62’×24’ diesel-electric, DP-2 PSVs with options for two more. The 5,400-DWT capacity PSVs will be powered by four Tier 3 Caterpillar 3516C generators rated at 2,100-kW each. Leevac is also building a new MMC 879 PSV for Tidewater.
BAE Systems, Mobile, Ala., is building two U.S.-flag 288’×62’ DP-2 PSVs for GulfMark Offshore with options for two more. BAE’s Jacksonville, Fla., shipyard is busy with four new 252’×60’×25’3" PSVs for Jackson Offshore Operators. The Guido Perla-designed vessels will have a total deadweight capacity of 3,500 MT. The diesel-electric OSVs will feature an integrated Rolls-Royce ship propulsion package with Azipull thrusters, which are Rolls-Royce’s azimuthing pulling propellers. The first PSV is scheduled for delivery in May 2014 and the second in September 2014.
GulfMark is also having two 280-class DP-2, 3,500-DWT PSVs built at Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors, Houma, La. In December, Thoma-Sea launched its largest vessel to date at its Lockport, La., yard, the 294’×62’ Taylor James for Gulf Offshore Logistics.
Master Boat Builders, Bayou La Batre, Ala., recently finished its 60th vessel built for Golden Meadow, La.-based Abdon Callais Offshore. The 220’×48’×16’ DP-2 OSV Peter W. Callais has room for 80,000 gals. of fuel and 4,280 bbls. of liquid mud. The Rachel A. Callais, a sister vessel, will be delivered in July.
Last September, Edison Chouest Offshore announced that an additional eight U.S.-built, deepwater OSVs will be delivered within the next 24 months. The 300’-class vessels are in the early stages of construction at the company’s four shipyards.
In late April, Bordelon Marine Inc., Lockport, La., is expected to take delivery of the Connor Bordelon, the first of three Stingray-class 252’×52’×18’, 3,300-DWT, DP-2 PSVs.
Still damned glad that all these boats are a commin the the GoM! Jobs, jobs and more jobs!