I heard Seacor bought the boats.
I’m with seacor and haven’t heard anything about that yet
Lmfao! That’s f##$kn great!
Have not heard that one… But ECO did purchase the GOL dock a week or two ago. My take is they sold to recapitalize their new build program.
GOL must be really stretched financially if they are selling their real estate to pay for new builds… Seems odd to have a new fleet of vessels and no dock space for them…may have been an offer to good to pass up. There must be a method to their madness.
I think Gary just does not like the idea of another company or person owning land in Fourchon.
Not sure where you heard that. Harvey’s new construction vessels are, as Chief Rob stated, only 300’ and some change. Based largely on the PSV hull. The only news I have of anything larger is with HOS. Technip is so impressed with the performance of the Iron Horse, a Merwede T-22 design, the plans are for the construction of one or more of the larger T-24 or T-26 designs by Hornbeck. Jones Act vessel, of course, this time…The T-22’s are 430’. The T-26’s would be just pushing 500’.
[QUOTE=ElCapitan;82686]I think Gary just does not like the idea of another company or person owning land in Fourchon.[/QUOTE]
Does any company, including Chouest, actually own the land in Fourchon? My understanding is that it is all owned by the port authority and leased to the companies there. Gary Chouest obviously swings the biggest iron pipe down there so gets pretty much what he wants in the port but some companies like Nabors Drilling (the Pool Rigs) have that prime real estate tied up from deals made very early on there. I wonder how much it would cost to buy out their lease? There have to have been big $$$ offers made but so far they must he holding out?
I think Gary and some of the long time tenants got 100 year leases when there was nothing there. I bet you he has some ridiculous price of $100 per month an acre. His boats tie up everywhere and act like they own the whole town. I’d also bet you half or more of the businesses pay rent to him. He’s always building boats even in down times the rent money alone probably floats most of his operation.
[QUOTE=rjbpilot;82697]Not sure where you heard that. Harvey’s new construction vessels are, as Chief Rob stated, only 300’ and some change. Based largely on the PSV hull. The only news I have of anything larger is with HOS. Technip is so impressed with the performance of the Iron Horse, a Merwede T-22 design, the plans are for the construction of one or more of the larger T-24 or T-26 designs by Hornbeck. Jones Act vessel, of course, this time…The T-22’s are 430’. The T-26’s would be just pushing 500’.[/QUOTE]
This obviously is in keeping with IHC Merwede’s joint venture agreement with BAE Systems/Atlantic Marinewhich have the capabilities to build these vessels in Mobile now and possibly in Jacksonville with upgrades in the future. Without question, this will be huge news when a formal announcement is made which I would hope will be soon lest somebody else book the slots. So it will be ECO in Tampa, OCLLC in Anacortes (Dakota Creek) and HOS in Mobile to be advancing into building these superships in the USA which is the best thing that can happen to start the process to move the Norwegians out of the GoM.
If I were Dakota Creek, I’d look to start a Gulf Division to get closer to the action but I don’t know if they have the managment depth to do that? Of course, OCLLC could just bypass Dakota Creek and build a new bigger yard themselves. Still with Avondale soon to be going away, there is an excellent opportunity here now to acquire people (provided that only people who give a shit about their quality and productivity get the job offers). Plus there will be a shitload of bigship grade equipment to buy on the cheap. One thing is that you wouldn’t want to use the same site on the river even though the facilities are already there. Too much of nasty smell now there from too many years of complete shit quality work for the Navy. The question though is where would one want to set up a new yard in the Gulf? I have often wondered about Freeport or Corpus or maybe in Lake Charles or Orange? I wished Tim Colton would join this forum to talk about shipbuilding. Maybe I’ll send him an invite?
Believe it or not but there has been some negotiations with Bay Ship in Wisconsin, on the Great Lakes, to build them… They are currently building two 300’ PSV’s for Tidewater…ice classed, Polish design.
Speaking of Tidewater, this vessel, the Enabler, is what the Harvey Deep Seas will look like. It’s the STX Design 315’ Light Construction vessel.
The Tidewater Enabler is working off Mexico presently. It’s Vanuatu Flagged.
I have worked with a couple of vessels of the same class. They are too small and unstable when you gotta come alongside get within 20 feet because the crane can’t boom out any further and offload a jumper. Give me the BOA Deep Sea or REN CLOUGH any day even though they are foreign, they have larger cranes.
ENABLER is kind of an ironic name, it ENABLES them to work it in the GOM when the time comes with a foreign crew.
[QUOTE=Traitor Yankee;79828]I heard drifting around the office the other day that chouest did buy GOL’s dock in slip B[/QUOTE]
Chouest indeed purchased the dock for $28 million from GOL. GOL had $34 million in the dock and sold because they were losing money and didn’t have the personnel or knowledge to effectively run it. One of their biggest customers, Devon Energy, was sold and others were moving out when things got really slow.
Harvey Gulf will ultimately end up buying GOL’s deep water OSV’s and the rest of the boats are currently for sale under the radar. The owner wants out and recently sold one of his other companies, Go Coil. I guess getting the low down is one of the few benefits of working shore side.
[QUOTE=Saltine;82754]Harvey Gulf will ultimately end up buying GOL’s deep water OSV’s and the rest of the boats are currently for sale under the radar. The owner wants out and recently sold one of his other companies, Go Coil. I guess getting the low down is one of the few benefits of working shore side.[/QUOTE]
I have often wondered how the OSV market worked in the GoM? How many boats are on long term contract to the operators and how many are on the spot market? It is odd that with some operators all the boats they hire seem to be with one company but with others it seems that boats from just about everybody are arriving at the rigs? How are OSV companies judged by the operators if there are not price wars in the GoM market (which I don’t believe happens since there is OMSA). How does a small deepwater OSV company like a GOL or a Gulfmark compete against an ECO or HOS?
Just a wonderin?
I certainly don’t know, but I suspect that it goes something like this: The big boat companies get more than their share of the higher rate long term contracts, and while the smaller operators get long term contracts too, they mostly depend upon the spot market, and work at a discount to the major players. Not everyone needs the biggest and best or wants to pay for it. If the biggest and best couple of companies become too big they will be able to dictate price, so the oil companies need to keep some scrappy small independents in business to keep the big companies competitive. Often personal relationships probably matter as much as objective quanitative or qualitative measures of service.
[QUOTE=c.captain;82726]
If I were Dakota Creek, I’d look to start a Gulf Division to get closer to the action but I don’t know if they have the managment depth to do that? Of course, OCLLC could just bypass Dakota Creek and build a new bigger yard themselves. ?[/QUOTE]
Rumor has it that OCLLC already has a brother in law deal set up with Gulf Island Fab. They are going to start doing like Choest does build everything in pieces at thier own yard and take it down to Gulf Island FAb to finish putting it together, then push it out the bayou. They already have a couple in the works that are to big to get under the bridge in Houma, from what I am hearing.
[QUOTE=c.captain;82768]I have often wondered how the OSV market worked in the GoM? How many boats are on long term contract to the operators and how many are on the spot market? It is odd that with some operators all the boats they hire seem to be with one company but with others it seems that boats from just about everybody are arriving at the rigs? How are OSV companies judged by the operators if there are not price wars in the GoM market (which I don’t believe happens since there is OMSA). How does a small deepwater OSV company like a GOL or a Gulfmark compete against an ECO or HOS?
Just a wonderin?[/QUOTE]
Contrary to popular belief there are not that many operators who have vessels on long term contracts (i.e. 2+ years). Chouest is one of the few that has long term contracts for his vessels because he has the resources to move quickly, built up relationships, other offerings (C-Port, Fourchon Heavy Lift, etc…) and is the biggest player in the deepwater segment. So he doesn’t have to get the highest rate out there beause he has piece of mind that for the next 5 years his newbuild is on charter and after the charter is up they will probably renew because so many vessels are built for specific projects or clients needs. HOS has several long term contracts but they are usually after getting the highest rates and always pushing the envelope a little further. This seems to work for them and is their approach to the “game.” Then you have companies like GOL who build middle of the road equipment and work them for cheap prices but in return want all the work from a client and make their real money in brokering vessels. Black Elk Energy is one of their biggest clients who they do this with and at times they have over 100 vessels brokered to various clients. If you put $500/day on top of what you are brokering a vessel for, times 100 boats, that adds up to pretty good revenue with no overhead. That’s $50,000/day profit for finding a vessel for you client and then marking it up for your work as a middle man. Kilgore Marine is another example of only having a couple of boats but having a huge brokerage market.
The entertaining of customers is another part of the ballgame that most people can’t begin to comprehend. Football tickets, golfing, skeet shooting, hunting trips, dinners, strip clubs, etc… are just the tip of the iceberg in what operators almost have to do to get work from some clients. Most have elaborate hunting lodges and will take clients wherever they desire once they find out what that person is interested in. Do you think Gary Chouest has his houseboat parked in Fourchon during the summer, plus his 75 ft plus sportfishers, just because the weathers good? He has personal chef’s and maids to cater to the Shell, BP, etc… reps that are in Fourchon for work. He doesn’t own 20,000 acres in South Texas with a runway and hanger for his jets for nothing either. His home in the Grand Caymans gets used quite a bit with clients as well from what I hear. Lots of independently owned companies have sportfishing vessels locally or in Costa Rica for the sole purpose of taking clients. GOL and C&G both have vessels just to name a few. The person responsible for chartering vessels for Oil and Gas firms have more free stuff thrown at them than they can shake a stick at. Some do business the proper and honest way and others take everything they can get. It’s a sad reality of the world we live in today.
There are lots of Oil and Gas firms who just won’t pay for a Chouest or HOS vessel because it doesn’t make financial sense to their operation. McMoran is one company for instance that flat out refuses to pay the big rates for drilling vessels. They will use companies like Kim Susan, Odyssea Marine, etc… that have 200-240’ vessels for fair rates and just charter 4-5 of them instead of 1 or 2 280’ vessels with 3 times the day rate. Here’s another one for you. International Offshore Services gets all of the marine business for McMoran Oil and Gas. How does a company with 60+ plus crappy utility boats get all of the production and drilling work from one companuy? The oilfield at its best again, their owner pumped $30 million into McMoran when he sold a majority share of International in return for all of the marine business! So at any given time there are 30 boats working for McMoran thru International because they don’t have the equipment to work and get a few hundred dollars/day per vessel in commission. All work thru Energy 21 and Hall Houston go thru Otto Candies in the same way, Candies owns a share of each of those companies. The majors don’t really play these types of games but the independents are a whole different animal with a different set of rules. When GOL opened its dock they brought in some of their best clients to lease dock/office space from and gave them a good deal to get all of their marine business at great day rates. Seems that when you add up all of these deals GOL made its ultimately coming back to bite them in the butt. You can only give away stuff for so long before it cripples your company.
I don’t think most publicly traded companies want ethics violations hanging over their heads. Gary is private so he can wheel and deal like that.
Dont be so sure, all the boat companies deal in strippers and blow even if they are public. Most of the oil companies are and it sure as hell dosent stop them from excepting the trips and gifts.
Damn I’m getting a job in the sales department then!