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Bollingers is bustling in this panoramic view of the Larose yard, with practically every dock, cranny, and nook full of boats. From left, Seamar's Cape Breton, in for regular drydocking; Trico's White River, ditto, one of five vessels soon to leave for a new home in China; Botruc's C-Truc 3, also in for a regular. Next Kline Danos, DP Conversion, being sandblasted and painted. In the water at right is Epic Seahorse 4, in for a major refurbishment. Another six boats were in the yard for everything from routine drydocking to major redoing. A few barges also crowded the big yard. (Photo: Don Sutherland.)
a safe place to return home and raise their children." That they should do so is of interest to a number of shipbuilders, they tell us, who have been pinched by a shortage of qualified workers. Why such a shortage? Not enough housing, is an answer heard in the vicinity of Lockport. Passage of the bill would also "protect American trade and energy security" by using offshore oil and gas revenues for better coastal hurricane-resistance, including stronger levees and comprehensive coastal restoration. The bill's provisions would pursue "a sensible, fiscally responsible, and long-term financing solution to a monumental problem that will require tens of billions of dollars over many years." The Gulf of Mexico represents one of the largest oil fields in the world, situated in a domain for which humans were not designed. It takes a lot to keep them intact, and getting things to them requires a massive infrastructure. While questions linger about Venice, there's no doubt about Fourchon. Its scale and volume of activities is enormous -- if not entirely well-known in circles outside -- yet it is still ostensibly vulnerable to washing away, along with the rest of the coast. Said Sen. Landrieu of the "73,000 football fields" of land stolen by "the storm," "Imagine that. An area more than twice the size of Washington, D.C., lost forever in a matter of hours."
Marketing, Robert Socha. On top of that, there's the upsurge in supply boats. Harvey Gulf, expanding its operation's scope, has been operating the 240-ft. OSV Harvey Provider. The company recently took delivery of the Harvey Discovery, a 265-ft. OSV, to be followed by three full SOLAS 280footers, beginning with the Harvey Spirit, according to the company's Capt. Jake Stahl. Bollinger has its first of ten in the works for Rigdon at its Larose yard. Other yards around the region showed hulls in good numbers, well on their way to completion. Katrina? They remember the flooding at VT Halter's yards at Pascagoula, and the high-water mark has been
marked on a pillar in an assembly shed. But the company's Bill Skinner almost forgot to mention it, as current events have everyone in a different present. Halter will be building some military ships, including a $199 million contract for the design and construction of a U.S. Navy Missile Range Instrumentation Ship. Under a Federal program, Halter has been awarded a design contract for a warship for the Egyptian Navy. The company will also have its hand in surveillance ships coming up. A double-ended ferry for the Martha's VinyardWoods Hole run off Cape Cod was in the water being outfitted at Halter's Moss Point yard. Nearby the hull of the Pisces was coming together on shore, as the
A few of the Harvey Gulf tugs lined-up at Port Fourchon. Less than 8,000 horsepower would be considered modest for tugs doing Gulf towing. (Photo: Don Sutherland.)
Katrina & The Shipyards
The shipbuilding business runs in cycles, but the present boom's buildup goes back to OPA 90. Look at all the new double-skin barges already built and still in the works -- Bollinger showed us a couple for K-Sea and for Reinauer, VT Halter showed us Crowley's new 180,000 BBL ATB, designed and built in-house -- a continuing succession of shipyard activity dictated by law. Bollinger Gulf Repair on the Industrial Canal has just put a couple large barges in the water for Penn and for Bouchard. More are scheduled to come in, according to the company's Executive Vice President of
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