Reporting on Marine Business & Technology since 1878MarineLoGwww.marinelog.com

May 2013

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The Road to RIO

May 2013 MARINE LOG 33

Shipbuilding

With President Obama out beating the drum for more investment in infrastructure and job creation, the U.S. Department of Transportation is pointing to a series of

export Platform Support Vessels under construction at Eastern Ship-building, Panama City, FL, as examples of the effectiveness of private public partnership.

The first of five Platform Supply Vessels, the 284 ft Bravante V, was launched at Eastern’s Nelson Street shipyard last month. The PSVs are being built for Boldini, S.A., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the help of a $240.8 million Title XI loan guarantee from the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The Bravante V is expected to be delivered this August, followed by the Bravante VI in November. The remaining three vessels, Bravante VII, Bravante VIII and Bravante IX, will be delivered in 2014. The diesel-electric vessels are designed by STX Marine Inc., Vancouver, BC, Canada.

“By choosing Eastern, Boldini helped create 350 jobs in Pan-ama City, which in turn added more than 2,600 overall new jobs to the U.S. economy through suppliers and other jobs in the local

economy,” says a posting on Fastlane, The Official Blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

“This is the kind of return we hoped for when we awarded East-ern two small shipyard grants totaling $3.4 million to buy new panel lines, and modern welding equipment,” continues Fastlane.

Fastlane says that the new panel line equipment enabled Eastern Shipbuilding to construct ship panels more quickly than they had previously, when each was built by hand. The end result was lower costs and much higher, more cost-efficient productivity at Eastern Shipbuilding.

“Thanks in large part to federal investments and the improve-ments they provided, Eastern manufactures an average of 18 vessels per year, delivering each on or ahead of schedule. More ves-sels create more business, and more jobs,” adds the Department of Transportation.

Once all the Eastern-built PSVs are delivered to Boldini, they will go to work for Brazil state-owned oil company Petrobras. Last month, Petrobras signed contracts for 23 offshore support vessels, as part of its third Fleet Renewal Plan for Offshore Support Vessels. The

Compiled by Marine Log Staff

The Bravante V, the first of five Platform Supply Vessels for Brazil’s Boldini, was recently launched at Eastern Shipbuilding

Road to RioEastern Shipbuilding launches first Platform

Supply Vessel for export to Brazil

34 MARINE LOG May 2013

Shipbuilding

vessels, type PSV 4500 and OSRV 750, meet 60 percent local content requirements and will be built at shipyards in Brazil.

Petrobras says “prices presented were competitive, given expected metrics and budgets.”

Later this year in July, Petrobras will go to the market for a fifth round of 24 offshore support vessels, thus fulfilling its 2014 contract-ing target of 146 vessels to be built in Brazil.

The operators selected included Starnav Servicos Maritimos Ltda., which will build four PSV 4500 design vessels at Detroit Brasil Ltda.; Galaxia Maritima Ltda., that will build four PSV 4500 and four OSRV 750 vessels at Erin (AM); Geonavegacao S.A. will build one PSV 4500 and two OSRV 750s at Estaleiro ILHA (RJ); Astromaritima Navegacao S.A. will build four OSRV 750s at Estaleiro ILHA (RJ) and Oceanpact Servicos Maritimos Ltda. will build four OSRV 750s at Intecnial (RS).

Meanwhile, the Boldini contract is a clear win for Eastern Ship-building. Few U.S. shipyards build commercial vessels for export. What’s baffling about the Boldini project is that the application for Title XI shipbuilding loan guarantee arrived at MarAd on March 10, 2009 and wasn’t approved until two years later.

There are currently two applications for Title XI shipbuilding loan guarantees: one from Pasha Hawaii Shipping Co. LLC for $155.94 million to build a container/Roll-on/Roll-Off vessel at VT Hal-ter Marine, Pascagoula, MS; another from Legacy Leader, LLC, for $369.73 million to build 10 PSVs split between Gulf Ship, LLC, Gulf-port, MS, LAShip, LLC, Houma, LA, North American Shipbuilding, LLC, Larose, LA, and TampaShip, LLC, Tampa, FL.

Eastern Shipbuilding also holds contracts for a dozen OSVs for Hornbeck Offshore Services, Covington, LA, three others and an IMR/PSV for Harvey Gulf International Marine, New Orleans, LA, as well as a series of towboats for Florida Marine Transporters.

Speaking to the Florida shipbuilder’s versatility, last month it also announced it would build a DNV-classed freezer stern trawler for long-time client O’Hara Corporation, Rockland, ME.

Based on an ST-115 design from Skipsteknisk, AS, Aalesund, Nor-way, the 194 ft x 49 ft commercial fishing vessel will be named the F/V Aharo. Its propulsion system will meet the latest in EPA emission Tier 3 certification. The main engine will be a single EMD MEL16-710G7-Tier 3 diesel engine rated at 4,000 hp at 900 rev/min. O’Hara Corporation is furnishing the propulsion vertical offset Lufkin reduc-tion gear model VSQ4134HG-K-PTO with a 7.20:1 reduction. While the vessel is underway, a propulsion gear driven 1,700 kW shaft gen-erator at 1,200 rev/min variable speed generates constant voltage for the vessel’s primary electrical power source for its winches, process-ing, fish handling systems, pumps and ships services.

The F/V Aharo is fully equipped with systems for bottom and pelagic trawling with single trawl. Eastern will deliver the stern trawler in mid-2015. ■

MarAd Title XI shipbuilding loan guarantees of $240.8 million are supporting the Boldini project

New fuels, new engines and new designs are becoming available for the existing fleet. The difficulty for shipowners, builders, equipment makers and financiers is not only what technology to support but when to invest.

Whatever technology or solution you’re exploring for your fleet, we’re here to help you assess it, understand it and make it safe.

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