Workboat articles from October 2006

Workboat archives from October 2006

Make ID-reader delay permanent.(EDITOR'S WATCH)
October 1, 2006... It seems that the marine industry is faced with at least one controversial federal proposal each year. From oil-spill prevention to training standards to security measures, there's always something in the pipeline. And almost always, the...

Good experiences with the Coast Guard's Miami REC.(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... I read the August Mail Bag letter that complains about U.S. Coast Guard RECs ("Resents treatment mariners receive at exam centers"). I totally disagree with the writer's comments. Here in Miami I have had nothing but pleasant and...

More on the Rapp Hydema vs. Hagglunds debate.(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... In response to Rapp Hydema Vice President Scott Atkinson's Mail Bag letter that chastised Hagglunds (WorkBoat, August 2006, "Reader says Rapp's drives are superior to Hagglunds"), we need to set the record straight. Mr. Atkinson refers to...

Questions letter writer on use of foreign workers.(MAIL BAG)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... This is in regard to the Mail Bag letter in the August 2006 issue ("Looks forward to competing against foreigners for work") from Jake Lazarus on using foreign labor. Do you feel certain these patriotic corporations will pick you over...

Clarifies lead time for Twin Disc transmissions.(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... Upon review of the article "Waiting List" in your August 2006 issue, we noted some misleading information that we believe was a misprint or a misunderstanding. The quote indicated that the lead time for Twin Disc marine transmissions is 18...

On the water: under the bridge--part II.(workboats management)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... If bridge clearance information is readily available, why do tugs continue to strike bridges time and time again with their barge tows? What is often cited as a cause is insufficient or non-existent pre-voyage planning. In other words, the...

Captain's table: deadline extended for right whale rulemaking.(AT A GLANCE)
October 1, 2006... The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has extended the comment period on the proposed speed limits and other measures for passenger vessels and others that operate near endangered North Atlantic right whales. The comment period...

WorkBoat composite Index: Index down slightly in August.(AT A GLANCE)
October 1, 2006... There was relatively little movement in the WorkBoat Index in August, which lost 6 points. Most of the comparative indexes were also relatively unchanged. For the month, losers topped winners 19-17. Big winners included Ambassadors...

OSV day rates: rates up for supply boats.(AT A GLANCE)
October 1, 2006... Beginning this month, we've made a change to the vessel categories in WorkBoat's monthly survey of offshore service vessel day rates. Based on input from OSV operators, the number of horsepower categories for anchor-handling tug/supply (AHTS)...

Inland insider: company town reborn.(AT A GLANCE)
October 1, 2006... Remember the "company town" where everything from housing to the local store was owned by the company? The early model for U.S. industrialization was the company that owned everything from raw materials to the final product. Steel company mills...

Q&A: Ken Wells, president, Offshore Marine Service Association.(AT A GLANCE)(Interview)
October 1, 2006... WorkBoat: What needs to be done to eliminate delays and fix the current mariner licensing system? Wells: Our industry has really borne much of the brunt of the problems experienced by the loss of the REC in New Orleans. That was the REC of...

Legal talk: federal vs. state: preemption in maritime law.(marine environmental regulations)
October 1, 2006... Our legal system sometimes faces situations where U.S. federal law butts heads with state law. It happens often with marine environmental regulations. Our founding fathers must have anticipated this because Article VI of the Constitution...

Hillside, N.J.-based marine salvage, heavy lift, dredging, and emergency response company Donjon Marine recently removed the Navy research vessel Shadwell (above) and salvaged the ex-troop carrier State of Maine.(NEWS LOG)
October 1, 2006... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Hillside, N.J.-based marine salvage, heavy lift, dredging, and emergency response company Donjon Marine recently removed the Navy research vessel Shadwell (above) and salvaged the ex-troop carrier State of...

GAO report backs USCG actions during Katrina.(NEWS BITTS)(Government Accountability Office)(United States. Coast Guard)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The U.S. Coast Guard has been roundly applauded for its actions before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. The agency prides itself on being prepared and being so is what led to its success, Capt. Frank M. Paskewich, Captain of the Port, New...

Louisiana governor fails to halt offshore lease sale.(NEWS LOG)
October 1, 2006... The state of Louisiana failed in its attempt to postpone what turned out to be the most successful Western Gulf lease sale in the past nine years. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco had sought a preliminary injunction to stop the Aug. 16...

Bay Area needs more emergency boats.(NEWS LOG)
October 1, 2006... Last spring, a San Francisco public policy group released a report on the need for more and better emergency water transportation in the Bay Area. The task force report from the business-sponsored Bay Area Council was motivated, in part,...

Feds delay portion of security ID rulemaking.(NEWS LOG)
October 1, 2006... Sometimes it pays to complain. And that's what thousands of maritime workers and companies did over the past few months when they told the federal government that new regulations to create transportation worker ID credentials (TWIC) are...

Hornblower to buy coastal cruisers.(Hornblower Marine Services acquires Cape May Light and Cape Cod Light)
October 1, 2006... Hornblower Marine Services has reached a tentative deal with the Maritime Administration to purchase the much-maligned coastal cruisers Cape May Light and Cape Cod Light. Hornblower hopes to have one vessel in operation on the Great Lakes...

Mariner credentials extended in the Gulf.(NEWS BITTS)
October 1, 2006... The Coast Guard has extended the expiration dates of licenses, merchant mariners' documents and certificates of registry held by mariners that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. The measure applies to certain mariners holding any of the...

Hurricane response discussed at meeting.(NEWS LOG)
October 1, 2006... When Hurricane Ivan made landfall on the Gulf Coast in 2004, it effectively shut down inland coastal transportation for nearly six days. About a year later, Hurricane Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast. Again, the Gulf Intracoastal...

Water works: WRDA legislation finally passes, but uncertainties remain.(Water Resources Development Act, inland water transportation regulation)
October 1, 2006... The champagne's on ice, but no one's popping the corks yet. After a six-year drought, the Water Resources Development Act finally passed both houses of Congress. Now legislators have to square their separate versions of the $10 billion...

Weather changes: emergency communications targeted after last year's hurricanes.(2005 HURRICANES)
October 1, 2006... The aftershocks of 2005's hurricanes are still being felt in the maritime world and have lead to some positive changes in the way the industry conducts business. Just as the storm-devastated areas of Louisiana and Mississippi struggle to...

Design and build: four Seattle naval architect firms have developed a national renown.(NAVAL ARCHITECTS)
October 1, 2006... Even though they may be located in the remote, northwest corner of the country, many Seattle-area companies are at the center of the commercial marine universe. This is especially true of four successful naval architecture/marine engineering...

City slickers: security funds help boost the municipal boat market.(using municipal boats for patrolling water transportation)
October 1, 2006... Terrorist threats, drug interdiction, search and rescue, fire response, license enforcement, and boating under the influence--these are among the challenges that law enforcement officers who patrol U.S. municipal waterways face daily. And...

Master Boat delivers three OSVs to Abdon Callais.(ON THE WAYS)
October 1, 2006... The relationship between Master Boat Builders Inc. and Abdon Callais Offshore LLC remains strong as evidenced by three recent deliveries of offshore service vessels to the Golden Meadow, La., boat operator. In June, Bayou La Batre,...

City of Seattle gets first of two new fireboats.(ON THE WAYS)
October 1, 2006... After a series of severe waterfront fires, Seattle residents and city officials finally realized the need for updated marine firefighting equipment and authorized the funding of two new fireboats--one 50' fast responder and one 108' large...

VT Halter lands another ATB contract from Crowley.(ON THE WAYS)
October 1, 2006... VT Halter Marine Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., was awarded a new contract in September from Vessel Management Services Inc. to build four additional 185,000-bbl articulated tug-barge units. The ATBs are valued at about $240 million (including...

Gladding-Hearn launches another water taxi for N.Y.(ON THE WAYS)
October 1, 2006... In September, Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding Corp., Somerset, Mass., launched the third 72'X39' water taxi for New York Water Taxi. Incat Crowther, Sydney, Australia, designed the new boat, the Ed Rogowsky. The first two boats were the Seymour...

Boatbuilding bitts.(ON THE WAYS)
October 1, 2006... Quality Shipyards LLC, Houma, La., recently delivered the 217'X46'X17' OSV Pat Taylor to offshore service vessel operator Tidewater Inc., New Orleans. Quality is a subsidiary of Tidewater. The boat's main propulsion comes from twin Caterpillar...

Rate hike: insurance premiums jump after last year's costly hurricane season.(COVER STORY)
October 1, 2006... Predictions of more major storms during this year's hurricane season have given many in the maritime industry another reason to worry. Big storms will undoubtedly mean more big increases in insurance costs. Many have already seen huge...

Shipyards pay more, barge operators level.
October 1, 2006... Just like the insurance companies, vessel and shipyard owners that operate in hurricane zones are calculating risks. Some are reducing or dropping coverage, while others are self insuring. The Risk and Insurance Management Society's (RIMS)...

Water slicers: Lockheed aims to get a 'SLICE' of the crewboat market with a new design.(FAST CREWBOATS)
October 1, 2006... U.S. entrepreneurs have always been quick to find commercial applications for military innovations, and the offshore service vessel industry is no exception. Lockheed Martin Corp., famous for spacecraft and fighter jets, has designed and...

Role model: more are making the move to 3-D boatbuilding software.(BOATBUILDING SOFTWARE)
October 1, 2006... There aren't many boatyards that still rely on pencils and drafting boards for working up the designs and engineering for the boats they build. Most small and medium-sized boatyards have probably made the transition from drafting board to...

Cook Composites and Polymers.(WORKBOAT BUSINESS)
October 1, 2006... Cook Composites and Polymers (CCP), Kansas City, Mo., broke ground recently on a new state-of-the-art technical center due to open in late November. The expansion will double the size of the center to 16,000 sq. ft. CCP is the world's largest...

Russell Crofts has been named managing director for Premier Oilfield Rentals, a subsidiary of Houma.(Superior Energy Services)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Russell Crofts has been named managing director for Premier Oilfield Rentals, a subsidiary of Houma, La.-based Superior Energy Services. Crofts has been with Premier Oilfield Rentals, headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland, for the past 25 years,...

The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority recently chose new MTU engines to re-power its fast ferry, the Flying Cloud.(WORKBOAT BUSINESS)
October 1, 2006... The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority recently chose new MTU engines to re-power its fast ferry, the Flying Cloud. The ferry was fitted with twin MTU 16V4000 M70 engines, each capable of producing 3,110 hp at 2,000...

The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers has partnered with JobTarget to launch a new full-service online career center for maritime professionals.(WORKBOAT BUSINESS)
October 1, 2006... The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers has partnered with JobTarget to launch a new full-service online career center for maritime professionals. SNAME's home page, www.sname.org, provides the link between member and non-member...

New charting system.(PRODUCT LOCKER)
October 1, 2006... The new SI-TEX ColorMax 15 Color LCD charting system with GPS WAAS receiver offers self-contained navigation on an LCD daylight-viewable screen. The high-resolution 15" color active matrix LCD display has 1024X768 pixels, a 500-nit brightness,...

Concrete scraper.(PRODUCT LOCKER)
October 1, 2006... Blastrac has upgraded its BMS 220BX battery-powered scraper. The new model features improved battery performance for higher productivity and longer run times between charges. The ride-on scraper is used to remove a wide range of materials from...

Genset filtering system.(PRODUCT LOCKER)
October 1, 2006... Walker Engineering has released an improved AIRSEP closed-crankcase breathing system for marine diesel gensets. The new AIRSEP system is rated for diesel-powered marine generators up to 30 kw. Features and benefits of the Genset AIRSEP include...

Fiberglass building tools.(PRODUCT LOCKER)
October 1, 2006... Marine products distributor Arcco Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has added three new products to its series of carbide-coated cutting tools designed for the manufacture of fiberglass boats and components. The Aggressor 4.5" 46-grit Carbide...

New charting software.(PRODUCT LOCKER)
October 1, 2006... Toronto-based Northport Systems Inc., a manufacturer of GPS mapping software, recently released Fugawi Marine ENC version 4.10 software. The new version now offers full compatibility with existing Navionics Gold+, Gold, Silver, and HotMaps...

Shore cable support.(PRODUCT LOCKER)
October 1, 2006... With the touch of a button, Glendinning Marine Products' Cablemaster units extend, retract and store many different sizes of shore-power cable, keeping them out of the water and the decks free of excess cable. Cablemaster comes in three models...

Calendar.(Calendar)
October 1, 2006... Oct. 1 MARITIME CELEBRATION The University of Delaware's and the Delaware Sea Grant College Program's annual Coast Day, Hugh R. Sharp Campus, University of Delaware, Lewis, Del. Tel: 302-831-8083 www.ocean.udel.edu/coastday...

WorkBoat: looks back.(Workboat archives)(waterways projects funding)(Ingalls Shipbuilding Inc. supplies vessels to Moore-McCormack Lines)(exports to Japan from Port of New Orleans )
October 1, 2006... October 1946 * A huge backlog of waterway and flood control projects have built up in recent years. Over $1.1 billion in rivers and harbors projects are now awaiting funding approval and over $1.5 billion in flood control projects. Prior...