Page 12: of Marine News Magazine (August 2005)

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M/V Chenega

Sets Sails

Alaska's second fast vehicle ferry, M/V

Chenega, sailed from Auke Bay late last month, en route to Prince William Sound, where it will serve the communities of

Cordova, Valdez, and Whittier. The ferry is expected to enter revenue service on about August 26, following nearly a month of crew and route training. "We are very pleased to finally have the

Chenega under way," said Captain John

Falvey, General Manager of the Alaska

Marine Highway System. "Labor issues have put it about two months behind schedule in going to Prince William

Sound, but we now have the vessel on its way to Cordova, so we are looking for- ward to its arrival there." "She has a crew of 14 on board, led by

Captain Pete McMahon," Falvey said. "After their arrival in Cordova, the crew will undergo 96 hours of training for the vessel, which should wrap-up by August 12. After that, the Chenega will have to make 12 non-revenue round-trips to each of the ports she will serve in Prince

William Sound. We are targeting August 26 to have that completed, at which time we will welcome aboard our first passen- gers."

Falvey said that, while the period dur- ing which the Chenega will actually be able to carry passengers in PWS will be relatively short before the vessel returns to Southeast in mid-September, the major benefit is in getting the training taken care of this summer. "When she returns to Cor- dova in May next year, we will not have to delay for route training at that time, and should be able to start carrying passengers right away," he said.

Chenega is an aluminum, catamaran hull vessel designed to carry 250 passen- gers and 35 average sized vehicles. It is 235 feet long, with a 60 ft. beam and an 8 ft. draft. It is powered by 4 MTU diesel engines, driving four Kamewa waterjets.

Its service speed is 32 knots, with a top speed of 42 knots. It was built by Dereck- tor Shipyards of Bridgeport, Connecticut at a cost of $38 million.

Keppel FELS Wins $130M Rig Order

Keppel FELS Limited (Keppel FELS) won a contract to build a $130 million jackup for Gulf Drilling International Ltd.

The jackup, to be named GULF-5, will be delivered by end 2007. This is GDI's second jackup with Keppel FELS and fol- lows shortly after the first rig, GULF-4, was signed in December 2004. GULF-4, whose keel was laid this morning at the

Keppel FELS yard, is due for delivery end 2006. Both GULF-4 and GULF-5 are of

Keppel's proprietary KFELS B class design, and suitable for operation in the

Arabian Gulf and Indian waters. When completed, they will form GDI's fleet of five rigs. Mr Yousif R. Al-Khater, Manag- ing Director of GDI, shared, "Keppel

FELS is our choice partner as they have the tried and tested KFELS B class rigs that are operating successfully in different parts of the world. We are also impressed with their engineering capability and excellent execution of the Gulf-4 current- ly under construction at its yard. 12 • MarineNews • August, 2005

NEWS

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