Page 14: of Marine News Magazine (January 2006)

13 15

By Larry Pearson

Although Katrina got a lot of publicity for being a killer storm, Hurricane Rita that followed a month later, was more devastating to Louisiana shipyards inland and west of Katrina's track.

Geo Shipyard, New Iberia, La., was in the path of the storm surge from Rita with water from the Gulf of Mex- ico that inuindated the yard on Friday, October 23. The shipyard took over six feet of water. "We lost welding equipment, milling machines, lathes and a lot of power tools," said David Lecompte, who along with his broth- er Randy, run the yard. "All three of our offices took on huge amounts of water and two of them were a total loss," Lecompte said.

Geo rebuilt its production office. The company moved another trailer on site for office space.

Most of the company's employees returned a few days later to begin the task of cleanup that took about a month. With cleanup complete the workers were able to turn their attention to their main skill, building boats.

Nothing replaces the memory of a disaster better than a new boat building contract.

Geo now has under construction at 70 x 24-ft. Sub- chapter T ferry for the State of Georgia Natural

Resources for Sapelo Island.

The all aluminum vessel has a enclosed main deck and an open top deck with four abreast bench seating on both decks for 149 passengers. The new vessel is of catamaran design with a Caterpillar C18 engine rates at 700 hp in each hull. The starboard hull also has a 33 kW genset. Both hulls have a 700-gallon fuel tank just for- ward of the engine it serves.

The vessel is set for August 2006 delivery. Geo also has a small RIB under construction as well.

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Geo Shipyard: Still Recoving From Rita

This photo of Geo Shipyard was taken by the U.S. Coast Guard two days after flood waters hit. Two seismic vessels (with canopies) are show at the left of the photo. Most other vessels in the picture are boats that sought refuge at Geo from the Gulf of Mexico during the hurricane.

General arrangement diagram of the new 149-passenegr ferry being built by Geo.

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