Page 50: of Marine News Magazine (June 2011)

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FDNY Marine Ops’ New Travelift

The New York City Fire

Department (FDNY) is the largest fire department in the U.S. and pro- tects 560 miles of waterfront with a fireboat fleet. To increase its boat haul-out abilities FDNY Marine

Operations opened up a competitive bidding process for a new mobile boat hoist. Marine Travelift won the new account with its 50 BFMII mobile boat hoist and delivered it in

September of 2010. The most com- mon vessels the FDNY transports range from 25-ft open center console vessels to 27-ft full cabin crafts, up to and including its new 65-ft fireboat that weighs approximately 88,000 lbs. FDNY’s Marine Operations chose a new mobile boat hoist that offered the capability to perform lifts with slings and a special spreader with “pick points” for the vessels with foam collars, including its foam-stabi- lized SAFE Boat.

Weeks Marine to Build Ocean

Going Dredges

Weeks Marine Inc. (WMI), based in Cranford, N.J., announced two major additions to its fleet. By the end of 2011, the Weeks 315, a new ocean class, 30-inch, hydraulic cutter suction dredge will join Weeks

Marine’s large and diverse pipeline dredge fleet. Approximately two years later, a new large class, 8,500 cubic yard hopper dredge, the Weeks 475, will become WMI’s third hopper dredge. The Weeks 475 will be

WMI’s largest, fastest, most fuel effi- cient, most powerful pumping and most highly automated hopper dredge. The dredges doubles WMI’s current hopper dredge capacity, are designed specifically for conditions found offshore of the U.S. coast, and are part of WMI’s three-year, $200m plus capital investment program in five vessels. Construction of the

Weeks 315 is currently underway in an Ohio River shipyard and comple- tion is scheduled for an end-of-year delivery. The Weeks 475’s engineer- ing package was developed jointly by

WMI and IHC Merwede. The keel is scheduled to be laid in October, 2011. Both vessels will be equipped with EPA tier II engines and will fea- ture state-of-the-art AC drives to power the pumps, winches, cutter, jetting and other systems, all of which will be controlled by fully integrated and advanced automated systems.

PEOPLE & COMPANY NEWS 50 MN June 2011

JMS Acquires Research Vessel Design Firm

JMS Naval Architects & Salvage Engineers (JMS) acquired Roger Long Marine Architecture Inc. (RLMA). The acquisition includes exclusive rights to

RLMA’s Challenger class fast research vessels. Roger

Long, RLMA’s founder and principal designer, will become a senior design consultant to JMS’ research vessel design projects. The RV Gulf Challenger was designed and built in 1993 for the University of New

Hampshire and demonstrated that a small, fast research vessel can offer slow-speed efficiency and comfort equal to, or better than, heavier displacement vessels. Follow- on vessels in this series include the RV Fay Slover, selected as one of the 10 most significant vessels of the year by American Ship Review, the RV Tioga owned by

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and most recently, the 81-ft RV Rachel Carson launched in 2008 and owned by the University of Maryland. With a pair of 1,200 hp jet outdrives, the RV Rachel Carson cruis- es at 24 knots allowing researchers more time on sta- tion and less time in transit.

Photo courtesy JMS Naval Architects & Salvage Engineers

Photo courtesy Marine Travelift