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62MNNovember 2011monohulls but use them more for transporting cargo than passenger service. ?In foreign markets, however, passenger service is the primary role and cargo is secondary,? he said. ?Catamarans are in greater demand outside the U.S.? A four-year, U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management study, conducted by Louisiana State University's Coastal Marine Institute to analyze demand for support vessels and helicopters in the GOM, will be complete in 2012,BOEM said in late October. The $344,053 study aims to develop methods and equations to forecast trips to off- shore oil-and-gas exploration and development sites, according to the agency. SUPPLY BOATS HAVE GROWN INLENGTH, TIDEWATER EXECSAYS Joe Bennett, Executive Vice President and Chief Investor Relations Officer at New Orleans-based Tidewater Inc., said ?we have approximately fifteen, fast, 170-foot crew boats, with one still under construction. But crew boats have always been a relatively small part of our business.? Tidewater's emphasis in recent years has been on towing supply vessels and larger, deep water sup- ply boats. ?We don't have any 170-foot crew boats cur- rently working in the Gulf of Mexico, and our fleet of fif- teen or so is spread in various international areas," McCall Tidewater deepwater supply vessel working in the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo courtesy: Tidewater) MN#11 (50-65):MN 2011 Layouts 10/28/2011 10:33 AM Page 62