Page 54: of Marine News Magazine (September 2013)

lion-gallon refueling vessel; one 318 multi-purpose construction supply vessel, with a150-metric ton motion- compensated deck crane; one 318 diesel electric well-stimulation vessel; ? ve 201 DP-2 fast supply vessels; and two 194 DP-2 fast supply vessels. Among the new vessels will be ? ve 303 diesel electric 5,150-metric-ton deadweight Brazilian-built PSVs; two 316 26,000 HP hybrid propulsion Brazilian-built AHTS with 300-met- ric-ton bollard pull; and ? ve 304 clean design, 5,500-deadweight-ton Polish-built PSVs. In July, Chouest President Gary Chouest characterized his ? rm as customer-centric,? one which pro- vides state-of-the-art vessels, along with subsea services, fully-integrated logistics, expanded terminal facilities and shorebase support. The companys worldwide ? eet includes nearly 250 specialized offshore service and sup- port vessels. Notably, Chouest is also the largest U.S. designer, builder, own- er and operator of ice-breaking vessels. Two new ice-class vessels for Arctic service are under design now in Loui- siana. They will be the ? fth and sixth ice-break vessels in the companys ? eet. HORNBECKS HOSMAX NEWBUILDS Covington-based Hornbeck Off- shore also expects Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling activity to grow. A total of 37 deepwater units are work- ing in the GOM now, President and CEO Todd Hornbeck said during the companys Aug. 1 report on quarterly earnings. Two of these units are tran- sitioning between drilling locations,? he said. We anticipate an incremental four to six units to commence drilling by the end of this year,? with an ad- ditional, 14 deepwater drilling units likely to be delivered through 2014. In addition to impetus from future drilling, demand for vessels is driven by activities that follow a drilling cam- paign, including fuel development, production, IRM or Inspection, Re- pair and Maintenance and decom- missioning. A number of signi? cant, ongoing and planned projects in the Gulf are offsprings of past drilling ac- tivity,? Hornbeck said on Aug. 1. Roughly 115 U.S.-? agged, high- speci? cation OSVs are operating in the GOM, and 20 of those belong to Hornbeck. The company is currently building 23 HOSMAX 300 class OSVs and MPSVs, under its ? fth OSV new- build program, for service in the GOM on dates extending through 2016. In late June, Hornbeck delivered its ? rst HOSMAX OSV 300 class newbuild, which was chartered in the Gulf right from the shipyard. Four, additional HOSMAX 300 class ves- sels should be ready later this year. At the beginning of August, the ? rst three of ? ve HOSMAX OSVs to be deliv- ered in 2013 were chartered for peri- ods ranging from six months to three years, and the company was close to ? -nalizing a customer for the fourth ves- sel of the ? ve. Were pleased with the charter rates that we secured for these three initial deliveries from our current Chouests C-Port 2 facility in Port Fourchon September 201354 MNMN Sept2013 Layout 50-65.indd 548/29/2013 4:51:03 PM