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additional Chouest af? liate and support companies, in- cluding C-Port 2, Martin Terminal, Clean Tank, Fourchon Heavy Lift, C-Logistics and C-Terminal, have been added at Fourchon. Chouest is the leading terminal support pro- vider to the deepwater Gulf. Chouest af? liate C-Port 3, under construction now, will have six covered slips to transfer cargo and provide support for deepwater vessels. The multi-service terminal is slated to open by March 2014. Meanwhile, design is underway on C-Port 4, which should contain nine covered slips at Four- chon. This year, Chouest purchased the C-Terminal facility at Fourchon, containing 2,000 linear feet of bulk-headed waterfront property and loading and storage facilities. The company plans to expand its C-Terminal site, adding to storage, warehouses, bulk, cement and barite plants, and expects to increase its fuel, mud and drilling ? uid sales. Separately, Harvey Gulf plans to build and run a lique- ? ed natural-gas, marine-fueling operation at its vessel facil- ity in Port Fourchon, with two separate fuel docks capable of storing 270,000 gallons of LNG. The ? rst dock should be completed next February. Each dock will be capable of pumping 500 gallons of LNG per minute. In addition to Harvey, Chouest will provide LNG fueling at Port Four- chon. In March, Shell announced a deal with Chouest to supply LNG to vessels in the GOM. Under that agreement, Shell will produce LNG at a unit to be built in Geismar, La. Barges will move the fuel from Geismar to Chouest in Port Fourchon, where the barges will refuel customer vessels. In late 2005, Hornbeck acquired a facility in Port Four- chon and named it HOS Port. The 88-acre site, with nearly 3,000 linear feet of dock space, serves as the companys GOM marine base and provides logistics support for drilling, pro- duction and construction in deep and shallow water. HOS Port has crane, forklift and labor services for cargo staging and transfer; indoor and outdoor storage; of? ce space and trailer housing; vessel dockage and vehicle parking. HOS Port is aligned with other, on-site oil? eld service ? rms to provide fuel and lube distribution, liquid mud production and distribution, and waste removal and tank cleaning. GULFS SECOND-QUARTER 2014 OUTLOOK IS STRONG Yards are busy on the Gulf now. A year ago, Executive Vice President Dino Chouest said the companys inter- national order book was growing in Poland and Brazil to replace Jones Act tonnage that was returning to the GOM, after leaving two years earlier. In the GOM, the big bulk of rigs will come on line in the second quarter of 2014, Hornbeck said on Aug. 1. Thats when were delivering the bulk of our ? eet as well.? A customer ordering a vessel from Hornbeck now would probably have to wait 26 to 28 months for it. Moreover, that boat will cost 20% to 25% more now than it would have in late 2011 because all of the integral parts and pieces that are built globally have gone up substantially? in price since then, he said. Thats heady talk, perhaps, but the pace of activity in virtually all offshore operations and support sectors would seem to support that optimism. For now, all leading indicators point to a busy 2014, and beyond. The U.S. Gulf of Mexico markets, now more highly regulated than ever, are also supported by some of the most modern equipment on the planet, with more on the way. The long anticipated ? ight to quality? for this sector may ? nally be here. If so, thats a good thing. Shipyard launch of the HOS Renaissance, yet another HOSMAX newbuild OSV. Susan Buchanan is a New Orleans-based business writer, specializing in energy, maritime matters, agriculture, the environment and construction. She holds a masters degree from Cornell University in agricultural economics and an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. September 201358 MNMN Sept2013 Layout 50-65.indd 588/29/2013 4:52:09 PM