Page 70: of Marine News Magazine (November 2022)

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Vessels

USACE Crane Barge

Southwest Shipyard in Houston for a new crane barge on the St. Marys River.

“The new crane barge will perform critical lock and hy- dropower facility maintenance at the Soo Project Of? ce (Soo Locks),” said Justin Proulx, Chief of the St. Marys

River Section. “Additionally, the new vessel will support channel maintenance and will be ready to respond to criti- cal maritime incidents on the St Marys River, such as vessel groundings and anchor drags.”

The new crane barge will be 150 feet in length, have a

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beam of 50 feet, and a 10-foot molded depth, support-

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District ing a 220 U.S. ton lattice boom crawler crane. Southwest in concert with the Philadelphia District and the Ma- Shipyard intends to construct the barge at its Brady Island rine Design Center awarded a $11.4 million contract to shipyard with delivery expected in Fall of 2024.

MSV(L)

U.S. shipbuilder Vigor launched the ? rst in a series of modernized landing craft for the U.S. Army at its fabrica- tion facility in Vancouver, Wash.

The Maneuver Support Vessel (Light), or MSV(L), will replace the Landing Craft Mechanized-8, (LCM-8,) a

Vietnam-era watercraft that is unable to transport some of today’s equipment due to the weight of modern com- bat vehicles. Designed with increased payload capability, increased speed and maneuverability and improved draft, the MSV(L) will improve the speed and effectiveness of the Army’s dynamic force repositioning in inter-coastal

Vigor areas, rivers and inland waterways, and in anti-access/ area-denial environments. Builder’s trials are slated for completion in November,

The Army awarded Vigor in late 2017 a 10-year contract followed by extended acceptance trials. A low-rate ini- for the development and production of up to 36 of the tial production decision on the Maneuver Support Vessel new watercraft. The current Army Acquisition Objective (Light) is targeted for early 2023. The prototype is slated is to build 13 vessels, according to Wolfgang Petermann, for delivery to the Army Mariner community headquar- project manager, Transportation Systems, PEO CS&CSS. tered at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in early 2024.

70 | MN November 2022