Page 21: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2002)

New & Notable

President Cuts

USCG Funding

On August 13, President Bush hosted the President's Economic Forum at

Baylor University in Waco, Texas, bringing together a variety of individu- als to discuss the fundamentals of the economy and the President's agenda to increase economic growth for the future.

From the President's Statement at the

Economic forum Plenary Session, Pres- ident Bush indicated that he will refuse to spend a $5 billion package included in the 2002 Supplemental Appropria- tions Act for Further Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States stating, "Congress, for the long-term economic security of

America, needs to restrain spending....

And if the Congress won't show spend- ing restraint, I intend to enforce spend- ing restraint."

The President is opposed to several of the individual expenditures in the pack- age, including $273 million in supple- mental funding for the Coast Guard: "But those who wrote the bill designed it so I have to spend all $5 of the extra billion dollars or spend none of it.

That's how they wrote the supplemen- tal. Those are the rules they placed upon my administration. 1 understand their position, and today they're going to learn mine. We'll spend none of it."

That supplemental funding is now rescinded.

SENESCO To Construct 171-Ft. Hopper Barge

The Southeastern New England Ship- building Corporation (SENESCO) has signed a major barge contract for con- struction of a 171-ft. (52.1-m) hopper barge that will have a holding capacity of 2,750 cu. yds. Construction has already begun and is expected to be completed this fall. The barge is being built for Disch Construction of Summit,

N.J. who will use the barge to transport dredge spoils.

In addition to an increase in its exec- utive ranks and the announcement of the Disch contract, SENESCO also recently completed a multi-vessel repair contract for Modern Continental, a Boston-based construction company.

SENESCO's repair business is expected to grow even further when the company launches a new dry dock it is building at its Quonset Point, R.I. facil- ity. The new dry dock will allow the company to repair larger vessels and also enable Senesco to launch larger barges, including the 320-ft. (97.5-m), 80,000 barrel double hulled liquid fuel barge being built for Don Church of

Sea Boats, Inc.

Circle 12 on Reader Service Card www.maritimereporterinfo.com

September, 2002

Bollinger Builds Next Generation Liftboat

The evolution of liftboats took a giant leap forward when

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., delivered L/B Myrtle, a 137.5-ft. (41.9-m) liftboat to Montco Offshore, Inc., Golden Meadow,

La. Equipped with 245-ft. (74.6-m) legs, the self-propelled floating platform has the ability to work in water depths to 180 ft. with a 15-ft. air gap while lifting a total of 850 kips of vari- able load.

What sets L/B Myrtle apart from other liftboats is that it is equipped with a bow thruster and controllable pitch (CP) pro- pellers for greater maneuverability and pinpoint positioning of the huge legs with oversized pads on the ocean bottom.

The vessel's namesake is in honor of Myrtle Orgeron, moth- er of Lee Orgeron, and is equipped with 40 x 16-ft. pads (12.1 x 4.8-m), much larger than those on other liftboats, to provide for greater bottom stability and greater deck loads. The L/B

Myrtle can also jack with a full pre-load and its pre-load sys- tem has quick acting stainless steel dump valves.

It is equipped with three Nautilus cranes with 150, 50 and 25- ton capacities in an innovative configuration. The smaller crane is positioned on the starboard stern so that support ves- sels can tie-up to the liftboat and offload personnel, cargo, and/or fluids without hindering other work being done by the liftboat. The 150-ton crane has a 110-ft. boom and is equipped with VHF radio, loudhailer, load indicator and boom-mounted video camera with monitor to assist when load hook-ups are out of the normal view of the operator.

With regulatory classifications consisting of ABS loadline,

SOLAS/MARPOL, USCG Subchapter L, L/B Myrtle mea- sures 137.5 ft. (41.9-m) with a 92-ft. (28-m) beam and hull depth of 13-ft. (3.9-m). Open deck area is 6,000 sq. ft., and its three legs are 72 in., in diameter and constructed of 1.5-in., wall thickness high strength steel. Power is supplied by two

Caterpillar 3512 diesels developing a total of 3,000 bhp, dri- ving Berg controllable pitch propellers through Reintjes reduc- tion gears. Electrical power is produced by two 190 KW gen- erators driven by Caterpillar 3306 diesels. A 350-bhp hydraulic motor drives the bow thruster.

The Hydraquip jacking system is designed using the latest hydraulic and computer technology to accurately control the leg position. The programmable logic controller provides all jacking system logic, safety interlocks, leg position and alarm monitoring. The hydraulic system incorporates a three speed jacking system that allows leg tagging at 10 ft./min, normal jacking at 4 ft./min and preload jacking at 2 ft./min. The jack- ing system has counterbalance (holding) valves at each motor for pinion isolation. All jacking system pressures, system sta- tus, temperatures, alarms, and operation manual are displayed on a liquid crystal plasma touch screen.

Lift Lower Pull Position 4 —g^

HYDRAULIC HOIST

LJ

AT?,,',',}! 'i

RAIL CAR PULLER

TRACTION WiNCH

Linepull: 5 Tons to 100 Tons plus!

Designed, engineered and manufactured from stocked, standard components.

Priced right, built right and delivered right on time! 604-530-0737

LAIMTEC a division of IMAC Design Group Ltd.

GEAR DRIVES

WINCHES & HOISTS

BRAKES & CLUTCHES 5827 Production Way

Langley, British Columbia

Canada V3A 4N5

Driven to Excellence www.tantecgear.com email: [email protected]

Circle 323 on Reader Service Card or visit www.maritimereporterinfo.com

Circle 300 on Reader Service Card or visit www.maritimereporterinfo.com 21