Page 42: of Marine News Magazine (May 2025)

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Vessels

Saronic Buys Gulf Craft Shipyard

Gulf Craft was sold to Saronic, as that company seeks to accelerate its growth into autonomous shipbuilding.

Saronic gains a strategically located shipyard on the Gulf

Coast, a 60-year-old shipyard – which has a long history of developing manned and unmanned ships for defense and commercial customers. It will serve as the prototyping and production hub for its medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) ? eet — starting with Marauder, Saronic’s 150- foot Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV). Saronic plans to invest more than $250 million directly into the shipyard, modernizing infrastructure, acquiring new machinery, and and expects to create more than 500 new jobs over the next updating the facilities to support a rapid capacity ramp-up, 3–4 years. As part of its long-term vision, Saronic intends enabling Saronic, it claims, to deliver up to 50 unmanned to invest over $2.5 billion to develop Port Alpha — the ships per year. Saronic has retained Gulf Craft’s workforce world’s most advanced shipyard.

Meet Ergon’s M/V Big Valley 325 ef? ciency in transporting crew members to vessels and de- livering fuel and supplies to customers. “This expansion is part of our commitment to provide reliable, round-the-clock service to commercial vessels along the Mississippi,” said Chris Maxwell, VP of Marine Opera- tions for EMIS. “The addition of this new vessel also allows us to support ? eeting operations at our Memphis location.” Founded in 1969, EMIS has become a trusted part- ner for marine operators, providing mid-river refueling,

Ergon Marine & Industrial Supply Inc. (EMIS) has tak- ? eeting and supplies from locations in Vicksburg, Mis- en delivery of a new crew boat, M/V Big Valley 325, bring- sissippi, and Memphis, Tennessee. EMIS offers 24-hour ing the company’s total number of crew boats to three and support with a strong focus on safety and ef? ciency. This increasing its capacity to serve marine operators navigating dedication to service and operational excellence has earned the Mississippi River. The 47- x 12.5-ft. vessel, powered by industry recognition, including the U.S. Coast Guard’s twin 300 HP outboard engines, enhances our speed and Meritorious Public Service Award.

ESG Cuts Steel For USACE Hopper Dredge

Eastern Shipbuilding began construction on the USACE’s new medium class hopper dredge, scheduled for delivery in 2027. The hopper can be fully loaded with medium ? ne sand in less than 45 minutes, and the latest high ef? ciency dredge pumps, almost halves the desired discharge time.

The pump maximizes the operational ef? ciency and dura- bility of this hopper and is speci? cally developed for passage of large obstacles. The hopper dredge will be equipped with a diesel-electric propulsion system that meets EPA Tier 4 and IMO Tier 3 standards. 42 | MN May 2025