Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 15, 1981)

Swiftships Delivers Aluminum

MTU-Powered Service Vessel

A new general service boat,

PBR/131 (shown above), has been designed and built by Swiftships,

Inc. of Morgan City, La. The

USCG-approved, all-aluminum vessel is owned by Mariner Equip- ment, Inc., and operated by PBR

Offshore Marine Corporation, also of Morgan City.

According to Swiftships' tech- nical director Calvin LeLeux, "This boat is an ideal multipur- pose vessel. It was specially de- signed to be versatile in use, travel at a good rate of speed, and maintain smooth maneuver- ability."

Three MTU 8V396TC82 main engines combine with ZF BW 255 2:1 reduction gears turning 38- inch by 40-inch bronze, four-blade

Columbian wheels to provide

PBR/131 with speeds up to 25 knots. Power onboard the boat is provided by two International

Electric 50-kw generators pow- ered by Detroit Diesel 4-71 en- gines.

Bibbins & Rice supplied and in- stalled all electronics. Instruments include a Furuno FR-711 radar; two radiotelephones, a Stephens

SEA-122 SSB radio, and a Texas

Instruments 2100 VHF radio; a

TI 9000 A Loran by Texas Instru- ments ; a Raytheon F 720 D Depth

Sounder, and a Danforth compass.

The 120-foot craft has a 10-foot depth with a 9-foot appendage draft loaded, 6 feet when empty.

Fuel tanks hold 10,050 gallons, which gives the vessel 90 hours endurance. It carries 800 gallons of potable water and 13,250 gal- lons of drill water. With a cargo deck area of 60 feet by 18 feet,

PBR/131 can carry 100 tons of materials and supplies.

It is fully outfitted to house a six-man crew. This rugged boat also features complete firefight- ing capabilities, life-saving gear, and air-conditioning and heating throughout. PBR/131 will per- form a variety of nautical func- tions for PBR Offshore Marine in the Gulf of Mexico.

New Drydock Installed

At Todd Shipyards'

New Orleans Division

A 3,500-ton-lift-capacity dry- dock for the repair and mainte- nance of small ocean craft, inland waterway tugs, and barges of up to about 6,000 dwt was dedicated recently at the New Orleans Di- vision of Todd Shipyards Corpo- ration. The new 306-foot by 65- foot drydock, combined with the addition of a 450-foot wharf and the reconstruction of another 525- foot wharf section, greatly en- hances Todd's ability to service ships and barges operating in the

New Orleans port area, John

Meghrian, Todd vice president, said. The New Orleans Division has two other drydocks of 15,000 and 20,000 displacement tons for larger vessels, and is also equipped for new vessel construc- tion, primarily river craft and barges.

The completion of the improve- ments will increase the Division's employment from 500 to approxi- mately 625 when the new facili- ties become fully operational. The drydock required an investment by Todd of more than $3.5 mil- lion. The wharf reconstruction and addition, built by the Port of New Orleans and recently com- pleted, represented an investment of approximately $8.4 million.

This investment is part of an overall program to improve Todd's

Gulf Coast shipyard facilities in order to better serve the area's growing maritime traffic. In Oc- tober last year, Todd announced the purchase of a $40-million dry- dock for its Galveston, Texas, Di- vision, which will enable that fa- cility to service ships of up to 225,000 deadweight tons, or 94 percent of the present world fleet.

Todd also operates a shipyard in

Houston with ship and barge con- struction and repair capabilities serving the petrochemical and offshore oil industries in the Gulf.

Armco Offers Bulletin On

Nitronic 50 Stainless Steel

A new product data bulletin is now available on Armco Nitronic 50 stainless steel. According to

Armco, its Nitronic 50 provides a combination of corrosion resist- ance and strength not found in any other commercial material available in its price range. A newly published 20-page product data bulletin on the alloy de- scribes it in detail including ap- plications, mechanical and physi- cal properties, corrosion resist- ance, and fabrication.

For a free copy of the bulletin,

Write 27 on Reader Service Card

J. Erik Hvide Named

President And COO

Of Hvide Shipping

J. Erik Hvide

J. Erik Hvide has been ap- pointed president and chief oper- ating officer of Hvide Shipping

Incorporated and its affiliates. He joined the Fort Lauderdale-based company in 1973 after gaining experience in dry cargo and tank- er ship operations, both in the

U.S. and Norway.

In 1970 Mr. Hvide joined Sea- bulk Corporation, which became an affiliate of Hvide Shipping in 1973. One of his achievements is the innovative CATUG design, the most successful of integrated tug/barge (ITB) modes of marine transportation. He was instru- mental in developing the design, negotiating the original ship- building contracts, supervising the construction, and negotiating the charters of the original CA-

TUG units.

Hvide Shipping Incorporated, established in 1958, is involved in many facets of the marine transportation industry, includ- ing vessel ownership and opera- tion, vessel design and construc- tion, deepsea tug/barge transpor- tation, liquid and dry bulk ter- minal design and management, and harbor towing. flnt^ineered f ^roducli and Seruicei

Atco Marine Corporation

B03 DEAN STREET / BROOKLYN. N Y. 1 1 238 (21 2) B57-105D telex: 223357 CATCO UR]

Cable Address AMTRADISC NEW YORK

SERVING THE MARINE INDUSTRY

FIBERGLASS LIFEBOATS (PER S.O.L.A.S. SPECIFICATIONS)

FROM STOCK

CALL US ON YOUR REQUIREMENTS

Write 299 on Reader Service Card 14 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News