Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 1999)

Investment in Design same period.

While the delta-shaped Ramform design, home-grown in Norway and used by PGS for the sextet of Ramform

Explorer-class vessels from the Lang- sten group, is a mark of innovation in the field, the recently-delivered Geco

Eagle has also introduced a distinctive new configuration to a vital offshore activity.

The 10,500-gt, diesel-electric Geco

Eagle has become the flagship in the 27- strong fleet controlled by Geco-Prakla, the seismic operating unit of Schlum- berger Oilfield Services. The distin- guishing feature of the 312 ft. (95-m) vessel is the lateral extension of the main deck structure aft, providing the requisite 'back-deck' width for the multi-streamer gear and associated equipment while ensuring a more hydro- dynamically-efficient stern. The twin- skeg, relatively shallow underwater aft form has been designed to minimize noise, given the need for quality data obtainable from the survey hydrophones.

Constructed in Bergen by Mjellem &

Karlsen, among the world's most prolif- ic builders of survey vessels, Geco

Eagle has an outfit of 16 streamer winches on the main deck aft, with pro- vision for the tow to be increased to 20 streamers through deployment of lead- in winches either side of the gun deck.

FastShip Signs With NASSCO

For Construction Of Fleet

Another step in a turnaround of com- mercial vessel building in the U.S. was reached last month, as FastShip announced that it has signed a Memo- randum of Understanding with National

Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), a subsidiary of General

Dynamics, for the building of the first generation high-speed vessels com- prised of the FastShip trans-Atlantic transportation fleet.

Under the proposed agreement,

NASSCO, designer and builder of new ships headquartered in San Diego, will construct four revolutionary vessels in the FastShip fleet. The agreement estab- lishes a timeline to finalize a construc- tion contract to include definitive pric- ing, delivery schedule and performance guarantees.

NASSCO has also agreed to consider a financing commitment to FastShip,

Inc.

FastShip will employ a time-definitive seven-day, door-to-door North Atlantic transportation network — linking the middle of Europe to the middle of the

U.S. Trial operations will begin during the second half of 2002, with the initia- tion of commercial operations planned for commencement in early 2003.

Powered by five marinized aero-deriv- ative gas turbines, each turbine will drive one Kamewa water jet, delivering a total of 250 MW or 335,000-hp. This package will therefore enable the 860 ft. (262 m) vessels, carrying a 10,000-ton payload to complete the passage from

Philadelphia to Cherbourg in less than four days at speeds up to 40 knots.

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Tidewater Signs Agreement Of

Intent

Tidewater, Inc. has signed an agree- ment of intent to acquire six newbuild vessels from Hvide Marine Incorporat- ed, for an aggregate price of $22 mil- lion. Closing, which is expected some- time this month, is subject to customary due diligence matters, including execut- ing a definitive agreement and satisfac- tory inspections of the vessels by Tide- water.

Maritime Reporter/Engineering News

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