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52Maritime Reporter & Engineering News In the more than two years since its founding, Mississippi-based TY Offshore, the former Trinity Off- shore, has invested in a new yard in Gulfport and repaired its storm-damagedNew Orleans holdings. The company has doubled its capacity and racked up new orders, president and CEO John Dane IIIsaid. TY Offshore designs and builds off- shore barges, tugs, oilfield-support ves- sels and spill-response and patrol vessels. The company's new name, adopted in late June, should make business simpler. ?We decided to rebrand for two reasons,? Dane said. ?One was to eliminate any confusion in the marketplace with Trin- ity Industries? marine products division.? Trinity Industries, Inc. in Dallas is the na- tion's largest, inland barge builder. Dane said ?the other reason is that hav- ing TY in the name shows a connection with a company that's been producing so- phisticated vessels for over 24 years.? TY Offshore is operated separately from Trinity Yachts, LLC, which was founded in 1988, though the two share manage- ment and facilities. Trinity Offshore was launched in New Orleans just before the BP spill in April 2010. Another benefit of the name change, though Dane didn't mention it, is that afirm in Singapore is also called Trinity Offshore. Dane's Trinity, now TY Offshore, has- n't sat still since its founding. ?We've spent over $70 million on capital expen- ditures since Hurricane Katrina devas- tated our New Orleans shipyard on the Industrial Canal,? Dane said. ?Right after the storm, we acquired a dormant facility in Gulfport from VT Halter that we've ex- panded by adding another two production buildings, a 3,325-ton synchrolift, a 550- ton travel lift, a panel line and multitude of other equipment. This is on top of to- tally refurbishing the New Orleans facil- ity.? The company's two, large production facilities contain more than 1.1 million square feet of under-cover fabrication area. ?This gives us an advantage in working conditions since typical prob- lems with rain days are eliminated andemployees can work in the shade,? Dane said. ?These factors help us attract really top-level employees, and our Gulf Coast location gives us access to probably the largest pool of experienced ship builders in the world.? Another company strength is combined experience. ?My partners and our top- level management have been in the busi- ness for over 25 years and some of us over 35 years,? Dane said. In house-engi- neering capabilities are another majorstrength. ?We're able to help our cus- tomers create new designs that will meet new demands from their clients,? he said. Workmanship and delivery times benefit from having engineering on the premises. On July 25, TY Offshore and FMT In- dustries, LLC christened and launchedFMT 3242, which was built in Gulfport and is the first of ten 297?6? 30,000-bar- rel tank barges that TY is producing. The barges will be launched in thirty-day in- tervals. So far, construction has been on time and on budget. Business Is Brisk & TY Is Hiring As for the next few years, Dane said ?our backlog with Harvey Gulf is two and a half years for Platform Supply Ves- sels and our inland tank barge business with Florida Marine Transportation is two years, so we see steady work for awhile.? And he said inquiries for off- shore and military projects will likely to add to its backlog.Changes in the regulatory environment since the spill have affected TY and firms across the Gulf Coast. ?The slow permit- ting process in the Gulf set us back 18months ago ? when we had a PSV orderpending,? Dane said. ?But the permit backlog is being attended to now. The good news-bad news is that so many shipyards are full with work that the pool of experienced workers that were readily available and looking for work is getting smaller.? The company has responded with in-house training and by coordinat- ing with local authorities to train work- ers. But Dane said ?that drives up our costs.? He also said ?we wish that the unem-ployed workers we read about in the news would consider blue-collar trades, which can be high-paying careers.? In late July, TY Offshore was looking for another 50 welders and shopfitters. Dane gave an example of tough, new regulations. ?In a recent application for a bulkhead to allow for construction of larger, offshore power barges, the Mis- sissippi Dept. of Environmental Quality told us we couldn't get a bulkhead permit ? unless we could show we had an air permit for the start-up of gas turbines that will be mounted on the barges. We've never been asked before to permit for emissions on the vessels we're building.? When asked about safety in the Gulf since the BP spill, Dane said ?I believe that all offshore company executives are stressing safety over schedules now. In conversations, it's obvious that none of our customers want to have their names or their company appear in a news report concerning accidents or death.? He continued ?at TY Offshore, we em- phasize worker safety in all that we do. Increased awareness will lead to in- creased safety. In that regard, you could say the industry is safer following ex- tended publicity in the wake of the BP spill.? Nibbling Away At The Jones Act In other industry developments, Dane said he's worried about continual attacks on the Jones Act. ?A recent letter ruling by Justice Department allowed for for- eign flag ships to deliver certain oil field products to the Outer Continental Shelffrom a U.S. port. This was never allowed in the past. It's simply an interpretationby a bureaucrat that slowly nibbles away at the Jones Act.? He added ?then we have senators like Arizona's John McCain, who thinks weshould do away with the Jones Act alto- John Dane III & his newly rebranded TY Offshore Life, Times, Business & Future of By Susan BuchananMR#8 (50-57):MR Template 8/9/2012 10:01 AM Page 52