Marine Log - December 2008 - (Page 30) CEOFORUM ICE CLASS TANKERS What will some of the hot-button issues be in the year ahead? Four very different marine executives—an owner, shipbuilder, supplier and association president provide some insight. as well as the increased need driven by our diverse customer base. The need to enhance dry-dock capacity, increase crane capacities, and expand shop support afforded Bollinger the ability to accommodate larger projects,” he added. WELCOME, MR. MAX Bollinger has 40 dry docks, with capacities ranging from 100 to 22,000 tons. Bollinger Gretna, for example, recently built the 9,000-ton dry dock Mr. Max for Bollinger Texas City as part of a facility upgrade. Bollinger hopes to attract more domestic and international customers from the Western Gulf of Mexico. “The depressed dollar has affected our business from a cost standpoint in the international market,” said Bordelon. “Bollinger is consistently working with its international vendors to lock in pricing, which is critical to the outcome of our projects. Additionally,” he added, “there are more international customers demanding our services and electing to have more of their repairs done at Bollinger if their vessels are working here in the domestic market.” Bollinger, like other shipyards on the Gulf Coast, was impacted by Hurricane continued from p. 31 BEN BORDELON EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, REPAIR BOLLINGER SHIPYARDS, INC. BOLLINGER SHIPYARDS, INC., Lockport, La., is the “Big” Small Shipbuilder, with 13 shipyards stretching along the Gulf Coast, from South Louisiana to Texas. The man responsible for filling up those dry docks with vessel repair business is big, too. The 6 foot, 6-inch Ben Bordelon, a former San Diego Charger, is the executive vice president, Repair, for Bollinger Shipyards. “If you look at the history of Bollinger,” says Bordelon, “you will notice that we went through a series of acquisitions over the last 20 years. Through the years, our focus was to grow the company through acquisitions. We have now taken a pointed approach to enhance the facilities. Some of the equipment and infrastructure that we acquired needed to be upgraded. The upgrades were necessary due to the normal aging of the equipment and facilities KEN WELLS, PRESIDENT, OFFSHORE MARINE SERVICE ASSOCIATION MARINE LOG: What is the purpose of hiring a Jones Act Compliance Officer now? KEN WELLS: This is the logical next step in what has been a multi-year campaign to put the teeth back in the Jones Act. Our perception was that the Jones Act was no longer a priority for the agencies that have responsibility for enforcing it and, as a result, foreign vessels were starting to view it the way pedestrians view jaywalking - as a law that is on the books but no one tries to enforce. ML: Are you seeing more Jones Act violations? KW: We saw it steadily increase and peak after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. If anything, it may have decreased since then as our efforts have started to pay off. The proj- ect developers have gotten more familiar with the law and the penalties for violating it. More and more customers are putting in their contracts that the vessels must comply with the Jones Act. The offshore oil and gas industry is very scrupulous about complying with the law, it is just a matter of making sure they know what the law is and how to avoid breaking it. ML: How are foreign vessels violating the law? KW: We think there are two main scenarios. One involves regular OSV’s that may come into U.S. waters for one purpose, say to support an offshore seismic or dive operation, which it can do legally, and then it takes jobs that are protected by the Jones Act, like transporting supplies out to offshore platforms. We had one foreign boat that appears to have operated under the radar in the Gulf for about five months before eventually being stopped by the 30 MARINE LOG DECEMBER 2008 www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com
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