Southern California-based boat design and manufacturing
company Willard Marine said in late November that it has been awarded contracts
to develop two new sizes of Safety of Life At Sea (SOLAS) Fast Rescue Boats for
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
An inboard-powered 5.9-meter SOLAS rescue boat with waterjet
propulsion is to be built for the NOAA ship Nancy Foster, and a
5.4-meter outboard-powered SOLAS rescue boat is contracted for the Hi’ialakai in Hawaii.
The SOLAS self-bailing fiberglass-hull RIBs are gel-coated
international orange. Willard Marine says it will acquire the necessary U.S.
Coast Guard SOLAS certification for both vessels. Both NOAA ships require SOLAS
Fast Rescue Boats per the International Maritime Organization’s life-saving
appliance code to facilitate NOAA’s research-and-survey missions.
Willard Marine is the only American manufacturer of SOLAS
rescue boats, which are rigorously tested by the US Coast Guard and only
certified when proven to meet high safety standards, Willard Marine President
and CEO Ulrich Gottschling said.
“NOAA expects the very best in vessel safety, durability and
performance from Willard Marine, and they can count on our SOLAS rescue boats
to help get people to safety when they need it most,” Gottschling said in a
statement.
Privately held Willard Marine is based in Anaheim, California
and also has a facility in Virginia Beach, Virginia, not far from NOAA’s
Washington DC headquarters and from Norfolk, Virginia where the Nancy
Foster is based.
