Westport Shipyard Sold

By Mark Edward Nero

Westport Shipyard, the largest yacht builder in North America, said June 6 that the company’s assets have been acquired by Westport, LLC, an ownership group that includes members of the Louisiana-based Chouest family.

Westport Shipyard, which was founded in 1964 and is now celebrating 50 years in business, maintains three locations in Washington state, as well as a marina and sales office in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The company, which employs more than 400 workers, has completed more than 120 yachts since 2000. And one of those customers was Gary Chouest, a member of the new ownership group.

“Gary has always been passionate about our industry, and we are honored to count him as a customer, and now our majority owner, as well,” Daryl Wakefield, Westport’s president, said. Wakefield is expected to remain in his current role with the company, along with General Manager Dave Hagiwara, and the rest of Westport’s management team and employees.

The Chouest family of companies includes substantial holdings in its primary business in the oil and gas marine transportation industry globally, but also includes the Stuart, Florida-based American Custom Yachts (ACY).

“The Westport family is excited about joining forces with the Chouest family,” Wakefield said.

Since 1994, ACY has maintained a 63-acre facility accommodating the design and construction of custom sportsfishermen, as well as other affiliated companies.

Similar to the history of the Chouest family business, Westport began five decades ago with a fishing fleet, and has diversified into many other core businesses. Also similar to the Chouest business model, Westport maintains its own in-house vessel design and development team.

“We are pleased to join the Westport family, and look forward to pursuing the synergies that exist between the Chouest companies, ACY, and Westport,” Gary Chouset said. “We will continue to pursue the employment of skilled local workers, and will remain an active participant in the communities Westport serves.”

Vigor Delivers 144-Car Ferry

By Mark Edward Nero

Builder/contractor Vigor Fab delivered the Tokitae, the state’s newest ferry, to Washington State Ferry officials in early June.

The $144 million Tokitae is the first of three 144-car ferries currently planned, and is expected to enter service this summer on the Clinton-Mukilteo route. The second vessel, the Samish, is currently under construction at Vigor with delivery planned for early 2015. State lawmakers have provided funding for a third ferry, and construction is expected to begin in late 2014.

“Vigor Fab built a top-notch, first-in-class vessel on budget and on time to serve WSF’s peak summer season,” Vigor Fab Senior Vice President Joe Corvelli said. Vigor Fab is Vigor Industrial’s ship building unit. “The Tokitae is the result of all the skill, hard work and dedication our shipbuilding teams bring to the job. These workers have built a vessel ready to serve the people of Washington for the next 60 years.”

The vessel’s name, Tokitae,  comes from a Coast Salish dialect, and means ‘nice day, pretty colors.’

“We have a longstanding, productive partnership in new vessel construction with Vigor,” Capt. George A. Capacci, interim assistant secretary in charge of WSF, said. “Vigor and their subcontractors have delivered a good product that will serve our customers for decades to come.”

With three new 64-car ferries operating, and the first of three new 144-car ferries joining the fleet, the average age of WSF’s vessels is expected to drop from 38 years to about 31, according to Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson.

“This new vessel brings us closer to increased service reliability, while meeting the needs of taxpayers and our customers,” Peterson said.

Crowley, Foss Receive Safety Awards

By Mark Edward Nero

The Chamber of Shipping of America (CSA) recently recognized hundreds of vessels for their outstanding safety records by naming them Jones F. Devlin award winners at the CSA Annual Safety Awards Luncheon May 29 in New Orleans.

Crowley Maritime saw 75 of its vessels recognized, while Foss Maritime had 73 vessels honored for outstanding safety records.

The Jones F. Devlin award is given to self-propelled merchant vessels that have operated for two full years or more without a crew member losing a full turn at watch because of an occupational injury. The award publicly recognizes the skills and dedication of the men and women who are responsible for those safe vessel operations.

Crowley’s Devlin Award-winning vessels together have achieved a total of 510 years of service without a lost time injury. Of the 75 awarded, 19 have gone without incident for 10 or more consecutive years.

“Safety is at the top of Crowley’s core values and strategic goals,” Mike Golonka, vice president, ship management, said. “The vessels receiving Devlin Awards exemplify this Crowley core value, because they live it every day – for themselves, their families and Crowley.”

The Foss vessels achieved the equivalent of 483 years without a lost-time injury. Of Foss’ 73 awarded vessels, 57 achieved five or more years of incident-free operation, with 10 of those vessels attaining ten or more years.

“We’re very proud of our program, training, resources and operations,” Foss President and CEO Paul Stevens said. “. The men and women of Foss, who work hard to earn us this recognition, are our greatest asset and their safety and well-being are our highest priority.”

POLA Adopts $938 Million Budget

By Mark Edward Nero

The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners on June 5 approved a $938.8 million fiscal year annual budget for the Port of Los Angeles, down from the current fiscal year’s $1.1 billion budget.

About $350 million, or 37 percent, of the new budget is earmarked for capital expenditures, down from $400 million in FY 2013-14.

In the FY-2014-15 budget, $281 million is dedicated to specific capital improvement program (CIP) projects. Terminal development and transportation projects comprise 87 percent of the CIP budget.

Roughly $136 million, or 48.5 percent, of the budget is dedicated to terminal development projects, with $100 million helping fund the ongoing TraPac Terminal expansion, which includes backland improvements, stacking crane and automation infrastructure, an intermodal facility to provide on-dock rail capabilities and other terminal-related construction.

Another estimated $19.2 million goes toward upgrades and improvements at the Yang Ming, APL, Evergreen, YTI and China Shipping terminals.

An estimated 38 percent of the proposed budget, or $109 million, is designated for transportation improvement projects, including $35.5 million for the Berth 200 Rail Yard with its accompanying track connections and $27.9 million for the South Wilmington Grade Separation project.

About $40 million has been allocated to improve vehicular traffic flow to and from the Interstate 110 Harbor Freeway.

The approved budget is based on a projected 3.8 percent increase in cargo growth over the current budget.

“In the face of fierce and increasing competition from around the world, we must do whatever we can to maintain our position as the nation’s premier trade gateway,” Harbor Commission President Vilma Martinez said. “This budget will allow us to continue to modernize infrastructure, upgrade terminals and build a transportation network that can continue to successfully compete globally.”

The port says it anticipates spending about $1.1 billion on capital improvement program over the next five years.

D-Day Craft

On this 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, while we're remembering the brave men who risked everything to liberate Europe, let us also take a moment to honor Andrew Higgins, the man President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a 1964 interview, said “…won the war for us.”

Andrew Higgins built wooden workboats in Louisiana. Once the war broke out, he anticipated a need for thousands of small boats for the US Navy, and he knew steel would be in short supply. In 1939 he bought the entire crop of mahogany from the Philippines and stored it himself.

As the war progressed, Higgins tried to convince the Navy of their need for small wooden boats, and was finally given a contract to develop his LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel).

The “Higgins boats” were 36 feet by 11 and, powered by a 225-HP diesel engine, could maintain a speed of 12 knots. They carried two .30-caliber machine guns and a platoon of 36 combat-equipped infantrymen, a Jeep and a 12-man squad or 8,000 pounds of cargo.

The boat could land on the beach, lower the bow ramp, disembark men and supplies and be back out to sea in 3 to 4 minutes.

Higgins and other American factories had produced more than 23,000 Higgins boats by the end of the war. As one USMC Colonel put it, "It is impossible to overstate the tactical advantages this craft gave US amphibious commanders in World War II.”

If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, according to Eisenhower, "…we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different.”

Seaspan, Unions Agree to Federal Mediation

By Mark Edward Nero

Vancouver, British Columbia-based shipbuilder Seaspan has apparently averted a strike by its tugboat crewmembers, at least for the time being, by agreeing to enter federal mediation/arbitration.

Following extensive discussions with the Canadian Labor Minister Kellie Leitch, Seaspan announced June 3 that it has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Canadian Merchant Service Guild, agreeing to enter mediation.

This announcement comes after more than eight months of collective agreement negotiations between Seaspan and the Guild, which began Oct. 21, 2013.

Seaspan has also been negotiating with International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents deckhands and cooks on Seaspan tug crews.

As part of the agreement, Seaspan says it will also defer unilateral implementation of a new collective agreement, which was scheduled to take effect June 9. However, the membership of the Guild, which consists of about 200 captains, mates and engineers on Seaspan tugs, went ahead with a previously planned June 4 strike vote, with a “very clear majority” casting ballots in favor of a strike, according to Capt. Mike Armstrong, the Guild’s western branch president.

That being the case though, the Guild hasn’t served Seaspan with a strike notice and has told its members to continue performing their duties as usual for the time being.

“The Negotiation Committee is in favor of continuing to explore the use of mediated arbitration to resolve this dispute,” Armstrong said in a memo to Guild members following the strike vote.

The new seven-year contract would give tug crew members annual one percent pay increases the first four years, followed by 1.5 percent raises the next three years. But among the sticking points, the union says, are Seaspan’s desire to gain more flexibility to contract work out, the ability to revise shift schedules and to slash benefits costs by more than half.

On June 3, ILWU Local 400 voted unanimously in favor of striking, however the local’s president, Terry Engler said he was hopeful that discussions with the labor minister and Seaspan would lead to an agreement.

Vancouver Council Opposes Port Crude Oil Facility

By Mark Edward Nero

At its June 2 meeting, the Vancouver, Washington City Council approved a resolution opposing a proposed crude oil handling facility despite urging port leaders to let the project make its way through the environmental review process before taking a vote of any kind on it.

The project in question, the Vancouver Energy Distribution Terminal, is a joint venture between the port’s longtime tenant Tesoro and logistics company Savage.

The two would bring North American crude oil by rail to the port where it would then be loaded onto marine vessels and shipped to US West Coast refineries in Alaska, Washington and California.

The port’s Board of Commissioners approved a 10-year lease Oct. 22, 2013.

The Council’s five-to-two vote against the project followed seven hours of testimony offered by more than 100 people, including both project supporters and opponents, about 38 of whom were industry representatives.

Testimonies by port representatives focused on the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council review currently underway and asked the Council to allow that process to complete its work, which includes determining what needs to happen to ensure that the facility can operate safely.

Port CEO Todd Coleman said the city’s resolution ignores that crude oil trains are already traveling through the community and “asks us to overlook the realities of crude oil transport and pretend that by ‘just saying no’ we can make it all go away.”

Coleman also said “a more productive approach would be for all of us to work collectively to ensure the safe transit of these types of commodities, putting appropriate regulations and robust government oversight in place to protect our communities and the environment.”