WorkBoat Names its Boat of the Year

    NEW ORLEANS, LA, December 01, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- WorkBoat recognized its 10 Significant Boats of 2017 and named its Boat of Year, the Harvey Sub-Sea/Harvey Blue-Sea, at an awards ceremony at the International WorkBoat Show Thursday morning. The awards breakfast was sponsored by Travelers.

The Harvey Sub-Sea/Harvey Blue-Sea were built at Eastern Shipbuilding Group for Harvey Gulf International Marine. Vard designed the vessels. The 340'x73', 5,737-dwt multipurpose supply vessels (MPSVs).

While the two boat's roles range from ROV support to marine construction to cable laying to subsea equipment installation and support, the MPSVs were custom-tailored by Vard to fulfill its main mission: deepwater subsea support in the U.S. Gulf. Two launch-and-recovery systems (LARS) allow operation of ROVs up to 250 hp, ranging to depths of 4,000 meters. With so many systems at work, an integrated approach to monitoring and control is provided by the Wartsila electronics systems that coordinate power, maneuvering, and customer-support operations. The vessel's DP-2 system controls the machinery.

For main propulsion, there's two Schottel SRP 3030 azimuthing fixed-pitch-propeller (FPP) stern drives, powered by variable frequency drive (VFD) motors, producing a total of 8,978 hp. There's also three Schottel STT 5 fixed-pitch-propeller bow tunnel thrusters, powered by VFD motors, that produce a total of 6,035 hp. Four Wartsila 6L32 generators provide 12,680-kW of electrical power to the vessel's 690-volt system. The power package gives the vessel a top speed of 14 knots and a cruising speed of 12 knots. The 250-ton National Oilwell Varco knuckle-boom crane on the afterdeck has the ability to work at depths of 13,000'.

"Every capacity, every capability, has to be larger to service the deepwater oilfield," Chad Verret of Harvey Gulf said. "When your round trip is almost 500 miles, you need to carry everything necessary to install and support sea-floor installations and other subsea activities as well as rig support."

This year's list of top boats was dominated by tugs. They made up five of the 10 vessels. Two ferries, an ATB, and a survey vessel were also selected. Six of the boats were built at Gulf Coast shipyards, three at West Coast yards, and one in the Great Lakes.

Here are the other nine winners, in alphabetical order:

Abundance & Harvest (ATB)
Builder: Nichols Brothers Boat Builders (tug Abundance, tug); Vigor (Harvest, barge)
Designer: Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering Co. (tug and barge contract design); Glosten (barge production design); BMT (tug production design); CT Marine (barge structural production engineering)
Operator: Savage (for The Mosaic Company)

Argo, Carina, Cetus, Hydrus (Ferries)
Builder: Vigor
Designer: Incat Crowther
Owner: San Francisco Bay Ferry/Water Emergency Transportation Authority

Arkansas, Mardi Gras, South Carolina (Tugs)
Builder: Steiner Shipyard Inc.
Designer: Jensen Maritime
Owner: Crescent Towing

Catlett (Survey Vessel)
Builder: Technology Associates Inc. and Aluma Marine & Fabrication LLC
Designer: Technology Associates Inc.
Owner: Corps of Engineers

Cleveland (Tug)
Builder: Great Lakes Shipyard
Designer: Damen
Owner: Great Lakes Towing Co./The Great Lakes Group

Earl W Redd (Tug)
Builder: Diversified Marine Inc.
Designer: Jensen Maritime
Owner: Harley Marine Services

Gladys B (Tug)
Builder: Signet Shipbuilding & Repair
Designer: Robert Allan Ltd.
Owner: E.N. Bisso & Son Inc.

New York Ferries (Ferries)
Builder: Metal Shark and Horizon Shipbuilding Inc.
Designer: Incat Crowther
Owner: NYC Ferry

Trident, Triton, Trinity (Tugs)
Builder: Master Boat Builders Inc.
Designer: Robert Allan Ltd.
Owner: Seabulk Towing Inc.

About WorkBoat
WorkBoat is part of the Diversified Communications portfolio of commercial marine events, publications and e-media products. The WorkBoat brand has been connecting qualified buyers with leading suppliers for more than 70 years. In print through WorkBoat magazine, online at WorkBoat.com, face-to-face at the International WorkBoat Show and through education with the Professional Series, WorkBoat delivers high-quality information to all segments of the marine industry in North America. For more information, visit www.workboat.com.

About Diversified Communications
Diversified Communications is a leading international media company providing market access, education and information through global, national and regional face-to-face events, digital products, publications and television stations. Diversified serves a number of industries including: technology, seafood, food service, natural and organic, healthcare, commercial marine, and business management. Based in Portland, Maine, USA, Diversified has divisions in the Eastern United States, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. For more information please visit www.divcom.com.

# # #