The big OSV multivessel contracts are finally winding down, but that doesn’t mean shipyards are suffering.
Sure, some Gulf of Mexico yards that still rely on the energy sector may suffer a bit, but others are seeing a resurgence in other sectors. One such sector is the traditional Jones Act trade — tankers, bulkers, ATBs, etc. Another has been tank barges.
A big driver of this resurgence has been domestic shale oil production and its thirst for tank barges. That boom led to a record year for tank barge construction in 2013 and another record should be set this year.
Most of the tank barges are being built at Trinity Marine Products and Jeffboat. For Trinity Marine and its parent company Trinity Industries, barge slots are fully booked for 2014 and the company has been taking orders for 2015 production. In the first quarter, Trinity received $215 million in barge orders, giving it a backlog of $508 million at the end of March.
A bonus for Trinity and other barge builders has been a rebound in demand for new hopper barges, fueled by stronger grain exports. To address the increased demand for hoppers, Trinity recently shifted some of its production capacity from smaller tank barges to hopper barges.
And the good news doesn’t end there.
I recently visited several shipyards in the Florida panhandle, where business is still bustling at Eastern Shipbuilding Group and Patti Marine Enterprises. Both yards have stayed busy and added to their orderbooks in the last year.
For Eastern, it recently picked up a contract to build a trailing suction hopper dredge ATB for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. It also continues to work on vessels for Hornbeck Offshore, Harvey Gulf and others.
And Patti Marine has been busy with tugs. It just finished the second of two new tugs for Signet Maritime, and the Pensacola yard has begun work on a new ATB tug for Moran Towing. Both yards are bidding on other non-OSV work, so stay tuned.
