Home Care In Hornbeck, LA

U.S. offshore vessel owner Hornbeck Offshore Services, best known for its offshore oil and gas support vessel services, is looking at business opportunities in the growing U.S. offshore wind sector as well as in offshore accommodation services in the oil and gas area.

For that, Covington, La. based Hornbeck Offshore said Wednesday it had contracted Eastern Shipbuilding Group to convert one of its recently acquired 280-foot offshore supply vessels (OSV) to a service operation vessel (SOV) to meet the growing demand of the U.S. offshore wind market, as well as to serve the demands of the petro-energy flotel market.

Capable of supporting both construction and O&M activities, the U.S. flag, Jones Act-compliant vessel was originally constructed by Eastern in 2014 and will be converted at the company’s 300-acre Allanton Shipyard in Panama City, Fla. It is expected to be available in the spring of 2025.

The HOSSOV 300E has been designed in collaboration with VARD, the original designer of the vessel, to address the key "desirements" of the U.S. offshore wind client community based upon VARD's other recent SOV designs, Hornbeck Offshore said.

According to Hornbeck Offshore, the service operation vessel will have the capacity to accommodate up to 90 or more persons in flotel or offshore wind service mode, with safe, stepless walk-to-work transfer capabilities in up to 2.5m sea states.

The SOV will be equipped with an Uptime 30m motion-compensated offshore gangway, a 10-ton 3D-compensated crane, helideck, enclosed warehouse and stepless boat landing.

Its existing diesel-electric powerplant will be enhanced by a 1,500 kW-hour battery hybrid power system, enabling reduced emission during offshore operations and in harbor transit, the U.S.-based shipowner said.

The SOV accommodations will be constructed to ABS Comfort Class habitability notation standards, and, Hornbeck Offshore said, will include a host of onboard amenities typical of a newbuild SOV.

Todd Hornbeck, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are excited to expand our deep experience in walk-to-work and offshore accommodation services with a fully capable SOV for the benefit of the offshore wind community and our offshore petroleum clients.

"The SOV is a welcomed addition to our high-spec fleet of vessels, as we continue to grow in both our core oilfield and diversified non-oilfield businesses."

Hornbeck is not the first U.S. offshore vessel owner to convert an oil and gas supply vessel for work in the U.S. offshore wind market. Des Allemands, La. based Otto Candies is converting two of its OSVs to operate as SOVs for wind projects in waters off the U.S. Northeast coast.

SABINE PARISH, La. (KALB) - It is devastation for some Sabine Parish residents, as they experience the aftermath of wildfires barreling through their community. One property in Florien saw major impacts from those fires.

“It’s heartbreaking, needless to say.”

The land has been in Sue Potter’s family for three generations.

“My grandmother’s home was on this property, my mother and her siblings grew up, and everyone on this road was related in some way, all these people who did lose property,” said Potter.

On Wednesday, the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office estimated that 2,100 acres of forest burned, including ten homes and eight other structures. This included Potter’s property, with most of the land being burnt and Potter’s brother’s house flattened.

Potter said the fire was still burning when the roads opened back up.

“There were still flames going all the way from Highway 171 all the way over to Highway 118, still going.”

The fires in west Louisiana have not yet let up, with flames popping up in new areas every day. KALB spoke with the Mayor of Hornbeck, a town just past the Sabine Parish line. Mayor Clarence Beebe said the town’s fire department has been doing what it can to help put out the flames.

“These fire departments have been stressed lately. They’ve been fighting fires all over the country,” said Beebe.

Mayor Beebe said it is a first for Hornbeck to deal with wildfires like this, not something they hear about often in their community.

“We’ve had fires before but in a normal climate situation most of the time, one or two fire trucks and the forestry service and they put them out. These fires are not like that,” said Beebe. “Everything is so dry, and it’s so hot that it takes almost nothing to fuel these fires.”

The community has come to the aid of those affected by the fires, bringing food to families who lost homes as well as first responders.

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Copyright 2023 KALB. All rights reserved.

By Baptist Message staff

FLORIEN, La. (LBM) – Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief crews and churches responded quickly to those impacted by wildfires in Sabine Parish east of Florien, Aug. 14. The are contained at this time.

While this remains a very serious situation because of wind direction and changing weather conditions the wildfire was contained Monday evening. However, officials cautioned that flare-ups could ignite new fires in the area.

The LA Dept of Forestry worked throughout the night clearing lanes to further control the fire.

The Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page at approximately 2:14 p.m. their office received a call regarding a woods fire near Corleyville Road in the Mt. Carmel community. By 9 p.m., the fire was contained.

As the fire raged Monday afternoon, residents in the path of danger were urged to evacuate. KSLA-TV (Shreveport) reported that at least eight homes were damaged or destroyed by the fire.

“Sheriff Aaron Mitchell asks everyone to remember those in your prayers affected by this disaster as well as all first responders and law enforcement agencies who responded,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post Monday evening. “Also, thank you to the many churches, citizens, and other volunteers for their help and aid.”

Churches that opened their doors for evacuees to have access to food and a place to cool down included First Baptist Church, Warren Baptist Church, Ebenezer Baptist Church and Antioch Baptist Church (all in Florien), Grace Assembly, Hornbeck, and Trinity Baptist Church, Many.

A Louisiana shower trailer arrived Monday and a feeding unit was en route Tuesday morning to First Baptist Church, Florien.

“Pray for first responders in this heat,” Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief strategist Stan Statham told the Baptist Message. “We will be feeding others, so monetary donations would help. Food is expensive.”

District 8 Baptist Convention Coordinator Ron Thompson asked for continued prayers and thanked churches and disaster relief teams for their quick response.

“Thank you, Louisiana Baptists, for responding to the physical needs,” Thompson said. “And please keep praying for the spiritual needs of families who lost their homes yesterday.”

To donate to DR efforts, visit louisianabaptists.org/dr.

Now in its third year, the depressed U.S. offshore service vessel industry is nowhere near a recovery. Newbuild activity in the past year ramped downward, as operators large and small fought to hang on.

The WorkBoat 2016-2017 construction survey counted 31 new OSVs under construction, down 40% from 2015 numbers.

That was in a year that saw almost half of the existing Gulf of Mexico fleet stacked, as oil prices continued to hover around $50 bbl.

On the U.S. mainland, producers wringing out new efficiencies from their fields made money at those prices, partly negating the effort by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce the global oil glut.

While some Americans cheered OPEC’s frustration and lower gas prices at the pump, there was no cheering coming from the U.S. offshore industry and its workers. Todd Hornbeck, president and CEO of Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc., Covington, La., summed up the situation in a Feb. 16 earnings call with analysts.

“Earlier in this cycle, the industry mantra was lower for longer. The message we have recently been hearing from our customers, almost uniformly, is that they now see oil prices as lower forever,” said Hornbeck.

“They no longer view this as a U-shape recovery, but an L-shaped recovery, or so we’re told. Deepwater projects can work in that kind of world, but not at economics that drive key pieces of the supply chain out of business. Lower forever must also mean greater efficiencies and reliability in this supply chain.”

In that grim environment, shipyards are finishing a few state-of-the-art vessels for major operators. LLC, Houma, La., in November launched , the first of two 365', 6,265-dwt multipurpose supply vessels (MPSVs) for Hornbeck. Equipped with 250-MT and 110-MT large heave-compensated cranes, a 15'×18' moon pool, two remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and with accommodations for 102 personnel, the vessel is certified for worldwide operations. It has tankage for 14,115 bbls. of liquid mud.

Gulf Island has a pair of 300'×62'×24' platform supply vessels scheduled for delivery this year to New Orleans-based Tidewater. Tidewater filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in mid-May.

In the first quarter Tidewater was in the midst of negotiations with its lenders and noteholder, as the leading worldwide operator sought to restructure debt. In early April, the company said it was close to making new lender and noteholder arrangements. Tidewater had 148 active vessels worldwide and 116 stacked at the end of 2016, company officials said in a Feb. 8 earnings call with analysts. Vessel revenues of $125 million were down 41% in the December quarter from a year before, said Tidewater CEO Jeff Platt. Utilization of the active fleet was about 74%, up about 4.5% quarter over quarter, with average day rates around $12,500 down by about $900 a day or 7% quarter to quarter – slightly better than expected, Platt said.

“Early on, we stated that we and our customers would need to learn to live in a world of lower oil prices,” Platt said.

“Initially, the downturn was cushioned by the existence of long-term drilling rig and vessel contracts, but as we warned, there was already an oversupply of drilling rigs and OSVs, with many more under construction,” said Platt.

At the time, Tidewater was approaching the end of a fleet renewal program that had added more than 160 new vessels over the past 10 years, bringing down the average age of the fleet to less than nine years.

“Our new, young fleet, coupled with the broadest geographic footprint in the industry, positioned us well we thought for weathering the extent of the downturn we initially envisioned,” Platt said.

But the continued decline in oil prices, bottoming out in the mid $20s during February, made it clear this was no short-term downturn, he added.

The low prices and inevitable shakeout appears likely to continue into 2018, with less work and lower day rates stressing operators that are close to just covering costs. Industry observers say it is the hangover from the 2005 to 2014 boom years. “On the vessel supply side of the equation, over the last decade, our industry built new-generation, high-spec OSVs to service a 50-plus deepwater drilling unit market. That’s just in the Gulf of Mexico … we are well shy of a 50-rig market,” Todd Hornbeck said in his company’s last earnings call.

“Yet, the vessels available to work are still here and actually grew in number over the course of 2016, as the remainder of previously ordered supply vessels were delivered from shipyards.”

Hornbeck counted 194 “high-spec, new-generation vessels in the Gulf of Mexico market,” with roughly half of those stacked. Still the market is oversupplied and “is not one that operates on rational business principles,” he said.

“Instead, even cash-strapped competitors are burning what little cash they have to charter vessels at rates below their cash operating costs,” Hornbeck said.

Hornbeck said his company will be one of those left standing, because “value creation in the offshore vessel space cannot begin, again, without meaningful acquisitions of high-spec assets and businesses over the overleveraged industry players.”

Hornbeck said one potential bright spot is multipurpose vessels, as inspection, maintenance and repair (IRM) work cannot be put off for long.

With consolidation, and likely shrinking and scrapping ahead, it will be a lean time for building new OSVs.

“We have a young fleet again, and it’s all stacked. Why would anyone build a new boat?” said Stephen J. Berthold, vice president of sales and marketing at Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Panama City, Fla. “I hate to be a naysayer, but if you look at history, the last time we built up the fleet, it took a decade to work out.

“The current PSV market started in 2001, so, if you go from 1986, the last crash (in oil), in 2001, that’s 15 years,” Berthold said. After building from 2001 to 2005, “2005 to 2014 was pretty much full throttle,” he said.

Those wave patterns closely follow oil prices, and the newbuild slide was precipitous when oil plunged from $105 bbl. in June 2014 to $59 bbl. that December, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Eastern’s last projects for the offshore market are multipurpose field support vessels (MPFSVs) for Harvey Gulf International Marine, New Orleans, due for delivery in mid-2017. The first, the Harvey Stone, is a 212'7"×59'1"×25'7" Rampage 6400 MPFSV designed by Robert Allan Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia, that was launched from Eastern’s Allanton, Fla., facility in December. The next two are the Harvey Sub-Sea and the Harvey Blue-Sea, being built to a Vard Marine design.

With a deadweight tonnage of 1,280 LT, the Harvey Stone has tankage for 232,355 gals. of cargo fuel oil; 401,020 gals. drill water and freshwater; 26,092 gals. fuel oil in day tanks; 50,680 gals. ship’s potable water; and 24,866 gals. AFFF foam.

Propulsion comes from a pair of GE Marine 12V250MDC, IMO Tier II, EPA Tier 4(i) diesel engines, producing 4,687 hp at 1,000 rpm each, spinning Schottel SRP3030 CPP propellers in nozzles through Karl Senner-supplied Reintjes LAF 3414P HL marine gears. Bollard pull is rated at 106 MT.

For maneuvering around offshore structures, the Harvey Stone is equipped with two Schottel STT2 thrusters, driven by 600-kW electric motors.

Deck equipment includes a MacGregor 10-ton hydraulic knuckle-boom crane, two 5-ton MacGregor hydraulic capstans; and two MacGregor 15-ton hydraulic tugger winches.

Those three Harvey boats are the last OSVs Eastern expects to build for a while, and likely to be the type of high-end vessels that will be built whenever the industry recovers.

“After that, that’s just about it for us” in the OSV market for the foreseeable future, Berthold said. “Unless they’re specialized vessels, it’s going to be a tough business. It’s very, very competitive.

“Being a diverse shipyard here at Eastern, we learned our lesson back in ’86” and have since diversified, he added.

The company now has plenty of work in other workboat sectors, Berthold said.

Panama City Fla. based Eastern Shipbuilding Group announced it has been awarded a contract to complete construction of two ultra high-spec 400 class multipurpose support vessels (MPSVs) for Hornbeck Offshore Services (HOS).

The newbuilds were originally started by Gulf Island Shipyards in Houma, La. before Hornbeck terminated the contracts in 2018 over what it described as "performance issues". Gulf Island then sued Hornbeck, claiming the two shipyard construction contracts were wrongfully terminated.

Gulf Island and Hornbeck settled in October 2023, clearing way for the builds to be completed by another yard.

Eastern, which noted it has previously rescued several faltering shipbuilding programs, said on Wednesday that it secured the contract to complete the builds from Zurich American Insurance Company, the issuer of the performance bonds for the original MPSV contracts.

Joey D’Isernia, chairman and CEO of Eastern Shipbuilding Group, said, "We are delighted to be entrusted with the completion of these highly capable vessels for our esteemed partners at Hornbeck. Our experienced shipbuilding team is poised to timely deliver these critical MPSVs to the market."

The vessels will be drydocked in Louisiana prior to being towed to Eastern's facilities in Allanton and Port St. Joe, Fla., Jessica Ditto Eastern's VP of communications told MarineLink, adding that the ESG expects to receive the first vessel during the first quarter of 2024.

"The vessel structure is mostly complete with the vast majority of the mechanical, electrical and other outfitting work not completed." Ditto said.

Scheduled for delivery in 2025, the Jones Act-qualified MPSVs HOS Warhorse and HOS Wild Horse will each be equipped with two large heave-compensated cranes, two remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV), a spacious moonpool and accommodations for 102 personnel.

An uptick in offshore oil and gas activity as well as the emergence of the U.S. offshore wind sector have been driving greater demand for offshore support vessels, including MPSVs.

While it completes the MPSV builds, Eastern will also continue work to convert HOS Rocinante, a dual-service floatel and service operation vessel (SOV) for planned delivery to Hornbeck Offshore Services in the spring of 2025.