Aries Marine orders PSVs at Leevac Shipyards

JANUARY 31, 2013 — Leevac Shipyards Jennings LLC, Jennings, LA, has signed contracts with Aries Marine, Inc. of Lafayette, LA, to build two diesel electric platform supply vessels. With dimensions of 270 ft x 56 ft x 21.5 ft, they will be built to Leevac Design Services “LDS” 270 DE PSV design.

Construction will begin immediately, with deliveries for the first and second vessels slated for October 2014 and February 2015, respectively.

“We are very excited to have this opportunity to begin this partnership with a company like Aries Marine” said Christian Vaccari, President of Leevac. “We have worked very close with Court Ramsay and Tommy Brown to develop an exceptional design.”

The LDS 270 DE PSV offers a deadweight capacity of 4,000 tons and will carry over 13,000 barrels of liquid mud. It will be powered by four 3516C Caterpillar generators rated at 1,825 kW each. The propulsion drives and thrusters are being provided by Schottel, with Marine Technologies providing the DP2 system.

Aries chose Siemens as the vendor for the Integrated Electrical System. The Siemens Blue Drive product will be used to control the power management, vessel control, machinery, alarms, power and propulsion systems. This will be the second vessel in which Leevac will be installing the Siemens Blue Drive system..

Marine Interior Systems was selected for the joiner work.

“This LDS 270 is a very exciting vessel design which our customers will greatly value,” said Court Ramsay, President of Aries Marine Corp “The team at Leevac was quick and responsive to our ideas and delivery timeline. In less than 24 months, we will bring to the offshore market two extremely fuel-efficient, versatile, modern workboats. They will fit perfectly within our existing fleet and bring our total vessel count to 28.”

“I am very pleased to see a Louisiana owned-company choose a Louisiana shipyard for this project. This contract will create over 200 jobs in Southwest Louisiana” said Mr. Vaccari.

Leevac is currently building two Z-Tech 2400 Class Escort Tugs for G & H Towing Company and one MMC 879 PSV for Tidewater Marine. Leevac recently completed a major conversion on a tank barge for Enterprise Marine Service.

Leevac Shipyards Jennings LLC is a subsidiary of Leevac Shipyards LLC Leevac currently owns and operates two yards. The new construction yard is located in Jennings and the repair yard is located in Lake Charles, LA.