New Harvey MPSV: Jones Act debate ender

Harvey Sub-Sea and sister ship, Harvey Blue-Sea, expected delivery July 2017

MAY 2, 2017 — Harvey Gulf International Marine today announced the delivery of the first of two, large capacity Multi Purpose Support Vessels (MPSV) built by Eastern Shipbuilding, Panama City, FL.

Harvey Gulf says that this first vessel, the M/V Harvey Sub-Sea is a “best in class” Jones Act-qualified vessel that “has the technical capabilities to efficiently, effectively and safely perform high quality field development activities that are currently being performed by a foreign fleet.”

The U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) is finalizing a decision to revoke previous letter rulings, inconsistent with the the Jones Act, that had permitted the use of foreign-flag vessels for subsea construction, inspection and maintenance activities (see earlier story).

Harvey Gulf says that delivery of the M/V Harvey Sub-Sea clearly demonstrates the capacity and capability of Jones Act qualified vessels to immediately perform the necessary work.

This delivery is part of an industry-wide $2 billion investment since 2009 to ensure the Jones Act fleet has capacity to meet the needs of the offshore industry.

“Today ends the debate as to whether the U.S. Jones Act fleet of MPSV’s is capable of doing work that foreign vessels have been doing illegally in the Gulf for many years,” says Shane Guidry, Chairman and CEO of Harvey Gulf. “The Harvey Sub-Sea has the size, crane capacity, deck space, accommodations, equipment, and station keeping capability equivalent to, or better than, her foreign competitors

“The Harvey Sub-Sea can perform a broad spectrum of subsea installations and removals, inspection, repair and floatel services. It can be equipped to lay umbilicals and cables and perform well-intervention and hydrate remediation operations. If there is a MPSV job needed in the Gulf, she can do it.”

The vessel is a Jones Act-compliant 327 ft x 73 ft x 29 ft MPSV, equipped with a 250-ton knuckle boom, heave compensated crane with 4,000 ft of wire. The crane’s winch is below deck, expanding her lifting capacity and enabling loads of 107 metric tons to be delivered to water depths of 12,000 ft.

The Sub-Sea has 150 berths, all in one or two person rooms, 13,000 sq. ft. of deck space and a 24 ft x 24 ft moon pool. It has a S61 (Heavy) Helideck and meets ABS DP2, SPS Code and MLC 2006 certification requirements, among many others.