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24 MN January 2011 Companies building vessels on the U.S. Gulf are servic- ing a flock of domestic and overseas clients while their off- shore oil and gas customers wait for Washington to issue more drilling permits and safety rules. Some of the region's builders are busy making repairs. After a federal ban on deepwater drilling ended in October — three months after BP's well was capped — the Gulf remains quiet, but industry members expect business to improve eventually. Gulf vessel builders have seemingly ignored an old sailors' warning to “never plant your right and left feet in two different boats.” Instead, they've been able to diversi- fy and cater to an array of customers. At Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. in Lockport, La., president and CEO Boysie Bollinger, said “we continue to build patrol boats for the U.S. Coast Guard, along with oilfield supply ves- sels for Bee Mar,” a Houston-based, marine transportation company. “We're also building boats for Yemen, tankers for the City of New York, barges that will become a casi- no in Baton Rouge and tugs for a West Coast company.” Bollinger continued, saying “a large part of our business is dry-docking for repairs and refurbishing vessels and drill Vessel Construction & Repair Diversification Key in GOM by Susan Buchanan Peyton Candies, built in 2010 at Candies Shipbuilders in Houma, La. Photo cour tesy Otto Candies.
