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Halter Marine,. Inc. of the Trin- ity Marine Group has delivered the Achille, a 218.3-ft., 11,000-hp an- chor handling/tug supply boat with a pull of 115 metric tons at the winch, to SURF of Marseilles, France. It is the most powerful of her type ever built by Halter Ma- rine Inc., which claims to have built more supply boats than any other shipbuilder in the world. Named for Achilles, the mythic Greek warrior and leader in the Trojan War, Achille (pronounced "Ah-sheel") was christened by Ms. Nicole Allemande, daughter-in- law of Roland Allemande, U.S. representative for SURF. Also on hand at the christening in New Orleans wasAlain de Croix, presi- dent of SURF, and Christian Lefevfe, SURF's operations man- ager. Speaking at the ceremony, Harvey Walpert, Trinity Marine senior vice president of administra- tion, said, "While most shipyards have abandoned oil field service ships, we at Trinity have continued to improve and refine these designs to further strengthen our position as the world leader in the field." He said Achille was built using ad- vanced new design and construc- tion techniques and the boat includes equipment that was unheard of on vessels of this type just a few years ago. As an example, he citedAchille's Robertson dynamic positioning sys- tem and its Ulstein steering rud- ders. The latter includes an articu- lated "flap" or hinged portion near the end of the rudder, like an air- plane aileron, for substantially im- proved handling and maneuverabil- ity, particularly at low speeds. Achille's maneuverability and thrust are also enhanced by twin four- bladed Berg controllable-pitch pro- pellers surrounded by Kort nozzles and a Berg bowthruster. Overall, the new vessel is 218.3 ft. long, with a 46-ft. beam, 20-ft.-deep hull and 17-ft. design draft. It is the second of two nearly identical ves- sels by Trinity for SURF. The first, Artabaze, was also built by Halter Marine, Inc. of Lockport, La., and was delivered in December 1994. The 7,260-hp vessel, with 80 metric tons of pull at the tow winch, re- cently completed a cable-laying project off the coast of Africa. Achille is powered by two Cater- pillar 3612 diesel engines develop- ing a total of 11,000 hp through Reintjes LAF-55 reverse/reduction gears. During sea trials she ex- L.F. GAUBERT & CO. INC. P.O. BOX 50500 • NEW ORLEANS, LA • 70150 Phone: (504)822-7272 Fax: (504)821 -9309 1 -800-831 -7534 Call Us For Your FREE Newsletter Quality Is Our MOST Important Feature! Circle 246 on Reader Service Card ceeded 17 knots. Electrical power is provided by two Caterpillar 3408 diesels driving two 350-kW genera- tors. A 250-kW special service gen- erator is driven by a Caterpillar 3406 diesel engine, and a 60-kW harbor generator is powered by a Caterpillar 3304 diesel engine. Achille's four dry bulk drilling mud tanks provide space for 6,000 cu. ft. of mud and she can carry 1,650 BBL of drilling fluids in four liquid mud tanks which are equipped with agitators to keep the fluids circulating at all times. Mr. Walpert said that while other Trinity-built boats have been equipped with similar purpose de- vices for dry muds, this is the second application for liquid mud tanks. He added that Trinity now has ex- clusive rights to the design and manufacture of Pnu Tanks, which were formerly built by the SMATCO division of TBW Inc. Achille's ability to tow and posi- tion anchors and other equipment is made possible by an Ulstein double drum tow winch with a maximum line pull of 330,000 lbs., a Fritz Culver stern roller, Fritz Culver tow pins, pennant reels and shark jaw, a 20-ton Fritz Culver tugger and a five-ton-capacity pedestal mounted EBI hydraulic crane. H 4,000-sq.-ft. aft deck can accomm date up to 800 metric tons of carg All deck operations can be o served by closed circuit televisio from the spacious, high visibili pilothouse. The system can monit the tow winch and several oth locations on the vessel. The new ship has accommod tions for up to 24 and each stat room includes a shower and a toile Twenty tons of air conditioning a" heating provide comfort for all i accommodations areas as well as i the complete galley. Some capacities are: 24,200 ga Ions of freshwater; 172,350 gallo of fuel oil; and 266,700 gallons ballast/drill water. The new AH/TS carries a Burea Veritas classification and is SOLA certificated and French-flagged. Halter Marine , Inc. is part oft Trinity Group, Gulfport, Miss which is owned by Trinity Indu tries, Inc., Dallas, Texas. Thegrou includes 19 shipyards in Texas, Lou siana, Mississippi, Florida, Tenne see, Missouri and Pennsylvania. For more information on Trinity Circle 178 on Reader Service Card When the name of the game is fast spill response, make sure the name on the boat is Kvichak. Our SRVs are all-aluminum, but their main ingredient is reliability. They've proven that where it counts - on the job - for people like Alyeska Pipeline, Clean Sound Cooper- ative, Foss Environmental, Riedel, and others. Talk to us soon, and put a Kvichak boat on your response team. 615 North 34th Street Seattle, WA 98103 USA Phone (206) 545-8485 FAX (206) 545-3504 Marine Industries Circle 344 on Reader Service Card Maritime Reporter/Engineering New
