Harvey Gulf International Marine is continuing its push to diversify, announcing on Monday its plan to convert four of its platform supply vessels (PSV) to be redeployed in the lightering support market.
The four vessels will provide lightering services in California, Texas, Louisiana and Florida, said Shane Guidry, CEO of Harvey Gulf. “In this market, we will offer a larger vessel with newer equipment in order to provide a safer service, all at the price of the smaller vessels presently doing this work,” he added.
The company said it has begun converting four 220-foot DPS-2 PSVs, which will be capable of stowing one set of four jumbo fenders (4.5 meters diameter, 9 meters long) and one set of four smaller jumbo fenders (4.5 meters diameter, 6.3 meters long) on the vessels’ back decks, along with other STS related equipment, e.g., three (12 inch diameter, 90 feet long) cargo transfer hoses, four smaller fenders, personnel transfer basket, wires, shackles and other hardware used by mooring masters. The vessels are also being fitted with a small, single drum towing winch with minimum 50,000 pounds line pull, two 15,000 pounds line pull tugger winches, stern rollers with minimum 24-foot diameter by 18 feet long, steel plate decking and small mezzanine/raised decks aft of accommodations for storage of 40 by 14 feet.
The move is part of a ongoing effort by the offshore support vessel owner to repurpose its assets to tap into new revenue streams amid a prolonged offshore oil and gas industry downturn.
“As my team and I continually strive to transform Harvey into the company we want to be tomorrow, I see where we need to diversify the services we perform and broaden our client base,” Guidry said.
“This year, while our competitors sat idle, Harvey opened the first dual fuel dock in America, where we sell both diesel and liquefied natural gas for marine use,” he continued. “We converted one of our 300-foot platform supply vessels to a 900,000 gallon diesel fuel delivery vessel. With this vessel, we will deliver fuel to tankers and containerships offshore, platforms, drilling rigs and other vessels supporting oil and gas exploration and production in the U.S. We will also be delivering fuel to our own vessels working in Mexico.”
According to Guidry, more changes will follow. “Over the coming weeks, I will be announcing more transformations explaining how we will use all of our assets in every way possible to deliver the best financial returns to our investors,” he said.