NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans-based Harvey Gulf International Marine is entering the shipbuilding business with the acquisition of Trinity Yachts in New Orleans and Gulf Coast Shipyard in Gulfport, Mississippi.
The company said Thursday it created a new affiliated company, Harvey Shipyard Group, to manage its shipbuilding assets. The purchase price was not disclosed.
The Advocate reports the shipyards in New Orleans and Gulfport were branded in 2013 under the name Gulf Coast Shipyard Group Inc., with Trinity as a division of the company. Trinity Yachts builds custom-made super yachts.
With its Gulf Coast Shipyard acquisition, Harvey Gulf International Marine said it will build on that company's success in constructing the nation's first liquefied natural gas-powered offshore supply vessels for the oil and gas drilling market. Six of those vessels, which also can operate on diesel fuel, are being built by Gulf Coast Shipyard for Harvey Gulf.
Harvey Gulf said it expects to expand operations in Gulfport and New Orleans as it continues to develop its dual-fuel ship design, engineering and construction for marine transportation industry clients. The company also will build tank and hot oil barges.
Harvey Gulf alone is investing $350 million to construct its dual-fuel offshore fleet. In March, Shell announced it had chartered the first of the vessels, the Harvey Energy, and put it to work servicing Shell's deepwater operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
"These shipyard acquisitions will position Harvey Gulf as America's only builder, owner and operator of dual-fuel (diesel/LNG) offshore supply vessels and allow us to pass along the savings of lower operating costs and environmental protection to the marine transportation industry," said Shane J. Guidry, chairman and chief executive officer of Harvey Shipyard Group HGIM.