New Cummins-Powered Utility/Supply Boat for Sea Horse Marine

As the oil rigs move further off shore in the Gulf of Mexico, a new generation of boats are evolving to service them. At one end of the spectrum are the high speed crew boats while at the other end are the big 220-foot and larger supply boats with their large capacity tanks for drilling mud, fuel and water. In the middle are the displacement-hulled utility boats that have larger cargo capacities than the planing-hulled crew boats but greater flexibility and lower day rates than the supply boats.

Philip Plaisance operates a fleet of 14 utility boats out of his Lockport Louisiana-based Sea Horse Marine Inc. These boats have ranged in size for 100 to 120 feet, but in June he took delivery of a 150X36X12-foot utility boat from Bollinger Shipyard. Plaisance explained that the larger boat, really a combination utility/supply vessel, is under charter to work out of Port Fuchon for Marathon Oil to service three rigs up to 100 miles off shore. The vessel has tankage for 90,000 gallons of potable water, 1230-barrels of liquid mud, 53,000 gallons of diesel, and 21,700 gallons of methanol or jet fuel. The boat's prime function will be to carry up do 400 long tons of general freight on its 92x30 foot cargo deck. It is also equipped with a large capacity walk in freezer for delivery of perishables.

The vessel's capacity to serve as an emergency evacuation platform (EEP) vessel has also been enhanced, "With so much deep water activity going on with large platforms with so many people on board, we upped the EEP from the normal 75 people to 150 people that we can evacuate in event of hurricane, explosions or fire situations."

The M/V Sea Horse I is also equipped with a 2000 GPM eight-inch fire monitor with its pump powered by a Cummins NT-855 delivering 300 hp. This engine also serves a bow thruster to enhance manoeuvrability and station keeping capabilities when working under oil platform derricks. This is the first of Sea Horse Marine's fleet of utility vessels to be equipped with a bow thruster.

Main engines on the 12-knot boat are a pair of Cummins KTA 38 MO V-12 diesels supplied by Cummins Mid-South of Kenner Louisiana each delivering 750 hp at 1600 RPM continuous. The engines drive through Karl Senner-supplied 5:1 Reintjes WAF-561 gears to 74X54-inch open props. Recognizing the need to "go green" in the commercial marine world, Plaisance has included the Cummins system for onboard management of waste lube oil. "We have Cummins' fuel lube blender on the engines," he explains, "Every 250 hours we change oil on each engine and then blend the oil in with the fuel so that we can burn it as fuel."

With sleeping accommodation for 18 and a crew of only four, the M/V Sea Horse I is capable of taking workers to and from the rigs. Under command of Capt. Jimmy LeJune, the new vessel is finding a ready reception among the growing fleet of boats designed specifically to service the deep water oil rigs.

For more information on the M/V Sea Horse I contact:

Philip Plaisance
Sea Horse Marine Inc.
Lockport, LA
Ph: 504 532-6759
Fax: 504 532-6934

Calvin Klotz
Cummins Mid-South Inc.
Kenner, LA
Ph: 504-465-3403
Fax: 504 465-3408

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