USA: Marinette Marine Corporation (MMC), Fincantieri's American subsidiary, has been awarded two orders in the USA worth over US$130 million.
Contracts include a US$73 million contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for a Fisheries Survey Vessel (FSV) and a US$63 million contract for 30 boats for the US Coast Guard.
The research vessel is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act within the framework of a programme to replace outdated vessels. Construction will be at Marinette shipyard; delivery is scheduled for 2013 to the ship's homebase in San Diego.
The ship will serve the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA's facility in south west America, replacing the 'David Starr Jordan'. The new vessel will be equipped with a full suite of modern instrumentation for sampling and advanced navigation systems with multifrequency acoustic sensors and extensive laboratories. The new research vessel will also be able to carry out surveys on marine fauna, including mammals, turtles and fish and conduct studies into the effects of climate change on the ecosystems off the west coast of North America and in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, the boats for the US Coast Guard will be built at ACE Marine (Aluminum Center of Excellence) at Green Bay, Wisconsin, and are part of a multi-year Coast Guard programme called "Response Boats-Medium (RB-Ms)", for which MMC is prime contractor and programme manager.
Delivery of the first boats is scheduled in the third quarter of 2011. This order brings the number of boats ordered to MMC to 97 out of a total of 250. Kvichak Marine Industries will collaborate in the construction of the vessels.
These vessels will have a length of 13.5 metres and a beam of just over four metres. They can reach a maximum speed of 42 knots and can operate in a range of 250 nautical miles from the coast, with a pull capacity of 100 tonnes.The vessels will replace outdated craft within a process of fleet renewal of the Coast Guard.
