Tidewater PSV Named For New Orleans Native Cindy Brown

Platform supply vessel Cindy Brown Tide was delivered to offshore-service giant Tidewater on Oct. 24, and chartered to oil company BP in the Gulf of Mexico. The boat's namesake is someone missed by many. "The vessel was named for Cynthia Niklaus Brown, a wonderful woman who passed away in late 2009 in Houston after being diagnosed with cancer," said Joseph Badeaux, general manager and vice president at Houma, La.-based Quality Shipyards, a subsidiary of Tidewater.

Brown, a New Orleans native, was the wife of Tidewater Vice President Billy Brown and a friend of the family of Tidewater's President and CEO Dean Taylor. For part of their married life, the Browns were stationed overseas, and Cindy had colleagues around the globe.

The vessel in her memory took 20 months to build. "We laid the keel in December 2009 and built the boat in Houma," Badeaux said. "Well over 100 employees worked on the project." The Cindy Brown Tide is the last in a series of three PSVs--including the 266-foot Terrel Tide delivered in 2009 and the similarly sized Leboeuf Tide in 2010--also built by Quality Shipyards for Tidewater. The Terrel Tide and Lebouef Tide were both named for Tidewater employees.

Billy Brown said his wife Cindy was "quite a woman--a math, science and physical ed teacher who worked in Louisiana and overseas." She grew up in the Gentilly section of New Orleans and graduated from Louisiana State University. The mother of three daughters, she was interested in art and was a photographer, sculptor and painter. She resided on four continents during her lifetime and visited more than two dozen countries.

"Our family met Dean Taylor's family in 1980 when we lived in Brazil, and then we met up with them again in 1985 when we resided in Dubai," Brown said.

Diagnosed with cancer in early September of 2009, Cindy passed away on Oct. 24 of that year at the age of 55. "It all happened very quickly," Brown said. Her memorial service was held at St. Dominic Church in New Orleans, and donations have been made in her name to the Susan G. Komen For The Cure foundation.

Tidewater's business is worldwide. Billy Brown joined the company in 2003 as Vice President of Engineering and Technical Services after nearly three decades in marine construction in the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, the Arabian Gulf and India. He became Vice President of Tidewater Inc. in 2005, and oversees Quality Shipyards, along with Tidewater's engineering and technical services groups.

Badeaux recalls the first time that he met Cindy Brown in Louisiana. "I was offered the job of managing Quality Shipyards and had moved to Louisiana from Virginia in July 2007,” he said. “One day I stopped by the Brown's house in Metairie," a New Orleans suburb. "Cindy insisted I join them for dinner. I didn't know anyone in the area. She was very kind and said 'you're family now,' which meant a lot to me."

As for the vessel's characteristics, the Cindy Brown Tide has a 56-foot beam and a maximum draft of 15.9 feet. Its two main engines are 5,150 horsepower. The PSV can carry 2,650 long tons of cargo, 142,500 gallons of fuel oil, 242,850 gallons of cargo water and 127,798 gallons of potable water, along with 11,700 barrels of drilling fluid. The boat contains 44 sleeping berths, 30 seats, staterooms, a lounge, a large walk-in cooler and a big freezer, a hospital and fire fighting equipment.

Badeaux said "Leevac Industries in Jennings, La. designed the vessel, Namasco provided steel for the boat and Caterpillar supplied the engines. Rolls Royce provided the bow thrusters, the Z-Drives are by Steerprop and were provided by Karl Senner, Inc., the DP systems are from Kongsberg, and the major electrical subcontractor was Coastwide Electric, Inc.” in Amelia, La.

Badeaux noted "we build offshore vessels for Tidewater only. We can build brown water boats for anyone for inland waterways--such as towboats that push barges up and down the Mississippi River."

Quality Shipyards, wholly owned by Tidewater, provides new construction, conversion and repair services. Its construction shipyard and repair yard are located on the Gulf of Mexico's Intracoastal Waterway at mile marker 57 near Houma. In addition to building and repairing oilfield vessels, the shipyard designs and builds river towboats, barges and other vessels using the latest computer-aided design or CAD equipment. The company has produced more than 274 boats in the last 40 years or so. 

The repair area at Quality Shipyards has four floating dry docks, with a lifting capacity of up to 4,200 tons. The yard can repair marine vessels with up to 15,000 horsepower, and contains a machine shop and a fabrication shop with blasting and coating capabilities. The repair facility specializes in vessel conversion and stretching.

"Tidewater is currently building boats in Houma, in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin and in China and other countries," Badeaux said. The company's construction projects include PSVs, anchor-handling vessels, crewboats and tugs. In Houma, Quality Shipyards is building a MMC 879 platform supply vessel that's 260.5 feet long, with a 55 feet beam and a 24 feet hull. MMC is a European ship design firm located in Poland.

Tidewater, based in New Orleans and Houston, owns 354 vessels and operates one of the world's largest fleets for the offshore energy industry. About five percent of Tidewater's active fleet is in the Gulf of Mexico. The company is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TDW.

The Cindy Brown Tide is expected to remain in the Gulf of Mexico for now, Badeaux said. The Terrel Tide is at work in Africa and the Lebouef Tide is in Brazil. 

(As published in the February 2012 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - www.marinelink.com)

Characteristics

Length, o.a 266 ft 81.1 m

Beam 56.0 ft 17.1 m

Depth......................... 19.5 ft 5.9 m

Maximum Draft................. 15.9 ft 4.8 m

Light Draft................... 5.7 ft 1.7 m

Freeboard..................... 2.9 ft 0.8 m

Displacement at Loadline...... 5,295.5 lt 5,380.2 t

Deadweight.................... 3,587.0 lt 3,645.2 t

Clear Deck Space.............. 178 x 48 ft 54.3 x 14.6 m

Deck Strength................. 1,024.0 lb/ft² 5.0 t/m²

Minimum Height................ 65.0 ft 19.8 m

Capacities

Deck Cargo.................... 2,650 lt 2,692.1 t

Cargo Water................... 242,850 gal 919.3 t

Fuel Oil...................... 142,500 gal 458.5 t

Potable Water................. 127,798 gal 483.5 t

Lube Oil...................... 1,148 gal 3.9 t

Bulk Tanks (4) Total.......... 6,600 ft³ 186.9 m³

Drilling Fluid (22 lbs/gal)... 11,700 bbl 1,850.0 m³

Walk-In Cooler................ 523 ft³ 14.8 m³

Walk-in Freezer............... 537 ft³ 15.2 m³

Machinery

Main Engines (2) CAT 3516B HD Series II

Horsepower 5150

Propellers (2) Steerprop, 4 Blades, FPP

Kort Nozzles. (2) Steerprop

Primary Generators 3 x CAT C18, 340 kW 480 V 60 hZ

Emergency Generators....... CAT C9, 175 kW 480 V 60 hZ

Speed VS Fuel Consumption

Maximum 12 knots/260 gph

Cruising.................... 11 knots/200 gph

Range @ 11.0 knots............ 8,850 nm

Transfer Rates

Cargo Water 650 gpm @ 230 ft 148.0 t/h @ 96.0 m

Fuel Oil 650 gpm @ 230 ft 173.0 t/h @ 96.0 m

Bulk........... 28 cfm @ 200 ft 74.8 t/h @ 51.8 m

Drilling Fluid. 700 gpm @ 185 ft 338.0 t/h @ 56.4 m

Vessel Mooring

Windlass...................... Oil States, Electric

Anchors....................(2) Workboat Style 5000 lb

Chain (Per Side).............. 810 ft of 1.50 in

Accommodations

Staterooms.................... (4) - 1 Man (7) - 2 Men

(2) - 3 Men (5) - 4 Men

Berths........................ 44

Seats......................... 30

Hospital...................... Yes

Air Conditioning/Heating...... Yes

Special Features.............. Lounge

Electronics

Radar(s)...................... 2

Radio(s)...................... VHF - 2

SSB - 1

Depth Sounder................. 1

Loudhailer.................... 1

Magnetic Compass.............. 1

Gyro Compass.................. 2

GPS........................... 2

Fathometer.................... 1

Wind Speed Indicator.......... 1

Doppler Log................... 1

GMDSS......................... 1

Auto Pilot.................... 1

Special Equipment

Fire Fighting................. Yes

Joystick Controls............. YES

Dynamic Positioning........... DPS-2

Rescue Zone................... NO

Rescue Boat................... SOLAS Approved

HIPAP Ready

FiFi-1

Methanol Ready

Registration

Flag: UNITED STATES 

Home Port: NEW ORLEANS

Official Number 1235173 

Call Sign KCBE

Builder QUALITY SHIPYARDS 

Hull Number 1273

Year Built 2011 

Tonnage 2,435 

GITCT 1,097 NITCT

Classification ABS +A1, (E); +AMS, DPS-2, FFV-1, +ACC