Words by Dave McMillan, former CEO of Vard Marine Inc. (1989-2020)
In 2002, Bender Shipbuilding (Mobile, Alabama) awarded the company our first contract for the design of a new Platform Supply Vessel (PSV). This project kicked off our activity in the Gulf of Mexico offshore vessel market which has led to over 60 vessels of our design delivered in the last 20 years. The contract with the owner Naviera Tamaulipas in Tampico, Mexico called for a 2500t DWT DPS-1 vessel with a deck cargo area of 6300 ft2 and a speed at full load of 12 knots, very much a marine “pickup truck”.
Although the hull form and structural design was very basic, the vessel itself was quite complex for a PSV at that time, with transfer pumping of bulk storage for liquid mud, dry bulk mud and drill water. The main propulsion was a traditional mechanically driven propeller system and three generator sets provided power for ship service and bulk product transfer. What was somewhat unique at the time was a single generator sized to drive a combination of either the three CP tunnel thruster or thrusters and the fire pumps.
The vessel has been extremely successful and continues to operate today in the Western Gulf of Mexico. This contract had great influence on our future contract for a series of five Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) Vessels for Seacor that were also built at Bender Shipbuilding in Mobile.