Americas News
U.S. Coast Guard Award Fuel-Saving Design Contracts
The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded three contacts for preliminary designs of fuel-saving vessels, industry news site Marine Log reports.
The contracts, totalling about $65 million, went to Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. of Louisiana, Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc. of Florida, and General Dynamics, Bath Iron Works, of Maine.
The design contracts are part of a process to contract for new Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPC) that will eventually replace the Coast Guard's 210-foot and 270-foot Medium Endurance Cutters.
After receiving the designs, the Coast Guard will choose one of the three vendors to develop more detailed designs and build the vessels.
The eventual order of new vessels will be for up to 25 OPCs.
The new OPC designs will use technologies that reduce fuel and energy use and mitigate noise and waste streams.
The Coast Guard said awarding three separate contracts allows for competition that will ultimately improve the quality and cost of the finished vessels.
"These contract awards today are an important milestone in sustaining the offshore capability needed to protect the nation's maritime borders," said Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Bob Papp.
"Affordability will be the central consideration as this acquisition moves closer to production."
In another effort to address fuel sustainability, the Coast Guard has also been testing biofuels that could partially replace fossil-fuel-based bunkers.
