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Seagull Marine Tackles Katrina Devastation

As a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the list of damaged or destroyed rigs and drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico is extensive. In response, Seagull Marine, a Transoceanic subsidiary, has been extraordinarily active in the entire Gulf of Mexico region assisting clients such as Heerema, Superior Diving, Cal Dive, Boa Offshore Ltd, ENI, Noble Energy and many others with the maintenance and recovery efforts. “These companies are hiring any available vessels - foreign and American flag - to help in the recovery and re-construction work on the Outer Continental Shelf [OCS],” stated Dave Thomas, Senior Vice-President of Seagull Marine. “In fact, several vessels are dedicated exclusively to the thousands of miles of underwater pipeline systems; searching for missing or damaged pipes, valves and parts of missing platforms,” he continued. The concentration of offshore construction, heavy-lift crane vessels [w/ cap up to 7000 metric tons], offshore supply diving boats and floating hotels and flotillas has increased dramatically. In addition, all available foreign flag supply boats, barges and tugs are operating under the U.S. Coast Guard Jones Act Exemption, creating more desperately needed job opportunities.

For Seagull, the list of responsibilities covers the spectrum of the offshore marine industry. For starters, they handle the logistics of safely transporting, scheduling and positioning offshore crew members – including the handling of accommodations, which are difficult to find in the gulf region. “One hotel across the street from our Kenner office has worked full-time with Seagull keeping crews housed. In fact, during one particular 3-day period, we placed 200 crew members. Unfortunately, the hotel only has 80 beds, so we have to routinely scramble for accommodations in other cities much farther away such as Houston, Atlanta and Memphis. Other cities in Louisiana, like Lafayette and Baton Rouge are completely full,” Thomas explained. There are also limited air flights into New Orleans, further complicating matters.

In addition, the endless parade of vessels and supplies entering and exiting the Gulf means that Seagull must also handle import clearances, address incident reports [death, injury, etc…], provide bunkering and husbandry services [food, deck, engine supplies, medical supplies, etc]. Thomas emphasized that the situation “can become a logistical nightmare.” The entrance and clearance of all the cargo has to be declared to U.S. Customs. What used to require two steps now requires ten.” Furthermore, because of the hurricanes and conflicts abroad, resources of the U.S. government are stretched. Transport vehicles are often difficult to find in New Orleans because the available labor pool is hauling debris for FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]; a far more lucrative enterprise. This means that Seagull has to get more creative – and more flexible - on multiple levels

In the past four months, Seagull Marine’s activity has increased significantly, including additional entrances and clearances of supply vessels, crew boats, barges, tugs, helicopters, crew changes, husbandry services, supply purchases, medical assistance, and coordination of other miscellanies services, just to name a few. Thomas and his staff have never felt so challenged. “With all the new client demands, coupled with a host of government regulations, we have had to make changes within our organization to assist with homeland security, which is both confidential and complex. Seagull is now required to have a full time person dedicated to the filings of the new requirements in order for us to be in compliance with these regulations. With everyone coming in and out of the Gulf region or in and out of the U.S., this information that we are providing is passed through the U.S. Government intelligence community, including the FBI, CIA, U.S. Customs, Border Patrol, Coast Guard and others. We have had to hire new full and/or temporary staffing for this new surge in business,” he said.

Thomas speculated that the recovery work will be a minimum of two years, as the oil industry is still working on last year’s storm damage that already had a backlog of 18 months to complete, and now faces new re-construction work.

Seagull Marine is dedicated to offering the finest marine agency and husbandry services…24/7. A manager is always on duty with an agent to assist our clients and all offshore operations within the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

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