Sea River Tankers and MSC Ships Keeping Cascade General Busy

The summer season has seen a steady stream of vessels calling at Cascade General's Portland Shipyard, including a wide variety of ships, tugs and barges. Drydockings since May have included five US Naval ships, a dozen tugs and barges, and three oil tankers. Two of these tankers--the Galena Bay and Puget Sound--were recently acquired by Sea River and are undergoing extensive overhauls and upgrades to meet fleet standards.

The 658' x 106' (200 m x 32 m) S/R Puget Sound was drydocked in July for a complete hull blast to white metal, recoating, and inspection of propeller and rudder. On deck, work included fitting a Safe Bow Access, deckhouse extension with garbage incinerator, new emergency towing system and re-location of winches. A new oil content monitor was installed within the ballast system, and large galley upgrades were also completed. Cascade General continues to perform regular maintenance work on the rest of Sea River's ships under an alliance agreement.

A second successful program has bought five ships from the US Navy reserve fleet to Portland in quick succession: three 684' (208 m) container and vehicle carriers--the Cape Inscription, the Cape Intrepid and the Cape Isabel, a 514' (156m) general cargo carrier--the Cape Breton, and the 737' (214 m) tanker Chesapeake. All five were drydocked, inspected, machine repaired, blasted, coated, and returned to readiness. "Turning these five ships round in just 90 days was an outstanding performance," commented Cascade General Executive Vice-President Suren Menon.

A smaller MSC vessel, the 224' (68 m) USNS Assertive, was lifted in the Portland Shipyard's second drydock for its 3-year overhaul. The Assertive is an undersea surveillance ship in the Stalwart Class designated T-AGOS 9 and is operated by Maersk. The entire vessel, including hull, decks and masts, was blasted and re-coated with an Ameron paint system. New air compressors were installed and the electronic controls for the four Caterpillar D398 diesel-electric generators were upgraded.

The Global Sentinel, a 475' (145 m) cable-laying ship, was drydocked at the same time as the Assertive for bottom work and an overhaul on tail shaft, bow thrusters and two azimuthing stern thrusters. The vessel's main propulsion is electrically- driven from the 2100 kW power generated by the ship's three Wartsila 12-cylinder diesels. The vessel is owned by Tycom, which maintains a permanent base in the Portland Shipyard.

In addition to the routine bottom work on coastal and inland craft, one deck barge arrived at the yard carrying a "removable spillway weir" constructed locally. The 1000-ton steel structure, designed to aid salmon recovery, was floated off in a drydock by Cascade General's dock crew, and towed up the Columbia to the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River.

Cascade General operates Portland Shipyard, the largest and most complete ship repair and industrial facility on the West Coast of the United States. We provide full-service repairs and conversions for tankers, cruise ships, bulk carriers, container ships, government vessels, tugs, barges and workboats. Cascade General's Portland facility includes a 60-acre (24.2 ha) yard, 550,000 square feet (51,096 square meters) of craft shops, more than 7,600 ft. (2,326 meters) of full-service repair berths, and two floating dry docks.