Bender Shipbuilding & Repair (Mobile, USA) and Otto Candies (Des Allemands, USA) executed a contract for the construction of three 240' x 54' x 20' Diesel Electric AC Variable Frequency Drive Offshore Supply Vessels. This contract is a continuation of the orders previously received from Otto Candies and the resultant construction of five OSV’s and three 10,000 HP anchor handling tugs. Bender designed and incorporated state of the art characteristics for the vessels, which include Variable Frequency AC Motors & Drive System and DP2 System from Alstom, two Rolls Royce Aquamaster 2001 Z-drives and two 900 HP kamewa bow thrusters.

The Alarm, Monitoring, Tank Level Indication and Automatic Valve Systems as well as the systems Integration are from Marine One. The vessel’s main generators will be four CAT 3512’s, 1360 kW each from Thompson Power Systems. The vessels also have a completely automated cargo discharge, tank monitoring, and valve control system, which is operated from a touch screen computer located in the pilothouse. They feature cylindrical liquid mud tanks with internal propeller agitators, which results in segregated cargo carrying capability. Since the tanks are cylindrical rather than square, they can be more quickly and inexpensively cleaned. The vessels also contain 8000 Cu. Ft. of bulk mud carrying capacity in five tanks.

The vessel pumping capacity is 650 GPM at 80 PSI for liquid mud of 2.5 specific gravity and 625 CFM@100 PSI for bulk mud or cement, The deadweight cargo capacity of the vessels is 3020 metric tons.

Tom Bender, President of Bender Shipbuilding & Repair, stated that "The design characteristics of these vessels exceed the mission and operational capability of the most current generation of this size Offshore Supply Vessels. With these vessels, the Bender and Candies team have truly produced the next generation of OSV’s.”