The Sabine Pilots took delivery of the 53.5-foot Port Arthur, a Chesapeake-class aluminum pilot boat from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding of Somerset, Mass., last spring. Port Arthur replaced the 45-foot Sabine Pass Pilot built by Breaux’s Bay Craft in Loreauville, La., in 1975.
“It will mainly be used to board pilots on our bar and to board and disembark pilots from LNG ships at the berth,” said Capt. Andrew Guidry. A pilot for 12 years, Guidry is also the new build superintendent who shepherded Port Arthur through the construction process. “It will also be used to run to our sea buoy when the big boats are not required. The fuel consumption is half of the bigger boats and it makes the same speed, 25 knots.”
The big boats are the 72-foot Sabine Bank Pilot, built by Kvichak in 2003, and the 61-foot Sabine Pilot and 75-foot Sabine Pilot II, both built by Breaux’s Bay Craft in 1984 and 1995, respectively.
This story is from the October/November 2016 edition of Professional Mariner.
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This story is from the October/November 2016 edition of Professional Mariner.
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