Seacor is presently building two 145 ft OSVs with options on several more, Rose said. Seacor's recent acquisitions of Gilbert Cheramie and Seahorse Marine have added 17 OSVs, most built within the last three years, to Seacors fleet.

Of course, Seacors fleet is worldwide, but the company recognizes the continuing potential of the Gulf of Mexico, Rose added.

Any company that focuses attention on the shelf is making a lot of sense, says Bob Alario, president of OMSA, the 270-member company Offshore Marine Services Association.

Most of the attention of the large and intermediate companies in marine transportation is focusing on deepwater activity and the shelf has suffered recently by virtue of all that attention going to deep water, Alario said. However, the shelf is not dead. There is a lot of life left there. Bollinger's newbuilds attest to that. They will continue to refurbish the fleet.

Alario believes that the same cutting edge three-dimensional and four-dimensional computerized seismic technology that has been so successful in finding deepwater fields will also be effective in shallow water.

"Theres more oil to be found in shallow water," Alario says. "More deposits will be found due to new (3D and 4D) seismic technology. If prices stay up, we have to find cheaper oil and gas. This (deepwater) stuff is not coming on stream tomorrow. There is a significant amount of independent drilling operations that must depend on the shelf. There's enough people that depend on it, that there will be activity there. There is an existing infrastructure that is still convenient and attractive to niche players."

DEEPWATER
Giant Tidewater Marine, anything but a niche player, is now putting some serious money into a commitment to the deepwater end of the industry. Up until recently, critics say, Tidewater has lagged in this sector

Now, though, Tidewater's $300 million purchase/build program will add 28 further deepwater vessels to its U.S. and worldwide fleet in the next two years.

"We are filling a gap strictly targeted at very deepwater work around the world," said company spokesman Larry Rigdon. Of the 28 vessels being added to the Tidewater fleet, 12 will be newbuilds--seven platform supply vessels and five anchor handling vessels--and 16 purchased vessels, Rigdon said.

Tidewater enlisted Norway's Vik-Sandvik for design of its newbuilds. Four 260 ft VS 480 are being built at Tidewater's Quality Shipyards in Louisiana and three at Singapore Technologies, Singapore. The five anchor handlers are 280 ft Vik -Sandvik designs, being built at China's Yantai-Raffles yard in Shanghai

All of the newbuilds will have diesel/electric propulsion and be equipped with state-of-the-art dynamic positioning systems.

"We are looking at long-term trends. Our vessels will be working in the Shetland Islands, the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, West Africa and Southeast Asia," Rigdon said.
Tidewater Inc. owns and operates over 570 vessels, the worlds largest fleet of vessels serving the international offshore energy industry.

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