Nichols Brothers back in business following sale of its assets to a creditor

Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Whidbey Island, Wash., has sold its assets to a Dallas equity firm, giving the company badly needed cash to resume operations. Nichols Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in November because it could not borrow money to finance operations. The proceeds from the sale will allow the company to hire 100 workers, bringing the total…
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2008 Plimsolls are awarded to Rigdon, ASA and FLIR

  From left to right, John A. Witte Jr., president of the American Salvage Association; Lou Rota, FLIR vice president; John Gormley, editor of Professional Mariner. The editors of Professional Mariner have awarded the 2008 Samuel Plimsoll Award for outstanding service by an individual to Larry T. Rigdon, chairman and chief executive of Rigdon Marine Corp. The Plimsoll Award for…
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Technical advances helping to improve security for platforms and vessels

  Thermal-imaging surveillance cameras like this SeaFLIR unit from FLIR Systems are to be installed on LNG tankers calling at U.S. ports. (FLIR Systems) Vessels and offshore energy facilities are potential targets for terrorists, but new security technology is being adapted for use on oil platforms, deepwater ports and LNG vessels. Imaginative uses for existing technologies such as digital closed-circuit television,…
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Bender building six anchor handlers for Seacor Marine

Above, anchor handler John Coghill at its christening at the Bender shipyard in Mobile, Ala. The 265-foot anchor handler has a diesel-electric power plant comprising five Caterpillar generators producing 10,750 horsepower. (Courtesy Bender Shipbuilding and Repair) In early May, Seacor Marine LLC of Houma, La., christened the first of six anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels built by Bender Shipbuilding and…
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