Time to crank up those new cranes

摘要

The refrain of Gulf Coast shipyards, lining the bayous close to the offshore oil, has morphed from location, location, location to uncertainty, uncertainty, uncertainty. A recent tour elicited a strong consensus: The creeping rate of permitting for drilling in the Gulf is driving the oil companies to foreign waters. At best, that's frustrating the shipyards. At worst, it is strangling them. "It's all about permitting," said Robert Socha, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, La.