Letter: Local boatbuilders are thriving, deserve more support

Posted 9/11/17

To the editor:

In March, the City of Newport awarded a contract to purchase a new fireboat for the city’s fire department. The City Council voted to spend $887,642 on an aluminum vessel …

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Letter: Local boatbuilders are thriving, deserve more support

Posted

To the editor:

In March, the City of Newport awarded a contract to purchase a new fireboat for the city’s fire department. The City Council voted to spend $887,642 on an aluminum vessel designed and built in California. 

Rhode Island prides itself in its support of the marine trades, and Newport is the poster child for the state's marine industry. Yet, the article I read about the contract stated the city “held impressive meetings with local boatbuilders, (but) a fireboat would be an uncharted prototype for those companies.” 

I find that hard to believe, and this would be an incredible opportunity for our local boatbuilding economy. A fireboat is a power boat with different equipment and outfitting, and there are several Rhode Island boatbuilders that I am certain could have built an impressive fireboat for the City of Newport. Instead of shipping a boat cross-country, we could have built a fireboat designed specifically for use in Narragansett Bay, much like we do with our bridges and other local infrastructure, and supported jobs within our own community.

Back in August of 2015, Rhode Island Fast Ferry launched their crew transport vessel, the Atlantic Pioneer, to support the Block Island Wind Farm. This is a tremendous achievement for our state and hopefully signals the start of Rhode Island leading the way into the renewable energy industry. 

The Atlantic Wind Transfers website boasts an impressive list of partners with the heading: “Industry Partners in the first Offshore Wind Farm Support Vessel built in the United States.” The list includes various New England-based equipment suppliers and a Rhode Island shipyard. But, the list also includes a British boatbuilder, from whom the design of the boat was licensed. That boat design was developed years ago using engineers, researchers, and facilities in the UK.

In an effort to support our maritime industry, our engineers, students and universities in Rhode Island should be engaged in the development of a modern American crew transfer vessel to be used in our own emerging industry. We could boast that our renewable energy industry is being developed from the ground up using American talent, expertise and experience. These engineering and research jobs are the highly trained and well-paid jobs we need to nurture and encourage to stay in Rhode Island.

As an engineer with 12 years’ experience in the maritime industry, I have complete confidence in our own engineers, designers, and boatbuilders to design and build vessels to be operated in our waters. We should all support an industry that we want to see growing and thriving in our state — be it for commercial or leisure applications. In the future, I would like to see our town and state officials, boatbuilders, engineers and research facilities engaged in the process and collaborating from the onset, so we can strengthen our maritime industry and watch it flourish on all fronts.

Daniela Abbott

52 Ladeira Ave.

Portsmouth

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