Bordelon Marine to provide commercial support vessel for US Coast Guard

The US Coast Guard has awarded a contract to Bordelon Marine to provide a commercial support vessel that will transport supplies, equipment and personnel to Coast Guard cutters operating in the Caribbean, the Gulf of America and other maritime areas in the Western Hemisphere.

The contract supports the Coast Guard's Homeland Security Cutter-Ocean (HSC-Ocean) initiative, a new effort to strengthen fleet readiness by using commercially operated vessels to provide logistics support to cutters while they remain at sea on mission. The initiative will rapidly deploy the leased commercial asset to augment the existing fleet, aiming to keep high-demand, multi-mission cutters such as the Fast Response Cutter fleet on station longer and focused on mission execution.

Under the contract, Bordelon Marine will provide a fully crewed commercial vessel operated by civilian mariners under the direction of a Coast Guard crew. The contractor will be responsible for vessel operations and maintenance, while embarked Coast Guard personnel coordinate logistics and support mission execution. The Coast Guard said the initiative will inform future logistics and sustainment efforts while helping it evaluate new approaches to supporting cutters operating far from homeport.