THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 9, 1995 TAG: 9509090299
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Quadrimaran International Holdings Inc. wants to assemble high-speed, four-hulled cargo vessels and ferries at Tidewater Community College's Portsmouth campus in Suffolk.
The French-owned company is near an agreement with the community college, its acting president Trond Conradi said Friday at a breakfast meeting of the Hampton Roads Maritime Association.
TCC President Larry Whitworth is more circumspect. ``This thing would take a lot of consideration and planning before we could do it.''
If the project happens, TCC would swap some of its waterfront property in Suffolk for contractual guarantees that it would handle the training for the vessels, Whitworth said.
``If Quadrimaran does everything they say they will, we think it's potentially a great economic generator for Hampton Roads,'' Whitworth said.
Conradi says the company has just about nailed down a contract to build one of the vessels called quadrimarans for an overseas buyer. He described a potentially huge market for the vessel based on shippers growing demand for just-in-time delivery and passengers demand for speed.
The quadrimaran is designed to provide a fast, fuel-efficient method of transport. Floating on a cushion of air that builds as it gains speed, the vessel is supposed to be able to cruise at greater than 60 miles per hour. It would be stable in heavy seas and offer a lot of flexible-use space.
In France, Quadrimaran has built a 60-foot prototype of the vessel and a 90-foot ferry for Martinique, Conradi said. It's in discussions to build quadrimarans longer than 300 feet to move passengers, cars and trucks, he said.
If Quadrimaran International gets a sizeable slice of the world market for fast vessels, the project could eventually create up to 400 jobs in Hampton Roads, Conradi said.
Quadrimaran wants to build the unique vessels in Hampton Roads because of the depth and worldwide cost competitiveness of the labor force, Conradi said.
The vessel has a troubled past in the region. Moon Engineering Co. Inc. was building a demonstration model, but was forced to sue the owners in April for nearly $1.4 million when it wasn't paid.
``Unfortunately we didn't see eye-to-eye with our financial partner,'' Conradi said of the dispute.
Moon was building the vessel for a company known as Espirit Quadrimaran Ltd., which is half owned by Quadrimaran International and half Charles Hamel of Alexandria.
The dispute has delayed the completion of the demonstrator by more than six months. The two sides are now talking, so the project could start moving forward again soon, Conradi said.
Hamel was unavailable to comment on the issue.
TCC and Quadrimaran have been talking about the project for about a year, Whitworth said. ``They're facing some significant legal issues, so we're waiting for them to get healthy,'' he said.
Quadrimaran wants to develop its own facility because the region's shipyards aren't built to assemble these vessels, Conradi said. They also have huge infrastructures with costly overheads, he said.
Before moving forward, TCC would have to get approval for the project from its board, the State Board for Community Colleges, the governor's office and the state Department of Economic Development, Whitworth said. ``It's a fairly complicated process,'' he said.
He also said TCC needs hard data on what it would be guaranteed and how many orders for the vessels Quadrimaran has.
``It would be a great asset to the college,'' he said.
TCC would provide training for the vessel's crew and pilots as well as is some shipyard trades, maintenance and engineering. by CNB