Work Boats Central

 St. Tammany's connections with the oil field workboat industry spans several decades. Several shipyards in Madisonville, Lacombe and Slidell have built a large variety of vessels over the past 100 years:  cargo ships, workboats, crewboats, tugboats and barges. Once launched these would fan out around the globe.

Harry L. Peace ran Peace Publications out of offices just south of Covington for many years, and he published Workboat Magazine and a few other titles that served the worldwide boat industry. His efforts included an annual international workboat exposition in New Orleans. 

I interviewed Peace back in the 1980's, and his operation was quite extensive even then. It has only grown more so over the years as it strove to keep up with the rapidly diversifying and now computer-intensive work boat industry. 

Then there's the Maritime Pilots  Institute in downtown Covington that teaches boat captains and waterway pilots from around the world how to navigate, maneuver and dock all kinds of workboats, including those of considerable size.

The MPI facilities not only include sophisticated computer simulations for navigating ships, but also an outdoor lake where scaled-down versions of vessels are used to provide real-time controls feedback. Its Covington location was formerly occupied by the Goodwill Industries store and Deluxe Theater on New Hampshire Street. 

Maritime Pilots Institute

In Mandeville a company called "C-Innovation" provides subsea oilfield operations services around the world. The company offers a wide variety of complex equipment that assists in the operation, repair and improvement of petrochemical installations and watercraft. Using highly-advanced technology, it provides remote operated vehicles (ROVs) for underwater exploration and pipeline work.

See also:

https://maritimepilotsinstitute.org/

https://www.workboatshow.com/

C-Innovation Assists Oil Industry Worldwide