C&C Marine & Repair Decorates OSV For Annual Christmas Light Display

Belle Chasse, La.-based C&C Marine and Repair is helping employees and neighbors alike get into the holiday spirit with the shipyard’s third annual Christmas light display.

Extending along Engineers Road on the east side of the shipyard, the light display features the mv. Bering, a 195-foot by 40-foot offshore supply vessel (OSV), which is covered in Christmas lights and candy canes, with Santa and his elves fishing for red snapper from the boat. The decorations also include the Grinch, two 20-foot Christmas trees, a 40-foot inflatable Santa and a team of reindeer mid-flight.

Using the mv. Bering for the light display this year and the holiday tradition at C&C both have strong ties to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During the pandemic, we noticed that many of our employees and customers appeared deflated,” said C&C Marine owner Tony Cibilich, who also owns Adriatic Marine and its fleet of OSVs. “To improve morale, I thought it would be good to take the people I work with most, both employees and customers, out to the Gulf of Mexico to fish red snapper. Most of C&C Marine’s employees and customers grew up fishing, so what better way for the company to express its appreciation than by giving them the fishing trip of a lifetime? Similarly, we began decorating for Christmas to spread holiday cheer for the entire C&C family and the surrounding community.”

In 2021, the holiday display featured light-up Christmas trees aboard two Maritime Partners towboats built at C&C Marine. Last year, Hines Furlong Line’s mv. Kent Furlong, also built at the shipyard, was the basis for the Christmas display. With the mv. Bering taking hundreds of C&C Marine customers and employees on fishing excursions the past few years, making the OSV the centerpiece of the Christmas display this year was a perfect fit.

“When discussing this year’s decorations, the idea was simple,” said Ben Sasso, project manager at the shipyard. “Everyone loves Christmas, and everyone loves to fish, so it only seemed natural to combine the two.”

“Every year we try to have fun with the display, but the real goal is to spread joy to everyone during the holiday season,” Cibilich said.

The display will be in place until after the new year.

The mv. Bering was built at C&C Marine in 2012. The ship has accommodations for 38, with passenger seating for 40.

Started in 1997 and covering 80 acres, C&C Marine and Repair is located on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway just south of New Orleans. The company designs and builds towboats, dredges, barges and OSVs, along with other marine vessels. C&C Marine’s facilities are designed so that all new construction can be performed under roof with multiple projects underway at the same time.

Caption for photo: C&C Marine & Repair’s Christmas light display. (Photo by Frank McCormack)