VT Halter Marine fined

MOSS POINT, Miss. - VT Halter Marine must pay fines of $1.3 million for a 2009 explosion and fire that killed two workers and injured two others, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The incident occurred in November of that year in the inner bottom void of a tugboat that was being built at the company's Escatawapa facility. OSHA cited the company for 17 willful and 11 serious violations. (Source: Sun Herald, 05/19/10)

BAE Systems to buy Atlantic Marine

ARLINGTON, Va. - BAE Systems today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Atlantic Marine Holding Co. from JFL-AMH Partners LLC, a portfolio company of the private equity firm J.F. Lehman and Company for a cash consideration of $352 million. Atlantic Marine is a privately held vessel maintenance, repair, overhaul and conversion, marine fabrication, and ship construction services provider with operations at Mayport and Jacksonville, Fla., Moss Point, Miss., and Mobile, Ala. The acquisition does not include Atlantic Marine's Boston and Philadelphia operations. The acquisition will be funded from BAE Systems' existing cash resources. (Source: BAE Systems, 05/18/10)

Signal gets $30M contract

MOBILE, Ala. - Signal International won a $30 million contract to build two power generation barges at its Orange, Texas, shipyard for Waller Marine of Houston. Each of the 300-foot-by-100-foot barges will be capable of generating 171 megawatts of electricity. When the barges are finished in August, Waller plans to take them to Venezuela. Signal, which recently bought Bender Shipbuilding and Repair of Mobile, also has yards in Pascagoula, Miss. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 05/12/10)

Contract: Gulf Island Fabrication, $9.4M

Gulf Island Fabrication Inc., Houma, La., was awarded a $9,410,156 contract to obtain marine services to modify the dredge Potter. The modification includes replacing the existing upper deckhouse and pilothouse areas. This project requires engineering and design, fabrication, testing, and delivery services to provide the required modifications. The dredge Potter is in support of dredging efforts for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District. Work is to be performed in Houma, La., with an estimated completion date of July 23, 2011. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 05/10/10)

Ship launched in Pascagoula

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - The Navy amphibious ship that will be named San Diego was launched Friday in Pascagoula. It’s the fourth Navy vessel to be named for the city and will be delivered to the Navy in 2011. The 684-foot amphibious transport dock ship built by Northrop Grumman will be christened in June. The LPD 17 class of amphibious transport dock ships can carry up to 720 troops along with air-cushioned and conventional landing craft, expeditionary fighting vehicles, helicopters and vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. (Sources: San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego News Network, 05/07/10)

Inspector shortage cited in weld issue

A shortage of Navy inspectors contributed to quality problems with ships built at the Gulf Coast yards of Northrop Grumman, a Navy official said Wednesday. Brian Persons, executive director of Naval Sea Systems Command, said that after the Navy looked into the weld problems on destroyers and amphibious ships built as far back as 2002 in Avondale, La., and Pascagoula, Miss., officials concluded there were too few inspectors from the Supervisor of Shipbuilding to ensure the work. NavSea has been adding inspectors over the past several months. (Source: Navy Times, 05/05/10)

Navy gets first EME for DDG 1000

Raytheon Co. delivered the first Electronic Modular Enclosure for the Zumwalt-class destroyer to the U.S. Navy. The EME unit, which houses ruggedized and commercial electronic equipment for the ship's external communications, was shipped from Raytheon's facility in Largo, Fla., to Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., where it will be integrated into DDG 1000's advanced composite deckhouse. There are 16 EMEs on each Zumwalt destroyer, and each unit contains more than 235 individual electronics cabinets. An EME weighs up to 18 tons and measures close to 35-feet long, 8-feet high and 12-feet wide. (Source: PRNewswire, 05/04/10)