Austal takes hit on earnings

A $23 million write-down on loans to bankrupt client Hawaii Superferry Inc. took a bite out of annual earnings for Australian shipbuilder Austal Ltd. Austal earned $7.65 million in the year that ended June 30, down 82 percent from the previous year. Austal runs a shipyard in Mobile, Ala., that’s expected to play a big role in future growth through military contracts. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/22/09)

Ship handed over to Navy

NEW ORLEANS - Northrop Grumman Ship Systems delivered the $1.2 billion ship that will become the USS New York to the Navy at 9:11 a.m. Friday. It will be formally named this fall in its commissioning in New York City. The ship has forged in its bow stem 7 1/2 tons of steel from the World Trade Center, which collapsed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It's the fifth of 10 San Antonio-class landing platform dock ships. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 08/21/09)

Contract: Northrop Grumman, $16M

Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded a $15,978,754 modification to previously awarded contract to exercise options for the accomplishment of follow yard class services for the DDG 51 Class Aegis destroyer program and will provide expert design, planning, and material support services for both DDG 51 ship construction and modernization. Work will be performed in Pascagoula and is expected to be completed by August 2010. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 08/21/09)

Horizon delivers crew boat

MOBILE, Ala. - Horizon Shipbuilding delivered the 182-foot aluminum crew boat Isla San Gabriel to a Mexican customer, part of a $17 million, two-vessel contract the Bayou La Batre shipbuilder won in early 2008. A sister vessel is scheduled for delivery in October. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/21/09)

Atlantic Marine Holding CEO retires

MOBILE, Ala. - Ron McAlear is retiring as chief executive officer of Atlantic Marine Holding Co., but will remain as a senior adviser to Atlantic Marine's board of directors. McAlear came to Mobile in 2003 to run Atlantic Marine's local operations, which was purchased by J.F. Lehman & Co. in 2006. Atlantic Marine has about 1,400 full- and part-time employees. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/20/09)

Cutter completes builder's trials

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - The Northrop Grumman-built Waesche, second in a new class of national security cutters, successfully completed builder's trials in the Gulf of Mexico this week. Propulsion, electrical, damage control and combat systems were tested. Waesche, under construction at the Pascagoula shipyard, is the second in the Coast Guard's Legend class, an eight-ship national security cutter program. A third cutter is about 25 percent complete at the Pascagoula yard. (Source: Mississippi Press, 08/19/09)

Barge-builder plans layoffs

MADISONVILLE, La. - A barge-building yard in St. Tammany Parish will begin the first in a series of layoffs next month in preparation for eventual closure. About 235 people work for Trinity Marine Products, which builds tank barges for the offshore oil industry. The company plans to complete eight barges already under construction. The first cuts involve 88 workers. (Source: Times-Picayune, 08/07/09)

Singapore Technologies 2Q report

Singapore Technologies Engineering reported its profit fell 9 percent for the second quarter of 2009 to $75.91 million from the second quarter 2008. It's the parent company of VT Halter Marine, which has 1,500 workers at shipyards in Pascagoula, Moss Point and Escatawpa, Miss., and ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering, which has 1,200 workers at Brookley Field Industrial Complex in Mobile, Ala. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/05/09)

Both LCS teams submit bids

Bids to build the next Littoral Combat Ships were submitted by both industry teams to the Navy. Lockheed Martin’s proposal was sent July 31 and General Dynamics was sent by the Aug. 3 deadline. The competition winner will receive two construction contracts and the other team one for the ships in the 2010 budget, with a cost cap is $460 million per ship. (Source: Defense News, 08/03/09) Gulf Coast note: The Lockheed team includes Bollinger Shipyard of New Orleans and the General Dynamics team includes Austal USA of Mobile, Ala.

Lockheed submits LCS FY10 proposal

The Lockheed Martin-led team submitted its proposal for the Littoral Combat Ship fiscal year 2010 contract to the Navy July 31. A contract is expected to be awarded this coming fiscal year for additional LCSs. The Navy is proceeding with a limited competition with winners of the Flight 0 phase of the program, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. (Source: Lockheed Martin via PRNewswire, 08/03/09) Gulf Coast note: Bollinger Shipyards in New Orleans is part of the Lockheed team and Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., is part of the General Dynamics team.

LPD 21 finishes acceptance trials

AVONDALE, La. - The amphibious transport dock ship, LPD 21, returned to the Northrop Grumman Avondale shipyard last week after a successful Navy acceptance trial, which included tests of the propulsion, control, combat, damage control systems and more. The ship, which will be named the USS New York, is the fifth in the San Antonio-class series. The bow stem contains 7.5 tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center after the 2001 terrorist attack. The ship is scheduled for commissioning in New York City Nov. 7, 2009. (Source: Northrop Grumman, 07/30/09)

First Lady to sponsor cutter

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - First Lady Michelle Obama will sponsor the third National Security Cutter. Officials celebrated the ship’s construction Monday at keel laying ceremony. The First Lady will christen the cutter at a Pascagoula ceremony next summer. The 418-foot cutter, WMSL 752, is named in honor of Dorothy C. Stratton, the first female commissioned officer in the Coast Guard. The cutter is more than 20 percent complete and scheduled to be delivered in the summer 2011. (Source: Sun Herald, Mississippi Press, 07/21/09)

Academy gets MDA funding

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Jackson County's Board of Supervisors have agreed to accept the Mississippi Development Authority's nearly $20 million grant to build a maritime training facility. The Hurricane Katrina community development block grant money will be used to develop a shipbuilding academy to help local shipyards better train their employees. Northrop Grumman will be the major tenant, but VT Halter Marine and Signal International will also use the facility. (Source: Mississippi Press, 07/21/09) Background story, Alliance Insight, July 2009

LHA 6 keel ceremony held

PASCAGOULA, Miss – A keel authentication ceremony was held Friday for LHA 6, the newest class of large-deck amphibious assault ships. LHA 6, named America, will replace the Tarawa class and is slated for completion in 2013. Northrop has been working on the ship for about three years, designing it and buying materials. LHA 6 will use many of the same systems designed and built for the recently delivered USS Makin Island. (Source: Mississippi Press, 07/18/09)

Group picks site for Ticonderoga

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - State-owned Lowery Island on the west bank of the Pascagoula River is targeted as the site to moor the decommissioned USS Ticonderoga. Jack Hoover, president of a group that wants to bring the ship to Pascagoula, announced the site at a meeting Thursday. The city is planning a condominium, public marina and retail shopping on the island, he said. Hoover said the Navy has given the group until October to submit an application for the ship, which is scheduled to be scrapped. (Source: Mississippi Press, 07/10/09)

Halter Marine gets grants

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - VT Halter Marine received three grants totaling more than $2.87 million as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Assistance to Small Shipyards program. A total of 14 small shipyards in 10 states will receive $17.1 million in grants from the Maritime Administration to make capital and infrastructure improvements for better efficiency. (Source: Sun Herald, 07/09/09)

Bender owes $37.6M

MOBILE, Ala. - Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. owes its 20 largest unsecured creditors more than $37.6 million, according to documents filed this week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Bender has yet to reveal its debt-to-assets ratio in court. The 91-year-old Mobile business filed for Chapter 11 reorganization a week ago, forced to take that action after four of its creditors filed suit in an effort to force Bender's liquidation to pay debts. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 07/08/09)

LPD 21 finishes builder sea trial

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Northrop Grumman-built New York, LPD 21, performed builder's sea trials this week in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship's bow stem contains seven-and-a-half tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. LPD 21 is being built at the company's Avondale facility in Louisiana. New York is the fifth amphibious transport dock ship in the San Antonio class of amphibious assault force. The 684-foot, 105-foot-wide LPD transport dock ships are used to transport and land Marines, equipment and supplies by embarked air cushioned or conventional landing craft, expeditionary fighting vehicles, amphibious assault vehicles, helicopters, and vertical take off and landing aircraft. (Source: Northrop Grumman, 07/02/09)

Bender files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Bender files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
MOBILE, Ala. - Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. is seeking bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. The move comes after a group of creditors filed an involuntary petition to force the shipyard into bankruptcy. Bender said it intends to continue operating as a full service shipyard, though it will downsize and maintain a workforce of about 300 workers. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, EnergyCurrent, 07/01/09)

LCS sea trial delayed

MOBILE, Ala. - The littoral combat ship Independence remained moored in Mobile Tuesday, and lead contractor General Dynamics isn’t saying when the trimaran built by partner Austal USA might head out for four days of sea trials. It was originally scheduled to leave Monday, but a problem with the propulsion system delayed that. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 07/01/09)