SENESCO — The People’s Shipyard
In the fall of 1990, the Berlin Wall came down, thus unifying Germany into one nation — and marking the end of the Cold War. One year following the fall of the Iron Curtain, U.S. President George Bush and Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev signed the START treaty, which stated that both nations would agree to dismantle all nuclear weapons. How do these events half way around the world effect U.S. builders of boats and barges? Significantly, as it turns out. It appears that the fall in nuclear submarine production has given rise to one of the country’s fast growing barge building companies. The middle to late 1980s was a watershed of sorts for the U.S. shipbuilding industry.
Passenger Vessels:A New England Shipyard Comes of Age
When MR/EN traveled up to the New England coast this past fall as part of a New England shipyard swing, we were expecting to meet the great one himself — Luther H. Blount — who could be informally known as the "father" of New England shipbuilding. Blount began his career so many years ago with the construction of a 77-ft. steel catamaran, was the first of many greater and more technologically innovative vessels that would later earn the designation as Blount crafted. Over the years, Blount oversaw the daily operations of his yard, managing to get his hands dirty on the overall production process. Carefully designing every vessel to a tee with a pencil and sketch pad…
The People's Shipyard Moves Ahead
When MarineNews last visited Southeastern New England Shipyard (SENESCO) in December 2001, the yard was abuzz with barge construction activity. Upon our return however, almost one year to the day of our last visit, SENESCO, was yet again buzzing, but this time with its newest venture - the inauguration of its own drydock. Located just down the street from the shipyard's main headquarters next to General Dynamics' Electric Boat facility in Quonset Point, R.I. lies the project that SENESCO has been focused on since late last year - a new drydock that will enable the yard to perform barge repair. At the time, of MR/EN's visit in October, the company was guiding the first vessel into the new drydock - a 240-ft. (73.1-m) barge from Boston-based Modern Continental.
