On January 18 Gulf Copper & Manufacturing Corp. completed the refurbishment and re-naming of its newest dry dock, the Mr. Morris.
"This dry dock gives us access to a market that has not been served recently in Port Arthur," said Steve Hale, CEO, Gulf Copper & Manufacturing. "At 9,000 tons of capacity, it lets us bring in much larger vessels than we previously could."
Now in service, the Mr. Morris adds a valuable asset to Gulf Copper's dry dock capabilities, enabling the ship repair yard to accommodate a range of larger vessels in its Port Arthur South Yard. After a recent naming ceremony, Gulf Copper completed its first successful dry docking on Martin Marine’s Ocean Poseidon followed by its second dry docking, the Hornbeck MPSVHOS Strongline.
The Mr. Morris was originally built for the U.S. Navy as the AFDM-2. It has been fully restored, allowing Gulf Copper's South Yard to become a full-service marine repair and dry dock facility. The Mr. Morris dry dock measures 384 ft. long, 116 ft. wide with 90 ft. between the wing walls. The dock is capable of lifting vessels up to 9000 long tons with drafts up to 20 ft. The yard will provide services to the U.S. deep draft coastwise transport fleet, small foreign and domestic ships, larger new generation OSVs and Integrated Tug Barge units.