Brownsville Marine Products News

Metal Shark announced it has secured a contract to build three 120’ x 35’ river towboats for Florida Marine Transporters, Inc. (FMT), signalling the U.S. shipbuilder’s entry into the towboat market.The four-decked, welded-steel, USCG Subchapter “M”-compliant towboats were designed by John W. Gilbert Associates, Inc. and will be powered by twin Cat 3512C Tier 3 marine diesel engines rated at 1,911 HP each. Construction is underway at Metal Shark Alabama, with deliveries commencing in 2019.With the FMT contract…

Barge manufacturer doubles production and reduces paint waste with new blast line. When the 600th barge launch was celebrated at Brownsville Marine Products (BMP) just south of Pittsburgh in November 2012, it marked the company’s success at reviving a site with over 75 years of history. At the same time, the team also celebrated a facility ready for 21st Century marine vessel production, thanks to a radically modernized production line. Since taking over the site in 2005, the challenge for BMP was to meet the ambitious goal of producing the highest quality vessels at competitive prices.

Michael Hennessey Named Chairman. Michael W. Hennessey, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Brownsville Marine Products, was elected Chairman. He succeeds Craig E. Philip, President and CEO, Ingram Barge Company, who remains on the Foundation as Immediate Past-Chairman. Michael Toohey, President and CEO, Waterways Council, Inc., was named Secretary. Joseph H. Pyne, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kirby Corporation, was re-elected as Treasurer of the Foundation. “I look forward to working with our esteemed officers and trustees this year, as the Foundation considers undertaking a number of industry studies and activities that will better allow the waterways industry to tell its story through facts and data,” said Chairman Hennessey.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced $9.98 million in grants to 13 small shipyards throughout the United States to help modernize facilities, increase productivity, and help make the country’s small shipyards more competitive in the global marketplace. Over 50,000 Americans are employed by small shipyards in more than 30 states. The facilities vary in size, from family-owned businesses employing a few dozen workers to state-of-the-art facilities with hundreds of employees. “These grants will help improve our ability to build and repair ships in the United States, strengthening our economy and helping position these small businesses and shipyard workers to be better prepared to win the future,” said Secretary LaHood.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced $9.98 million in grants to 13 small shipyards throughout the United States to help modernize facilities, increase productivity, and help make the country’s small shipyards more competitive in the global marketplace. “These grants will help improve our ability to build and repair ships in the United States, strengthening our economy and helping position these small businesses and shipyard workers to be better prepared to win the future,” said Secretary LaHood. The U.S Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Small Shipyard Grants Program provides money to help this vital segment of America’s maritime industry invest in production equipment…

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration announced $9.8m in grants to 19 small shipyards in the . The grants are part of the new Assistance to Small Shipyards program, set up under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006. “Small shipyards are vitally important for the health of the maritime industry, and for the economy of the Nation,” said Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton. The purpose of the grants is to make capital and infrastructure improvements that facilitate the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and quality of domestic ship construction, conversion or repair for commercial and federal government use. The grants cover a maximum of 75-percent of the estimated cost of improvements. The companies are responsible for the remainder.

According to the Tribune Review, an aging barge fleet coupled with high scrap steel pricing and demand from the biodiesel and ethanol industries has launched a barge-building boom, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the 1970s, industry experts say. Brownsville Marine Products, LLC, of Fayette County, hopes to cash in on the construction boom, and is building barges as it can, carrying on a tradition of barge building on that stretch of the Monongahela River that began with the old Hillman Barge Co. in 1938. Nationally, a fleet of more than 27,000 barges moves over 800 million tons a year of raw materials and finished goods over the 25,000-mile inland waterway system, adding about $5 billion annually to the U.S. economy, according to the trade group.

According to the Uniontown Herald Standard, 19 barges that had been tied off along the banks of the Monongahela River broke free on April 4. The barges, owned by Consol Energy, wedged themselves against both sides of the bank about half a mile upstream from the Intercounty and the Lane Bane Bridge and stuck there until tugboats pulled them loose and crews were able to tie them off along the riverbank. The barges were kept at docks owned by Brownsville Marine Products. Emergency personnel were notified that the barges had broken free and were drifting down the river toward the bridges at 4:57 p.m. Crews spent almost two hours getting the situation under control. The barges were tied off by 6:30 p.m., the crowds that gathered along the riverbank disbanding shortly thereafter.