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Tom Bender News

01 Jul 2009

Is it the End for Bender Shipbuilding?

Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. agreed to seek protection from its creditors, filing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition to reorganize. The company announced in a prepared statement that it intended to cut its workforce to about 300 to keep operations, including a ship repair job, running. “I regret very much the impact this decision has on our employees and vendors, and the community,” said Tom Bender, President and CEO, pledging to “devote every waking minute” to getting the company through the process and back to business as usual as quickly as possible. Monday, according to a blog on AL.com (http://blog.al.com) a U.S. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge reportedly ruled that Seacor Marine was due to collect a $5 million guarantee from Bender…

11 Jun 2009

Bender Fights Bankruptcy

Bender Shipbuilding & Repair, based in Mobile, Alabama, said that a petition has been filed to put the company into involutary bankruptcy. The company had yet to be served, but it did say that it is in contractual disputes with two of the three creditors who filed the petition, including GulfMark Offshore Inc. Bender disputes GulfMark's claims and believes that the petition is invalid. "It is unfortunate that GulfMark has chosen to go this route," said Tom Bender, president and CEO of Bender, in a prepared release. "I am optimistic that the involutary petition will be dismissed quickly."

05 Jan 2001

Southern Hospitality

The teaming of Austal Ships and Bender Shipbuilding to construct, from the ground up, a world-class aluminum vessel construction facility in Mobile, Ala., highlights the level of investment mid-tier U.S. yards have made in the past five years. Austal, which is well regarded for its fast craft design and construction prowess, will have at its disposal arguably one of the finest plate production facilities in the country, as well as access to a market for its signature craft, which is seemingly poised to boom. The two companies, however found that through a melding of similar ideas — both on a philosophical and financial level — that they could assimilate their cultural and business practices to form what aspires to become the largest aluminum shipbuilding company in the U.S. — Austal USA.

20 Feb 2001

Austal USA Becomes Part of Mobile Skyline

By Regina P. The teaming of Austal Ships and Bender Shipbuilding to construct a world-class aluminum vessel construction facility in Mobile, Ala., highlights the level of investment mid-tier U.S. yards have made in the past five years. Austal, which is well regarded for its fast craft design and construction prowess, will have at its disposal arguably one of the finest plate production facilities in the country, as well as access to a market for its signature craft, which seems to be poised to boom. The two companies, however, found that through a melding of similar ideas - both on a philosophical and financial level - that they could assimilate their cultural and business practices to form what aspires to become the largest aluminum shipbuilding company in the U.S. - Austal USA.

16 Jul 2002

Bender Shipbuilding Awarded Contract on Navy Frigate

Congressman Sonny Callahan announced that Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co., Inc. recently signed a contract for the drydocking and repair of the USS Stephan W. Groves (FFG 29). The Groves is an Oliver Hazard Perry Class Guided Missile Frigate homeported in Pacagoula, Miss. The vessel’s overhaul is being managed by the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair in Pascagoula for the Department of the Navy. The Groves will arrive at Bender on July 31 for a drydocking scheduled in early August and completion in mid-November. The work package includes drydocking, hull, machinery, electrical, electronics and piping repairs with a contract value of $8 million plus optional items which could result in an additional $1.5 million. The job will require 125 workers.

07 Dec 2004

Bender to Repair Pemex Semi-Sub

Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co., Inc., signed a contract with Pemex, the national oil company of Mexico, for the repair, refurbishment and dry docking of Pemex’s semi-submersible accommodation/maintenance vessel, the PSS Chemul. The 13,000 ton Chemul was recently drydocked in Mobile on the Mobile Heavy Lifter, a submersible heavy lift barge chartered in by Bender for the docking of the semi. Chemul was then towed to the work site at Bender's Yard 9, located on the east side of the Mobile River. "This contract represents Bender's entry into this class of repair work on offshore rigs and vessels and we are very appreciative of Pemex's confidence in Bender for awarding us this job,” said Tom Bender, company president.

18 Nov 2005

Austal Opens New U.S. Shipbuilding Facility

On November 17, Mobile, Alabama-based Austal USA celebrated the grand opening of its new construction facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. This event took place just 11 months to the day after breaking ground on the project on January 17, 2005. Several notable VIPs participated in the ceremony, including: State of Alabama Director of Development Neal Wade, Mobile County Commission President Mike Dean, Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, John Rothwell (Austal Ltd. Executive Chairman), Greg Metcalf (CEO, Austal USA), Tom Bender (CEO, Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co., Inc.) and Henry Seawell (CEO, Thompson Engineering, the company that was contracted for the design and construction of the expansion).

27 Nov 2002

Lerchbacker Leads Austal USA to the Top

When Austal Ltd. of Henderson, Western Australia, started looking last year for a CEO to lead its U.S.-based operations, the job description must have been daunting. They wanted a leader to take the helm of their newly built shipyard in Mobile, Ala., and turn it into a major contractor for both military and commercial vessels in the United States. Austal had recently entered the U.S. market for the first time, intent on competing with higher-profile rivals such as Incat/Bollinger, Derecktor Shipyards and Kvaerner. The company settled on Alan Lerchbacker, 50, an energetic former Navy Aquanaut with a business background, who took the position in February 2002. Lerchbacker had never heard of Austal until a headhunter contacted him.

14 Jan 2000

Austal to Establish U.S. Presence

Australian shipbuilder Austal, the world's largest builder of high-speed ferries, has signed a joint venture agreement with Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co., Inc. (Bender) to establish a U.S. shipbuilding operation: Austal USA. Austal's Chairman, John Rothwell made the announcement that Bender, located in Alabama, would partner Austal in the U.S. The majority equity will be held by Austal. Currently the coastwise trade laws in the U.S. (primarily the Jones Act and the Passenger Vessel Services Act) generally prohibit foreign-built vessels from operating on domestic routes. More than 3,600 vessels are active in the U.S. passenger vessel industry and they carry nearly 200 million passengers each year.

02 Mar 2000

Diversified Interests

With a history spanning three generations and more than 80 years, Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co., Inc. is quite the familiar face in the Gulf Coast marketplace. Tracing origins back to 1919, when Theodore Jackson (T.J.) Bender, armed with knowledge from his apprenticeship at Ollinger Iron Works, formed Bender Welding and Machine Company; Bender Shipbuilding has adjusted and changed to market demand, building an assortment of vessels - ranging from barges and pushboats to towboats and shrimp vessels to OSVs and U.S. Navy Ships, and pretty much everything in between. T.J. Bender didn't survive to see the yard's transformation from machine ship to boatbuilder, as the company founder passed away in 1948.