Ship Manufacturing News

Austal USA has received its first order for components supporting construction of a US Navy Columbia-class submarine.The order, from General Dynamics Electric Boat (Electric Boat), is for fabrication of the Command and Control Systems Module (CCSM) for the third ship in the Columbia-class program (SSBN 828).This order represents a significant expansion in the capabilities Austal USA has been providing to the submarine industrial base since February 2023.The purchase order, with a value of up $12.8 million…

Austal USA began construction on the Navy’s Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock Medium (AFDM) at the company’s Gulf Coast ship manufacturing facility last week. AFDM is the third program to begin construction on Austal USA’s steel assembly line following T-ATS 11 and 12 - the first two of four U.S. Navy Towing, Salvage, and Rescue (T-ATS) ships the company is under contract to build. The AFDM is a “Rennie”-type floating dry dock which means it has continuous wing walls and several sectional…

Mobile, Ala. shipbuilder Austal USA announced it has been awarded a contract potentially worth more than $3 billion for the detail design and construction of new TAGOS-25 class ocean surveillance ships for the U.S. Navy.The $113.9 million fixed-price incentive (firm target) and firm-fixed-price contract includes options for detail design and construction of up to seven T-AGOS 25 class ships which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to $3.195 billion.Austal…

Known best for its construction of U.S. Navy warships, Austal USA in September 2020 acquired waterfront property along the Mobile River and established a commercial ship repair facility. Mike Bell, Austal’s VP Operations and Harley Combs, Director, Austal West Campus Ship Repair discuss the plan. Austal USA’s long-established shipbuilding facility in Mobile, Ala., is a modern ship manufacturing factory, one of the largest aluminum warship builders in the world producing new ships for the U.S. Navy.

In the United States, it is a frustrating time to be in the government shipbuilding business. Even though America depends upon maritime commerce and faces growing security risks at sea, shipbuilding is just not a major national focus.Up to now, shipbuilders have had it pretty good. For the past several years, big naval shipbuilders have enjoyed steady growth and strong performance. In 2020, Huntington Ingalls Industries enjoyed record revenue of $9.4 billion, an 8.5% margin and gave a quarter billion back to shareholders in dividends and stock buybacks.

Austal USA hosted the christening of the future USS Oakland (LCS 24). This is the first of three U.S. Navy ships to be christened at Austal’s state-of-the-art ship manufacturing facility in 2019.Oakland is the 12th of 19 Independence-variant littoral combat ships (LCSs) Austal USA has under contract with the U.S. Navy. The ship’s sponsor, Kate Brandt, a recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest award the U.S. Navy can give to a civilian, headlined the group of officials…

Shipbuilder Austal USA announced today it has acquired privately held ElectraWatch, Inc. in an all cash stock purchase. Headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., ElectraWatch develops and deploys portable probe devices that help maintain aluminum structures. According to Austal USA, the acquisition reinforces its position in aluminum ship manufacturing and sustainment and extends its ability to support the U.S. Navy fleet where nearly every ship includes aluminum structures. “The combination of ElectraWatch patented technology along with Austal USA’s advanced ship manufacturing and sustainment expertise reinforces the company’s position as an industry leader to efficiently support the aggressive shipbuilding and sustainment requirements from our U.S.

Austal USA won a construction contract by the U.S. Navy Friday to build an additional Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship, its fifteenth ship in the class. The award of LCS 30 is a clear sign of the Navy’s confidence in Austal’s LCS program. The specific value of the contract is under the congressional cost cap of $584 million per ship. The littoral combat ship has been identified as a key component to the Navy’s ability to gain sea control through distributed lethality. Austal USA employs 4,000 people at its headquarters and ship manufacturing facility in Mobile, Ala., while its supplier network includes over 2,200 businesses across 43 states.

Conrad Shipyard said it has been awarded a contract to build four anchor barges, two deck barges and three crane varges for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company LLC (GLDD), headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill. The four anchor barges will be built in Louisiana at Conrad’s Morgan City Shipyard, and the deck and crane barges will be built at its shipyard in Orange, Texas. Conrad Senior Vice President and Director Dan Conrad made the announcement: “We have delivered seven vessels to GLDD since 2003,” he said.

The Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) won a contract worth up to $600 million from Netherlands-based energy and commodities company Vitol to build as many as eight gas tankers, Reuters reported. HHI will construct two liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers with a capacity of 84,000 cubic meters (3 million cubic feet) each. The ships are expected to be delivered in the first half of 2019. Under the deal, the energy company holds the option to order six more gas carriers. The newly built tankers will be designed to consume less fuel and be eco-friendly to meet the International Maritime Organization’s sulphur cap set to come into effect from 2020, Hyundai said in a statement. From 1972 to 2013, HHI has delivered 2,981 vessels to 268 ship-owners in 48 countries.

Austal USA said it was awarded a $326 million contract to built the 11th and 12th Expeditionary Fast Transport ships (EPF) for the U.S. Navy. This new contract adds upon a 2008 fully-funded EPF 10-ship block-buy agreement and brings Austal’s current build to a 12 ship program valued at $1.9 billion, and thereby extending the shipbuilder’s production under contract into 2022. Austal USA’s EPF program has seen seven ships delivered so far, with three more under construction at its headquarters and ship manufacturing facility in Mobile, Ala.

The U.S. Navy has modified Austal USA’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) block-buy contract to include an eleventh ship, LCS 26, the Navy announced today. LCS 26 will be the 13th Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship built by Austal. “The Austal LCS team has demonstrated exceptional work in providing an affordable sea frame that is not only capable of meeting the Navy’s needs of today but extremely capable of meeting future requirements,” Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle said.

Austal celebrated the keel-laying milestone for the Expeditionary Fast Transport vessel Yuma (EPF 8) here today with a ceremony marking a significant milestone in the ship’s construction. This ship is the eighth EPF built at Austal under the 10-ship, $1.6 billion block-buy contract awarded to Austal in 2008. Laying the keel is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. The keel runs lengthwise down the middle of the ship serving as the basic foundation or spine of the structure, providing the major source of the hull’s strength. The Honorable Douglas Nicholls, Mayor of the City of Yuma, Ariz., authenticated the keel at the ceremony by welding his initials onto an aluminum keel plate that will eventually be placed in ship’s hull.

Austal USA was awarded a $14 million Littoral Combat Ship contract modification by the U.S. Navy to conduct special studies and analyses, the Navy announced this week. This is the second $14 million LCS modification contract for Austal USA this month. This award is an option exercised by the Navy to modify the original LCS 10-ship block-buy contract to allow for continued review of the program. “Our workforce is strong, the production line is hot, and our LCS program has a great deal of momentum right now,” said Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle. Austal will provide engineering and design services to reduce acquisition and lifecycle costs for the Independence-variant LCS. The company was awarded $14.656 million in LCS modifications, Mar.

Austal Limited has been awarded $14.656 million in modifications to a previously awarded Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) contract by the U.S. Department of Defense. Under the contract, Austal USA will perform planning and implementation of deferred design changes that have been identified during the construction period. The corrections and upgrades are necessary to support sail-away and follow-on post-delivery test and trials period. The cost-plus contract modifications exercise options…

The Ministry of Shipping has taken many proactive and progressive interventions in the areas of shipbuilding, port development, inland waterways and coastal shipping this year for the development of the maritime sector in the country. The key initiatives includes  Sagarmala Project, Special Purpose Vehicle to provide efficient last mile rail connectivity to Major Ports, Incentive for Shipbuilding and ship-repair Industry,  Jal Marg Vikas Project, Customs and Excise Duty Exempted on the Use of Bunker Fuels for coastal transportation of EXIM and empty container and for domestic containers transported alongwith EXIM and empty containers, Cabotage Relaxed for Special Vessels and Developing 78 lighthouses as tourism centers.

Austal USA has been awarded a contract for $51,684,797 to its 10-ship $3.5 billion Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) contract for the U.S. Navy. This contract modification is expected to increase to $198,385,545 over three years if options are exercised. This work includes design services for upgrades to the LCS and preliminary design for the U.S. Navy’s future Frigate. facility in Mobile, Ala. “This work lays a solid foundation for our growing support business and will continue to grow as these ships deliver and enter the fleet,” said Perciavalle. Austal’s LCS and Frigate design services consist of special studies supporting engineering design and trade-offs…

A large container ship produced by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. was delivered to leading French container shipping group CMA CGM on Saturday in Shanghai, reports Xinhua. The vessel is named "Zheng He" after the famous ancient Chinese navigator. Its a 18,000-TEU container ship, designed by China State Shipping Corporation. Zheng He is the largest China has ever made and its deck is as large as four soccer fields, the producer said. The ship is a seventh-generation container ship, manufacturing of which has long been monopolized by the Republic of Korea. Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. said it is preparing for the construction of 20,000-TEU container ships.

Austal and the U.S. Navy held a keel-laying ceremony today for the future USS Manchester (LCS 14), marking the first significant milestone in its construction. This ship is the fifth Independence variant littoral combat ship (LCS) built at Austal under the 10-ship, $3.5 billion block buy contract awarded to Austal in 2010. “It has been said that building a high-tech Littoral Combat Ship is more akin to making a spacecraft than a traditional warship,”  said Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), sponsor of the Manchester. “These ships and their technology are impressive.

Ms. Virginia A. Kamsky, was chosen to sponsor the ship by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, and was present at the keel laying ceremony for the fifth Joint High Speed Vessel 'Trenton' (JHSV 5), one of ten Austal-designed 103-meter U.S. Navy Joint High Speed Vessels under contract with the U.S. Navy. A traditional keel-laying ceremony marks the first significant milestone in the construction of the ship. Due to Austal’s modular approach to ship manufacturing, all 43 of the modules used to form this 103-meter aluminum catamaran design are already being assembled.

The recently announced promotion of Craig Perciavalle to President, Austal USA was a logical one. At Austal since 2007, he moves up after serving as Senior Vice President of Operations. Significantly, he oversaw Austal’s transition from a conventional commercial shipyard to an efficient, modular manufacturer that has improved its metrics and economy of scale with each new hull. Eventually, that could mean commercial, series build contracts – something Austal USA has already proven it can do. In a domestic shipbuilding market that is fraught with worries about sequester, reduced defense spending and other federal budgetary concerns, Perciavalle takes the helm at a time when Austal’s risk must be managed and bets hedged against any eventuality.

Austal USA today finds itself plowing into 2013 with the proverbial bone in its teeth, powered by an enviably hefty U.S. government backorder book, possibly the most modern and efficient manufacturing infrastructure in U.S. shipbuilding and the leadership of a new President who, over the past five years, helped to make it all happen. Nevertheless, domestic shipbuilders all know that DoD and DHS belt tightening is a the new reality. Determining the depth of government cuts and positioning accordingly is the tricky part, yet hardly new to companies operating in defense circles. In fact Austal may be as well positioned to ride out the storm as anyone…

China State Shipbuilding Co. said that its 2007 profit soared more than tenfold from 2006, powered by rising global demand, according to a report on www.chinaknowledge.com. China State Shipbuilding predicted in its statement published yesterday that its net profit for 2007 may jump 950%-1050%, without giving an exact figure. While reaping good earnings in its low speed marine diesel engine business, the company also saw significant gains in its ship manufacturing and mending sectors, boosted by China's booming ship industry. (Source: www.chinaknowledge.com)