Harold Halter News

Commercial workboat philanthropy on display on PT-305: WWII Museum’s PT-305 sails again after a far reaching donor-funded restoration. In March, the National WWII Museum in New Orleans launched its reconstructed PT-305, built locally by Higgins Industries in 1943. The museum acquired the boat known as the USS Sudden Jerk in 2007, restoration began in 2009, and it now sails Lake Pontchartrain as an interactive exhibit. PT-305, with a fifteen-man crew, belonged to a 12-ship squadron operating in the Mediterranean from 1944 until the war ended in 1945.

Anil Raj, president and COO of Halter Marine, in many ways embodies the company for which he has worked for the last 15 years. Joining as the Director, Engineering, Production Controls and Procurement in 1987, Raj has relied on a solid technical foundation, first to help establish and continue the company's reputation as one of the world's most prolific builders of ships and boats, and second to help the company hang on - to customers as well as key technical and production staff, as the company navigated the tumultuous environs following its Chapter 11 filing of April 2001. Despite well-chronicled skepticism, Halter today sits on the verge of a remarkable rebound that could again make it a ubiquitous presence in both commercial and military marine construction.