Joseph Badeaux News

With skilled craftsmen in short supply in U.S. coastal areas, many shipbuilders turn to their own, sometimes extensive, internal training. Because fewer young people are entering shipbuilding out of high school, the industry is faced with an aging workforce that will soon have to be replaced. As good jobs for shipfitters and welders go begging, industry leaders say it's way past time to spread the word about these opportunities. Pascagoula, Miss.-based John Lotshaw directs Operations Workforce Training and Development at Huntington-Ingalls Industries (HII).

Platform supply vessel Cindy Brown Tide was delivered to offshore-service giant Tidewater on Oct. 24, and chartered to oil company BP in the Gulf of Mexico. The boat's namesake is someone missed by many. "The vessel was named for Cynthia Niklaus Brown, a wonderful woman who passed away in late 2009 in Houston after being diagnosed with cancer," said Joseph Badeaux, general manager and vice president at Houma, La.-based Quality Shipyards, a subsidiary of Tidewater. Brown, a New Orleans native…