Private Employer News

Marine towage provider Svitzer Australia is building a new facility to deliver enhanced maritime training capabilities to the East Coast of New South Wales (NSW).The company reports construction is underway at its Port of Newcastle tug base, where Svitzer’s innovative, new TRAnsverse tug vessels are forecast to enter service in 2025 (the second and third to be deployed in the world). The facility will feature state-of-the-art Kongsberg Digital maritime simulators in support of crew training and other marine applications.Svitzer Australia chief operating officer…

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. (ESG) has opened a new outfitting and repair yard in Port St. Joe, Fla.The new facility, dedicated to final outfitting and testing of commercial new construction vessels as well as topside repairs, adds to the company’s operational capabilities a 40-acre site that encompasses 1,000 feet of deepwater bulkhead with unrestricted access to the Gulf of Mexico test and trials grounds. “We are proud to commission our third facility with the strong support from the local community and our dedicated workforce…

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. (ESG) announced that Lance C. Lemcool has accepted the position as vice president of commercial sales and marketing. “Lance is a welcome addition to the ESG leadership team”, said Joey D’Isernia, president of Eastern Shipbuilding. “He is versed in nearly all areas of shipbuilding and his experience will be well applied to maintaining our status as a world class builder of government and commercial vessels.”Lemcool, a veteran of the United States Air Force and United States Navy, started his career in the marine industry in 1989.

French container shipper CMA CGM received Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France, the CMA CGM Tower, Group headquarters in Marseille, Friday September 9. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Emmanuelle Cosse, Minister for Housing and Sustainable Habitat, the Regional Prefect and elected officials. Manuel Valls was greeted by Jacques Saade, Founder and CEO of CMA CGM Group, and members of senior management. The two men exchanged views on the maritime industry, global trade, and the major role of the French CMA CGM in Marseille and economy. The Group transported in 2015 over 6.5 million tonnes of French goods to the world and employs over 4,500 people in France, 2400 in Marseille, where it is the largest private employer in the city.

Austal joined the Honorable Gabrielle Giffords, her husband, retired Navy captain Mark Kelly, and ship’s sponsor Dr. Jill Biden in celebrating the christening of the future USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) today in Mobile, Alabama. This is the third littoral combat ship (LCS) in Austal’s 10-ship, $3.5 billion block-buy contract. The Independence-variant littoral combat ship is a 127-meter (419-foot) aluminum trimaran, capable of being outfitted with reconfigurable payloads (mission packages) which can be changed to support mine countermeasure, anti-submarine and surface warfare missions. It is named Gabrielle Giffords after the former Congresswoman from Tuscon, Arizona. This is only the sixteenth U.S.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant visited Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division May 28 to participate in a ceremonial signing of a $20 million bond bill supporting Ingalls' "Shipyard of the Future" project. The investment will go toward current building improvements, new covered facilities providing better work areas for shipbuilders, and enabling more work to be accomplished out of the weather. The infrastructure improvements also include a new dry dock that will allow Ingalls to translate and launch ships from various locations in the shipyard.

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced today that Fletcher Construction has been awarded a contract to renovate the new Huntington Ingalls Industries Family Health Center. The health center, scheduled to open this summer in Gautier, MS, will offer primary care, radiology, physical therapy, on-site pharmacy and laboratory services for Ingalls employees and their covered dependents. "Ingalls Shipbuilding is a long-standing economic pillar of this community, and our company is looking forward to providing work on this unique project," said Lance McCarty, co-owner of Fletcher Construction.

A private passenger ferry service operating under respective permits with the Port of Redwood City and the Port of San Francisco started service on Monday, January 7, between the two ports on a five-week trial basis, arriving at Wharf 5 at the Port of Redwood City. There is no public service. Port of Redwood City Executive Director Michael J. Giari said that the privately chartered ferry service is being operated by Multi-National Logistics Systems (MLS) and is carrying passengers to and from work from San Francisco to Redwood City for a private employer in Silicon Valley. Buses meet the ferries on Wharf 5 at the Port of Redwood City to transport passengers to and from their place of work.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) hosts U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tim Kaine at Newport News Shipbuilding for a tour and discussion on the complexities of shipbuilding. HII President and CEO Mike Petters accompanied the senators on the shipyard tour, which included visits in aircraft carrier and submarine construction facilities and a tour of aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) which is about 62 percent overall complete. (The ship's christening is scheduled for Nov. 9, 2013).

Ingalls Shipbuilding brings holiday cheer to communities through employee donations and $15,000 to local food banks. Huntington Ingalls Industries' Ingalls Shipbuilding division and its employees have participated in holiday giving throughout all of the communities on the Gulf Coast. Hundreds of employees worked together to donate money, food, toys and other special items to several different organizations. The company donated $5,000 and 560 pounds of food to Our Daily Bread food pantry in Pascagoula…

With State and Federal Assistance, Huntington Ingalls to Explore Options for Avondale Conversion; Save Our Shipyard Coalition Hails New Developments. "This is good news for the people of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana—indeed America," declared Metal Trades Department President Ron Ault, welcoming the announcement that Huntington Ingalls will collaborate with state and federal authorities to explore options to transition Avondale. One of those options would be converting the facility into a commercial shipyard. "We look forward to working with the state and all our stakeholders to maintain Avondale as the largest private employer in the state and as a pathway to the middle class for future generations," Ault said.

A federal plan to screen port workers could drive up the cost of building and repairing Navy ships while doing nothing to improve security, industry officials say. Under the new system, longshoremen, truckers and other transportation workers who need access to secure port areas will undergo FBI background checks and submit fingerprints that will be embedded on biometric cards. But the federal law mandating the system--officially known as the Transportation Worker Identification Credential--also extends to some shipyards, including Navy shipbuilder Northrop Grumman Newport News, the region's largest private employer with 19,000 workers. Ship repair yard officials are confused about the law: some say their companies fall under the law, others say they do not.

A federal plan to screen port workers could have unintended consequences for some local shipyards - driving up the cost to build and repair Navy ships while doing nothing to improve security, industry officials say. The new worker credential system, expected to take effect next year, is aimed at beefing up security at ports to guard against terrorism. Longshoremen, truckers and other transportation workers needing unescorted access to secure areas of the ports will have to obtain new biometric identification cards, requiring them to undergo FBI background checks and to submit fingerprints that will be embedded on the new cards. As written…

NCL America made U.S. maritime history by christening Pride of Hawai'i, the largest and most expensive U.S.-flagged cruise ship in history. The historic presentation of this new U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed passenger ship continues NCL America's dynamic revival of the U.S.-flagged cruise industry that had seemingly been extinguished in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. At the official christening ceremony at the Port of Los Angeles, Star Cruises Chairman Tan Sri KT LIM and NCL Corporation's President and CEO Colin Veitch were joined by the Honorable Daniel K. Inouye, senior United States Senator from Hawai'i, who sponsored and named the vessel at the pier side event.