MN100: Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation
For more than 60 years, Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding has built steel and aluminum commercial vessels. Located on 6.5 acres on the deepwater Taunton River in Somerset, Mass., the family-owned and operated shipyard counts more than 417 vessels built as proof of its longevity and vessel reliability. A total of 38 customers own 120 Gladding-Hearn vessels. With in-house naval architecture and engineering capabilities and a cross-trained workforce, Gladding-Hearn is well-known for applying some of the most advanced shipbuilding techniques that rival many bigger yards…
New Demands on Pilot Boats
The tightening of port security in the United States has impacted practically every vessel that operates in U.S. harbors. That includes the small, often-forgotten pilot boats that transport state licensed pilots to vessels entering a harbor or waterway. With recently imposed security measures mandating large ships wait further outside a harbor or waterway, pilot boats in some cases must travel twice as far before the pilot transfer can take place, according to Winn Willard of C. Raymond Hunt Associates, Boston, Mass., designers of pilot boats with 25 years experience in the field. Gladding Hearn, Somerset, Mass. is one of the busiest shipyards in the nation.