Naval Shipyard News

Engineering and design company Stantec and AECOM has been selected by the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) to lead multidiscipline architect-engineer and consulting services as part of a five-year, US$150 million single award contract.The Stantec-AECOM Joint Venture work will directly support the US Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) focusing on the modernization of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY) in Kittery, Maine.SIOP is upgrading…

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has been awarded a contract from BAE Systems Maritime Australia (BAESMA) for Naval Classification New Construction Services for the first three Royal Australian Navy Hunter class frigates. The Hunter class frigates are based on the design of the UK Type 26 frigate and are being built at Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia.Under the contract, LR will ensure that the design and construction of the anti-submarine warfare frigates are compliant with LR…

On March 14, 1975, 22-year-old Californian woman Donna Tobias graduated from the US Navy Second Class Dive School to become the first woman deepsea diver in the Navy.Marking the 50th anniversary of women’s integration into the US Navy Diving community, the Association of Women Navy Divers highlights that over 300 women have now graduated from the Navy’s schools.The society recounts that this happened during a period of immense change brought about by the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment through Congress in 1972. Admiral Elmo R.

Stevens Towing Company, a fourth-generation, family-owned company, has announced several key leadership promotions.Bos Smith has been promoted to Vice President. With more than 36 years of dedicated service to Stevens Towing, Smith has been instrumental in driving growth and maintaining strong client relationships. His extensive knowledge of the company and maritime industry have made him an invaluable asset to the company’s success.Ross Miller has been named Vice President of Sales and Business Development.

VARD has signed an MoU with Brazilian state-owned company EMGEPRON that aims to foster future cooperation on national defense programs and promote the exchange of knowledge in emerging technologies.Emgepron is linked to the Ministry of Defence of Brazil through the Command of the Navy. In addition to project management, the company commercializes Brazilian naval defense products and services.Located in Pernambuco, Vard Promar is one of the most modern shipbuilding facilities in South America, with the infrastructure and technical capacity to support both defense and commercial projects.

Maxim Watermakers, a business unit of Fairbanks Morse Defense, has successfully completed qualification testing for a first-of-its-kind submarine maintenance closed loop cooling system for Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNS and IMF).This qualification is the first closed loop cooling system implementation for the U.S. Navy and Maxim’s initial application of this technology at naval facilities.The testing was funded by the Maritime Sustainment Technology and Innovation Consortium (MSTIC).

Generally, government owned vessels, particularly ones engaged in law enforcement, are seemingly last in line when it comes to fuel efficiency. Not so in France, as the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture (DGAMPA), in late 2024 sealed the deal and commissioned the SOCARENAM-MAURIC consortium to design and build an offshore patrol vessel (OPV) which combines hybrid propulsion and wind sails, among other energy saving/emission reduction enhancements.According to the government agency…

Combat Support Ship (CSS) Den Helder (A834) arrived in Vlissingen this morning after successfully completing her maiden voyage and sea trials.The new supply ship for the Royal Netherlands Navy departed from the Damen Naval shipyard in Galați, Romania on 16 November for her Sea Acceptance Tests (SATs) and is now in Vlissingen-Oost for the final outfitting phase of the project. In the coming months, the finishing work will be carried out before the CSS is handed over to the Netherlands…

Konecranes has received its fifth portal jib order from the US Navy, part of an agreement initially announced in December 2019. This latest process crane order, worth $46.8 million, was booked in November 2024 and the jib will be delivered to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia. The US Navy has the option for 2 additional portal jib cranes over the next 2 years, putting the potential total value of the agreement at around the previously estimated $330 million.The 175-ton heavy-lift portal crane will be built in Wisconsin and installed at Norfolk, the Navy's largest shipyard on the country’s east coast. The newest crane is similar to previous orders: customized design with unique features that allow the crane to operate on straight or curved tracks.

The Executive Control Board of the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) selected 13 panel projects for award as part of the program's mission to reduce costs and expand capability for U.S. shipbuilding and ship repair. These new projects, valued at over $2.55M in government funding, were among those proposed in response to the Panel Project Solicitation issued in June 2024. Abbreviated descriptions follow; prime contractors are listed first and noted in bold text:Laser…

The divers with Code 760, Regional Dive Locker at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility took delivery of a new purpose-built dive boat in May.The new boat replaces an Explosive Ordnance Disposal support boat built in 1991 that PSNS & IMF acquired in 2007.According to Mike Richardson, Diving Operations manager, Code 760, the new boat will help the divers accomplish their mission more effectively and comfortably.“The new boat is a purpose-built dive boat with a Marine Knuckle Boom crane,” said Richardson.

Alternative fuels are not top of the list of naval requirements for gensets, but they are inching their way up.The naval world is largely exempt from the decarbonization pressure faced by commercial shipping, but it can’t ignore it entirely. As a famed naval strategist once said: “Fuel stands first in importance of the resources necessary to a fleet.”Navies must therefore consider their fuel supply options carefully given that commercial shipping is currently rewriting supply and demand dynamics.Indeed…

U.S. Navy leadership held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 30 to celebrate the modernization of Berth 6 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The $35 million project marks a milestone in the ongoing Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP), aimed at upgrading facilities to support the Virginia and Los Angeles-class submarines.Originally constructed in 1903, Berth 6 has undergone extensive repairs and upgrades to its dockside utility services. Enhancements include a fenced electrical substation yard…

Everett, Wash. repair yard Everett Ship Repair has been awarded a contract worth more than $10.4 million to perform maintenance and repair work on a caisson from the U.S. Navy's Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF) in Bremerton, Wash.The $10,473,626 firm-fixed-price contract was awarded by the PSNS & IMF, which provides maintenance, modernization and technical and logistics support services to the U.S. Navy.Everett Ship Repair was one of two bidders for the project.Work is expected to be completed by January 2025.

Australia has awarded BAE Systems Maritime Australia a contract to build the first three Hunter class frigates as the program celebrates its transition into formal construction phase.Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles and the Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, officially cut steel on the first ship at a ceremony at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide, South Australia.

Mammoet has entered into an agreement with DHO (Dragados/Hawaiian Dredging/Orion JV) to perform transportation and lifting services for the construction of Dry Dock 5 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.This initiative stems from the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP), which aims to support Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility’s (PHNSY & IMF) ability to continue serving the Navy decades into the future by maintaining and modernizing the U.S.

Pearlson Shiplift Corporation, a subsidiary of The Pearlson Group, announced it has been awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to deliver a large capacity upgrade and extension for Australian Naval Infrastructure (ANI) in Osborne, South Australia.The works will be installed by McConnell Dowell, one of the largest construction companies in the region. Once completed later this year, Pearlson Shiplift Corporation will recommission ANI’s shiplift system as the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.“We are honored to be awarded this project - the largest in the region.

Houston based dredging and marine construction contractor Orion Group Holdings – Marine Group has become a member of trade group the Dredging Contractors of America (DCA).Orion has a near 100-year legacy and today ranks among market leaders in the provision of dredging services to keep waterways serviceable and to expand ports and other marine infrastructure throughout the United States, territories and Caribbean. The company works to create beneficial marsh habitats, dredging…

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility employees and ship’s force worked together to repair the anchor windlass on USS Nimitz (CVN 68) in about a third of the time it took previously.The anchor windlass is comprised of motors, gears and other parts responsible for the controlled lowering and raising of the chain and anchor, which can weigh up to 200,000 pounds on a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. It's a difficult job that requires much planning and complicated execution.According to Shawn Carragher and Zac Malone…

Shipboard fire a constant threat: Bonhomme Richard tragedy an enduring lesson in fire prevention, responseJuly 12, 2020 was a lazy Sunday morning at Naval Base San Diego. USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), which had been commissioned only two years earlier, had recently made the base its new homeport and was docked as it underwent a maintenance availability.But, the silence of that morning was rocked by an explosion a few minutes before 9 a.m., changing everything for the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship.Below the decks…

The U.S. Navy's engineering systems command has awarded a $2.8 billion contract for the construction of a new concrete dry dock at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF).The $2,839,880,250 firm-fixed-price task order, which falls under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract, was awarded by Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Pacific to a joint venture between Dragados, Hawaiian Dredging and Orion. Four…

The Hawaii Regional Maintenance Center (HRMC) team at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility is the Navy’s first responders when it comes to an emergent repair availability (ERAV) on surface ships in the Indo-Pacific Region.Pearl Harbor sits in a strategic location and is a hub for many emergent repairs for ships transiting through the Pacific Ocean. One successful ERAV took place last fall when the USS Makin Island (LHD 8) departed San Diego on its…

Advanced Polymer Coatings (APC) confirmed a series of new contracts to apply its MarineLINE tank coating system to newbuild and existing tankers, including:A deal with Genka Shipbuilding will see MarineLINE applied to a newbuild 2,000-DWT oil and chemical tanker. Construction of the vessel at the Pendik Naval shipyard will get underway in January 2023.APC also signed a contract with Okan Ogullari Shipping to coat its latest new build 10,500-DWT tanker. Construction work is also scheduled to start in January 2023.In another deal…