Paint Shop News

When he served as the commander of NWSC Carderock, Mark Vandroff woke every morning knowing that his counterpart in China had just gone to bed and had spent that day trying to make China’s Navy superior. His job, he figured, was to “get cracking and work to make our Navy even better.” Now the CEO at Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM), Vandroff brings that passion for navy shipbuilding – and delivering on the new USN Constellation-class frigates contract – to work every day.Introducing a new class of warship usually comes with a heaping helping of pain, from cost overruns to technical glitches.

Global Energy Group (“GEG”), the Scottish-based energy services company has agreed on terms with offshore wind tower manufacturing specialist, Haizea Wind Group (“Haizea”), to build a £110m-plus (~$146 million) offshore wind tubular rolling facility at Port of Nigg, located in the Scottish Highlands. GEG said Friday that Nigg Offshore Wind (“NOW”) would be 450-meter-long, 38,000 m2 factory, capable of rolling steel plate to supply towers which will weigh in excess of 1,000 tonnes each and other products…

On July 3, 2018, the Port of Beaumont formalized the purchase of the former Chicago Bridge & Iron fabrication facility located at 850 Pine Street, Beaumont, Texas for $8.25 million. To facilitate the growth of the property, the Port of Beaumont has entered into a public-private partnership with Allegiant Industrial Island Park, LLC. Initial plans for the property, to be named Port of Beaumont Allegiant Island Park, include rehabilitation of the fabrication facility and paint shop, full rebuild of the docks, and upgrades to all utilities.

SCHOTTEL, a German manufacturer of marine propulsion systems, has invested a total of €45 million to open a new state-of-the-art Rudderpropeller factory, increasing the company’s production capacity by roughly 30 percent. The factory, near its headquarters in Spay, Germany, was officially opened in the summer of 2015 following a construction period of about two years. It features four production shops (up to 270 meters long and 18 meters high) and a three-storey building for administration, social and technical purposes.

A discussion with Bob Koerber, General Manager, BAE Systems Ship Repair, San Diego, Calif. Bob Koerber, general manager of BAE Systems Ship Repair in San Diego, served on active duty as a surface warfare officer from 1981 to 1987, then continued to serve as a Navy Reservist, retiring as a captain in 2007. His last reserve assignment was as the Deputy Commander of Naval Special Warfare Command. As a SWO he served aboard USS Hull (DD 945?) and USS Brooke (FFG 1). He has been employed by the San Diego yard for 27 years. What’s new here in San Diego? A lot of good things happening in the yard.

On March 20, Vietnamese Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong, carried out the official Vietnamese ribbon-cutting ceremony for the latest addition to Damen Shipyard Group’s portfolio. Damen Song Cam, a brand new yard, is one of the largest in the group and represents Damen’s first formal Joint Venture yard in Vietnam. Damen said Song Cam is considered state-of-the-art, bringing a western shipyard designed to meet European health, safety and environmental standards into a Vietnamese environment. The yard will produce around 40 ships annually in the first phase.

In order to tap into Colombian stranded gas reserves, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corporation and EXMAR nv have partnered in a project to build and operate a floating LNG liquefaction, and storage unit, the Caribbean FLNG, which will be stationed at a jetty several kilometers off the Caribbean coast of Colombia for at least 15 years. In order to protect the hull of the Caribbean FLNG, keep it clean and facilitate class inspections over that time period without recourse to drydock and without causing harm to the local marine environment…

Highly automated, fully variable assembly process allows Cat to provide uniform service to a myriad of marine customers. But, MCOE is only one part of Cat’s new business strategy. In August of 2007, the first Cat marine engine left Caterpillar’s new Marine Center of Excellence (MCOE) in Greenville, South Carolina. In the ensuing years, countless engines have gone through the same process. Caterpillar Marine Power Systems brings together all the sales and service activities for Cat and MaK branded marine products within Caterpillar Inc. The organization provides marine power solutions (high and medium speed with outputs from 11 kW to 16,000 kW) and customer service from a single source for the global ocean-going, commercial and pleasure craft markets.

Talk to Joe Bekker for five minutes and you know he’s living the “American Dream.” Bekker, the founder, owner and president of Thrustmaster of Texas, came to Houston from The Netherlands in 1979 and has never looked back. An innovator and entrepreneur, Bekker has helped Thrustmaster of Texas evolve from its initial contract – a single 85 hp outboard propulsion unit for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1980s – to a $150 million company today: here’s how. The maritime industry is replete with interesting stories, and Thrustmaster of Texas and its founder Joe R.

Western Australian shipbuilder Strategic Marine officially opened its $16.3m (USD) shipyard in Vietnam on February 24, demonstrating that the company is confident it can ride out the current global economic turmoil. Strategic Marine Chairman Mark Newbold told several hundred dignitaries and guests attending the grand opening that the Vietnamese yard had already won more than $61.8m in orders. Newbold said with three other yards in Australia, Singapore and Mexico, the company was currently constructing 63 fully-financed vessels with an order book value of $164.2m…

A $1m plus contract was recently awarded by the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park to Bay Ship & Yacht Co. of Alameda for the restoration of the historic three-masted, steel-hulled, square-rigged sailing ship, Balclutha. Known locally as the National Maritime Museum, the park is operated by the National Park Service. Fred Shepherd, facility coordinator for the park, which is located adjacent to San Francisco's Fishermen's Wharf, points out that the ship is a star attraction at the park, which has almost 1 million visitors per year.

Island Boats is located on a 6.5-acre site with 30,000 square feet of covered and enclosed shops as well as a 10,000 square foot paint shop along Bayou Teche in New Iberia, La.. With a strong reputation for catamarans and a wide variety of unique aluminum boats delivered from their yard, Island Boats is now building four crewboats. “These are our fist crewboats,” said company president Miles Thomas, “But we have built many different types of vessels from which we can draw design ideas. The boats, a pair each, for two customers, include two 175 x 32 ft.

A new development within the realm of U.S. Shipbuilding — the new Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard (KPSI) is poised to be one of the most efficiently outfitted commercial shipyards in the world. The shipbuilding company, which occupies approximately 114 acres on what used to be the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, utilizes a section of the former Naval yard, which was closed down in 1996 by the U.S. Government due to lack of funds. Further revitalizing this historical landmark, was KPSI's decision to utilize the yard's original drydocks that date back to WWII. But the facility is hardly stuck in the 1940s as it boasts a full array of modern shipbuilding technology and systems. Recently, Ron McAlear, hailing from Litton Avondale and a U.S.

Willie Brennon was promoted to Manufacturing Manager of SeaArk Marine, Inc. on December 1st, 2006. Mr. Brennon is a 30 year veteran of the company, most recently serving as the Team Coordinator over the welding shops and paint facilities of the company. Marcus Junior, paint shop Team Leader for the company, was promoted to the Team Coordinator position and will oversee all paint operations for the company under Mr. Brennon.

The expansion of fast ferry building facilities has taken another gigantic step on the U.S. East Coast. In concert with a beehive of new capacity construction down south, Derecktor Shipyards recently announced that it has completed construction on a 45,000 sq. ft. main assembly building at its facility in Bridgeport, Conn., marking the completion of the second building on this 23-acre site, which is part of the development of the Bridgeport Regional Maritime Complex in Bridgeport Harbor. The new main assembly building consists of one 300 x 100 x 75 ft. (clear height) assembly bay and one 300 x 50 x 50 ft. (91.4 x 30.4 x 22.8 m) (clear height) assembly bay. This assembly building is the first of two main assembly halls to be constructed on the site which will provide a total of 168,000 sq.

Derecktor Shipbuilding has quietly gone about the business of building great boats, generally eschewing bold press headlines along the way. This has started to change, perhaps not by design but default as the boat builder has dramatically extended its fast ferry building capability (as well as that of the entire East Coast) with the completion of its 45,000 sq. ft. main assembly building at its facility in Bridgeport, Conn., marking the completion of the second building on this 23-acre site, which is part of the development of the Bridgeport Regional Maritime Complex in Bridgeport Harbor. The new main assembly building consists of one 300 x 100 x 75 ft. (clear height) assembly bay and one 300 x 50 x 50 ft. (clear height) assembly bay.