Bollinger’s Coast Guard Work Helping Protect Our Freedom
May 16, 2018
A History of Innovation and Success
May 16, 2018
BY CASEY GISCLAIR
The local economy is slowly trudging through the mud, slowly climbing back to a place where business owners can be comfortable with their futures.
But one local shipbuilder isn’t sitting back and waiting. They’re instead working diligently to get as much business as they can, including a huge new contract which could bring more than $500 million of work to the area.
Houma shipbuilder Gulf Island Shipyards LLC was recently awarded a $63.5 million contract from the United States Navy for the design and construction of a rowing, salvage and rescue ship (T-ATS).
The ship will be a minimum of 131-feet and it will have a minimum beam of 36 feet.
The new boat must have at least an ABS-classed DP2 system, a bollard pull of 130 short tons and a working deck area of 5,000 square feet, according to workboat.com.
But what’s perhaps more important is what could come in the future.
In Gulf Island’s contract with the Navy, it includes an option for seven additional vessels, which, if exercised, would bring the value of the contract to $522.7 million.
The first ship in the contract is set to be delivered by September 2020.
But it’s just one example of the work Gulf Island is doing to keep moving forward.
Designated as T-ATS(X) by the Naval Sea Systems Command, this new class of vessels will be based on the existing commercial towing offshore vessel designs and will replace the current T-ATF and T-ARS 50 class ships in service with the U.S. Military Sealift Command.
In addition, Gulf Island LLC, the company’s fabrication subsidiary, announced that it has signed a contract with U.S. Wind Inc. for a meteorological tower and platform for its offshore wind project, which is located off the coast of Maryland.
“We are extremely excited to have these awards with the U.S. Navy, along with U.S. Wind and look forward to working with them to successfully deliver these projects,” Gulf Island’s president and CEO Kirk Meche said in a news release. “These projects support our efforts to diversify our company within our reporting segments as we continue to look for ways to prepare opportunities for our employees and value-added returns for our shareholders.”
