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The Larose-based oilfield service company Danos has announced a two-pronged, $30 million investment to relocate its headquarters to Terrebonne Parish and expand its manufacturing operations to a site yet to be determined.
Formerly Danos and Curole Marine Contractors, the company’s new, $10 million corporate base should be complete sometime next year off La. Highway 24 in Gray. The relocation will create 326 new, direct jobs with salaries averaging $75,000 per year, Gov. Bobby Jindal said during a joint announcement on Nicholls State University’s campus.
“We have a great family business, that we know as Danos, that is one of the leaders in the energy industry throughout the globe. We are so pleased that they will shortly become a resident of Terrebonne Parish,” said Parish President Michel Claudet. “I want you to know we have our door open to assist any time there might be a pebble in your path.”
Danos also plans to build a $20 million manufacturing facility by 2014 in a location to be finalized within the next three months. Hank Danos, the company’s president and CEO, said his company has narrowed site selection to St. Mary, Terrebonne, Iberia and Orleans parishes, all in proximity to a port.
The company will create 100 new, direct jobs at the new fabrication plant with salaries averaging $65,000 per year, Jindal said. Based on the governor’s figures, Danos’ payroll will include 826 Louisiana land-based employees once the projects are complete and hires are made.
The company has offices in Lafayette; Houston; Midland, Texas; and Angola, Africa, and boasts 1,600 employees worldwide. Hank Danos is the third to run the company after his grandfather Allen Danos founded the business with Syriaque Curole as a crew boat company more than 60 years ago.
“During the past several years at Danos, we have experienced significant growth, and we realized that we were outgrowing our facilities – our corporate headquarters, as well as our manufacturing facility,” Hank Danos said. “So we began a very detailed, rigorous process to determine what, where and how would we meet the growing opportunities and demands we had as a company.”
Gray offers expedient access to U.S. Highway 90 and, subsequently, shorter travel to Lafayette or New Orleans. “We like the Highway 90 corridor,” the company’s president said, adding the property was attained for a “reasonable” price.
“I’m happy to say early on the state of Louisiana stepped up to participate, cooperate and encourage us to remain a Louisiana company,” said Hank Danos, also chairman of the LSU System board of supervisors.
In addition to a receiving a performance-based grant from Louisiana Economic Development that could reach $1.5 million, Danos will likely secure tax breaks through the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs, the governor said.
The Quality Jobs program offers a 5-to-6 percent cash rebate of annual gross payroll for new, direct jobs for up to 10 years and up to a 4 percent sales/use tax rebate on capital expenditures, according to LED. The Industrial Tax Exemption program, only open to manufacturers, eliminates local property tax commitments for up to 10 years on new investments.
Danos is also expected to utilize the LED FastStart program, which offers recruitment, assessment and training new employees for companies that commit to permanently creating 15 manufacturing jobs or 50 service jobs.
“Today’s announcement is yet another example of the fact that Louisiana can compete with any state, any country in the world for good-paying jobs for our sons and daughters,” said Jindal, who also touted the state’s workforce and water-transit infrastructure as alluring to Danos.
Danos considered relocating to Alabama, Mississippi or Texas, according to the governor, who commended local, regional and state officials for winning the multi-state competition.
Claudet said Terrebonne’s “progressive” approach to businesses and quality-of-life perks has helped craft a “community that people want to reside and have businesses in.”
The Gray region, in which parish government owns 30 current undeveloped acres that will house various services in the future, is primed for an industrial boon, Claudet said. “The sky is the limit. It’s blowing and going,” he said.
Hank Danos said the company was still reviewing its options regarding the future of its existing fabrication site in Larose, where the company has been based since it began in 1947, but he indicated some services would likely be continued at the south Lafourche yard, near the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and relatively near Port Fourchon.
LED estimates the combined $30 million investment will create 871 new, indirect jobs, for a total of 1,300 new Louisiana jobs, Jindal said.
Danos will begin hiring employees for headquarter positions this year, and the new manufacturing jobs will be filled starting next year.
Danos offers construction and fabrication offshore and onshore – including deep-water hookups and large-scale spool piping – and has more than 200 specialists available for contract hire, such as equipment operators, supervisors and dispatchers.
Gov. Bobby Jindal announces plans for the Larose-based oilfield service company Danos to expand and relocate its headquarters and operations from Nicholls State University’s student union. Also pictured is Thibodaux Mayor Tommy Eschete.
