One of nation’s largest shipbuilders remains busy

Larose energy-service firm unveils major expansion
May 28, 2013
Working up to the Wheelhouse
May 28, 2013
Larose energy-service firm unveils major expansion
May 28, 2013
Working up to the Wheelhouse
May 28, 2013

Bollinger Shipyards last week delivered to the United States Coast Guard the “Paul Clark,” the 130th vessel the Lockport-based company has constructed for the military branch in 30 years.

With the delivery, Bollinger has now completed six of the 18 “Sentinel Class” fast response cutters the company was allotted to build through a now $880 million contract, which the Coast Guard could incrementally extend to 34 vessels.


The company touted Paul Clark as another on time, on budget delivery and said the next 154-foot FRC capable of a 28-knot top speed would be released in three months. Bollinger has become synonymous with Coast Guard patrol cutters, having possessed the contracts for the past three classes, including the Island class the Sentinels are replacing.


“The manufacturing processes that we’ve developed created a smooth flow of the vessels throughout the shops, to where we’re more like a manufacturer than just a shipbuilder,” said Chris Bollinger, the company’s executive vice president of new construction, a roughly 1,200-employee division. “The talented craftsmen that we have are top notch.”

The Coast Guard should decide whether to option six more Sentinel builds to Bollinger this year, which if done would bring the total assigned to the Lockport yard to 24.


Amid its FRC contract commitment – and its commercial workload – Bollinger is one of eight shipbuilding companies contending to design and build what ultimately could become a 25-ship, $8 billion Coast Guard procurement of the offshore patrol cutter.


The Coast Guard’s initial request for proposals closed in January. Three of the eight contractors that applied for the job will receive 18-month preliminary design contracts, and after that process one will be selected to build the lead ship – expected to be between 340 and 370 feet in length, Chris Bollinger said – with options for 10 additional OPCs.

Founded in 1946, Bollinger has grown to become one of the nation’s largest shipbuilders, particularly over the past 40 years. The company garnered its first Coast Guard contract in the ‘80s, and its cache has grown since then.


Executives flirted with going public in the late ‘90s but opted to remain private; the company remains family owned. In 2000, with second-generation and current chief executive officer Donald “Boysie” Bollinger at the helm, Bollinger made an $80 million acquisition of five repair yards from Friede Goldman Halter.


Headquartered along La. Highway 308, also one of two new construction sites, Bollinger has nine shipyards in south Louisiana and one in Texas. Supplementing its new construction prowess are 28 dry-dock stations and the company’s claim as the largest vessel repair company in the Gulf of Mexico region.

At a checkpoint of the FRC deal and with the coveted OPC contract on the horizon, Chris Bollinger is optimistic about the future of shipbuilding and Bollinger’s ubiquitous role in the industry, particularly as opportunities closer to home increase.


Deep-water energy exploration in the Gulf of Mexico continues to ramp up three years after the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, as energy developers become more familiar with the more-stringent safety regulations that followed the largest oil spill in the nation’s history.

Industry analysts over the past 12 months have said a protracted boon appears set for the Gulf in the coming years and that the number of deep-water rigs could reach a record level by 2014. “A lot of companies are ramping up their fleets,” Chris Bollinger said. “It looks like the market is really growing in terms of shipbuilding.”

While the Coast Guard contracts are relatively new to Bollinger, the company has long been a leader in constructing vessels related to the offshore oil and gas industry. From the first utility boat delivered in 1953 to the 300-foot offshore supply vessels now under construction, the lineage covers hundreds of barges, tug boats and supply boats.

The four 300-foot vessels now under construction were commissioned by Bee Mar. Bollinger also expects to deliver three sludge-carrying vessels to the City of New York by the end of the year and the final one of four ocean tugs for Crowley Maritime.

And its shipbuilders are pretty good. In December, Bollinger was honored as builder and contributing designer of the “Ocean Wind” and “Ocean Wave,” built in Amelia for Crowley. For the 154-foot ocean tugs, the company was awarded the “Significant Boats of 2012” award from the international “Workboat Magazine.”

Against the optimism about the industry’s future as linked to offshore energy development, Chris Bollinger expressed anxiety over a “tremendous shortage of workers,” lamenting that quality employees – welders, pipefitters, carpenters, painters, electronic technicians and others – are difficult to find. Locals have said this for years, but it has become increasingly apparent it is a national issue, Chris Bollinger emphasized.

“We have an aging workforce, and the new generation doesn’t seem to be coming into the industry as much as we need them to,” he said. “We’re really making a full-force effort in recruiting, training, providing opportunities for apprentice programs to where they can actually, within a few years after high school, be making top rates. … We all need to come together in finding better methods of recruiting these young men and women into the shipyard and the marine industry, in general.”

It’s hardly a new issue: Nearly 20 years ago, a Bollinger executive vice president told the Times-Picayune that “blue-collar affluence” had made it difficult to recruit a new generation of quality workers that “wound up playing Nintendo.”

Still, considering the industry’s ebbs and flows, a workforce problem is more favorable than a workload problem.

“Overall, I’m extremely excited about the shipbuilding industry,” Chris Bollinger said. “It’s the first time in a long time it appears that it looks promising for several years ahead. That steady amount of work is going to be good for steady employment for many, many years.”

The “Paul Clark,” a 154-foot fast response cutter, is delivered from Bollinger Shipyards to the U.S. Coast Guard. It is the 130th vessel Bollinger has constructed for the Coast Guard over 30 years, and the sixth of an FRC contract that right now includes 18 vessels.

FILE PHOTO