Hilda Cox
July 26, 2016
Chamber staying busy promoting area business
July 27, 2016
It’s been a while now since the shocking announcement that multibillion dollar local business Bollinger Shipyards had been sold to an ownership group headed by the industry leaders who own Edison Chouest Offshore.
But the transition hasn’t exactly been a tough one for folks at the longstanding business — even in the face of today’s tough economic climate, which makes running a profitable business harder than it used to be.
Bollinger has continued to succeed under the leadership of its new chief executive officer, Ben Bordelon, the grandson of Donald G. Bollinger — the small-town, hardworking man who founded the company in 1946 as a small-town, family-based shipyard.
When the sale was announced, Bordelon promised to continue to push the company forward into the future.
So far, he seems to be doing just that, securing several Coast Guard contracts for the company, while also helping lead Bollinger to the 2015 Shipbuilders Council of America Award for Excellence in Safety — an honor the company has now earned every year for more than a decade.
“For 11 consecutive years, Bollinger Shipyards has been recognized for outstanding performance in workplace safety,” Bordelon said when the honor was announced. “Earning the SCA Award for Excellence in Safety is a testament to our employees’ unwavering dedication and focus.”
For Bollinger, the path to the present-day success dates back to the mid-point of the last century — a time when the business didn’t have the name recognition, nor the following it has today.
It started in 1946, when Donald Bollinger sought to establish a business that would grow slowly but would provide jobs to neighbors in Lockport and his own family.
Bollinger Machine Shop and Shipyards began in a small bayouside wooden building, near small farms, small wood and steel tugs and fishing boats. There was also a bit of general machine work being done.
With his brothers Ralph, a mechanic, and George, a welder, along with brother-in-law Pappy Boyd, his father Bud and Dick, his youngest brother, who with his degree from LSU, became president of Bollinger Shipyards, the dream became a reality.
“The beginning was humble and the guys worked hard. They soon earned a reputation for their efficient service and innovation in marine repair,” reads the official history of the company. “It wasn’t long after the Bollinger’s got their little business underway that the oilfield boom in South Louisiana started. The demand for larger, more specialized vessels, inland and offshore, helped their company grow by leaps and bounds.”
The business grew and did well until the oil bust of 1984.
Donald’s son, Donald Jr. — known as “Boysie” — saw the bust coming and took a gamble, bidding on a Coast Guard patrol boat project. During the oilfield depression Bollinger built 49 U.S. Coast Guard Island Class Cutters, 110 feet each in length. That work, with the company’s commercial repair program, sustained them.
Since then, Bollinger has continued to work closely with the Coast Guard — still providing cutters to the military to this day.
Since the initial contract with the Coast Guard, Bollinger has continued to grow and expand its commercial and military new construction and repair facilities, the official history states, making it the largest vessel repair company in the Gulf of Mexico region.
And maintaining that is something Bollinger intends to keep — even during its transition under Bordelon.
He’s a Bollinger lifer who’s been part of the company for virtual his whole life.
A former LSU football player who had a short run in the NFL, Bordelon took over as president and CEO of Bollinger with loads of expertise in how the company is run.
Bordelon had been a high-ranking official with Bollinger for several years at the time of his appointment.
He was the company’s chief operating officer at the time of the sale.
Bordelon had also been a member of the Bollinger board of directors since 2002, and was the company’s executive vice president of repair.
When the sale was announced, Bordelon, a Central Lafourche High School graduate, said he shared the same vision as his grandfather, and couldn’t wait to bring that vision into action for the shipbuilding company that’s generated billions of dollars worth of contracts since its existence.
“Fishing with my grandfather near the family marsh near Leeville gave me a lot of time to hear stories about his vision, as well as his personal and business life,” Bordelon said. “I look forward to building on the values set out by my grandfather all those years ago. With a commitment to our customers, a deep appreciation for our workers, a strong focus on safety, the clean environment and quality service, we will grow this company as we build on a great base.”
So far, Bollinger has found a way to do exactly that.
Success is pretty much all the local company seems to know — now 70 years and running.
“Our company is proud of its accomplishments,” Bordelon said. “We look forward to its future — one which we expect to be very bright.”
Bollinger started as a small, quaint family business. Today, it’s grown into a power in the marine industry that has scored billions of dollars in contracts.
