NASSCO gets third big ship contract

By Gary Robbins9:54 a.m.Sept. 11, 2013


Artist's rendering of the 610-tanker that NASSCO will build for Seabulk Tankers. NASSCO-SEACOR

General Dynamics NASSCO, which already was scrambling to add 1,000 workers to handle a boom in shipbuilding, got another boost Wednesday when it won the right to build a pair of 610-foot tankers for Seabulk Tankers.

The latest contract is expected to create up to 300 additional jobs.

NASSCO was considering layoffs late last year at its San Diego shipyard, partly due to a downturn in commercial orders. But in December, it was hired to build two container ships for Totem Ocean Trailer Express. That deal was followed in May by contracts to build four product carrier ships for an affiliate of American Petroleum Tankers.

The Totem and American Petroleum Tankers orders, along with a lift in Navy ship repair, led NASSCO President Fred Harris to say in July that the company would add about 1,000 workers. By then, overall employment at NASSCO had dropped to 3,000 workers, one of the lowest levels in the company's recent history.

The contract with Seabulk Tankers, which is known as SEACOR, "will provide continued, stable employment for our current workforce as well as an increase of about 200 to 300 people," said NASSCO spokeswoman Sarah Strang.

NASSCO doesn't reveal the dollar value of commercial contracts, but industry experts have said that these types of tankers cost at least $100 million to build.

"This is good news for the company and the economy," University of San Diego economist Alan Gin said. "The biggest growth we've had lately has been in leisure and hospitality, which includes restaurants and administrative and waste services. Someone who works as a welder at NASSCO will be paid a lot more than someone working in a restaurant."

Work on the SEACOR ships is scheduled to start in late 2014. NASSCO said in a statement that the new tankers "are a continuation of the ECO tanker design, which offers improved fuel efficiency and incorporates the latest environmental protection features, including a Ballast Water Treatment System." American Petroleum Tankers has previously ordered the same type of ship from NASSCO.

NASSCO is currently building Mobile Landing Platform ships for the Navy, and it is performing maintenance and upgrades on the amphibious assault ship Essex and the littoral combat ship Independence.

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