Bollinger Shipyards is acquiring VT Halter Marine Inc and ST Engineering Halter Marine Offshore (STEHMO), a builder of US naval and commercial vessels, to cement its leadership in US ship design and construction, reports Riviera.
Defense and commercial contracts
This transaction includes key US Government programmes, including US Coast Guard (USCG)’s Polar security cutter, US Navy’s auxiliary personnel lighters and repair facility, and is expected to close Q4 2022.
Bollinger’s new construction and repair capacity and capabilities for these key defence and commercial contracts and for future offshore and port vessel construction work will be expanded, and the deal will bring improved efficiencies, enhanced economies of scale and access to a large skilled workforce, including increased engineering capacity.
“The addition of VT Halter Marine and STEHMO in Pascagoula, Mississippi is strategic, as it further strengthens our position in the industry and US defence industrial base, by allowing Bollinger to expand our footprint, capabilities and suite of innovative solutions that we can provide to our customers,” said Bollinger Shipyards chief executive and president Ben Bordelon.
“From day one, the Bollinger team will leverage our proven and best-in-class management team, operational excellence and existing capability to ongoing commercial and government programmes, especially the Polar security cutter programme.”
The acquisition
The acquisition includes 378 acres comprising two shipyards in Pascagoula and two dormant yards north of Pascagoula. The newly acquired yards will be renamed Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding and Bollinger Mississippi Repair. They are strategically located with direct, deepwater access to the Gulf of Mexico and house corporate office space, engineering, fabrication, warehousing and a foreign trade zone.
These facilities are capable of producing Panamax-sized vessels up to 50,000 dwt and feature an expanded 225-m tilt-beam launch system.
In 2021, VT Halter Marine built Q-LNG 4000 articulated tug-barge as the first Jones Act-compliant ATB built in the US specifically for LNG cargo and bunker operations.
Bollinger has built or is building towing, salvage and rescue ships under T-ATS programmes for the US Navy, Sentinel-class fast response cutters for the USCG and mine countermeasures unmanned surface vessels and a research vessel for the National Science Foundation and Oregon State University.
Bollinger also has two active contracts with General Dynamics to build a floating drydock and a pontoon launcher, to support the construction and launching of the US Navy’s Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.
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Source: Riviera
