THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502030621
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
The Military Sealift Command has awarded Norshipco a $26 million ship upgrade contract that should help preserve jobs at the yard this summer, a company executive said Thursday.
The contract is for work on the combat stores ship Concord. The overhaul and repair work is by far the largest of three big contracts the Norfolk shipyard has received in the past month.
Ernest C. Riley, vice president of contract administration at Norshipco, said that the Concord job will help keep the yard's 2,200 employees busy this summer and avert possible layoffs.
The region's shipyards have suffered mightily, laying off thousands of workers in recent years, as Navy budgets shrank after the demise of the Cold War. Norshipco employed as many as 3,500 four years ago.
The yard, located on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, is the largest privately owned shipyard in South Hampton Roads and one of the region's largest employers.
The Concord award is particularly good news for Norshipco because its summer schedule had looked thin.
``We kind of ran light around June,'' Riley said. ``That's changed a little. There's this and we've gotten a number of commercial jobs and firmed up some phased maintenance schedulings.''
Last summer, Norshipco had to layoff nearly 1,000 employees for a couple of months as it scrambled to find work to make up for a summer lull.
In early January, the Navy awarded Norshipco an $8.06 million contract for a drydocking and repairs on the destroyer Briscoe and a $4.4 million contract for work on the dock landing ship Tortuga. Work on those contracts has already begun and will be completed by June.
Work on the Concord, which is ported in Norfolk, is scheduled to begin May 1 and should take ninemonths. The job includes a drydocking, the installation of two elevators, replacement of underway replenishment winches and major modifications to its living spaces.
The Concord is part of the Military Sealift Command's Fleet Auxiliary Force, a group of 40 ships including oilers, surveillance ships and tugs, that operate in support of Navy combatant ships.
As a combat stores ship, the 581-foot-long Concord replenishes Navy ships at sea.
Built by National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. of San Diego, the Concord is one of five Mars-class combat stores ships that the Navy transferred to the Military Sealift Command from 1992 to 1994 in an effort to reduce costs.
While in the Navy fleet, the Concord was active in the buildup for the Persian Gulf War. by CNB