THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 21, 1995 TAG: 9503210311
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Colonna's Shipyard Inc. has won its first ship repair contract on a Navy warship since it emerged from bankruptcy in 1991.
The contract for an overhaul of the guided-missile frigate Estocin is worth more than $4 million for the small Elizabeth River shipyard.
Colonna's isn't the only shipyard in the region to win contracts in recent weeks. Norshipco has won a Navy job, a small Military Sealift Command contract and three commercial jobs, an official at the yard said.
The recent awards to Norshipco could be worth more than $9 million for the shipyard, which is the largest private ship repairer in South Hampton Roads.
While the new contracts won't translate to any new hiring at either yard, they will keep the shipyards' labor forces busy through the spring. The region's shipyards, long reliant on the Navy, have suffered as defense cutbacks have shrunk the fleet and reduced ship overhaul and maintenance spending.
Colonna's, which employs more than 300 people, has gotten by in the tough ship repair market for several years, scrapping for jobs from the Coast Guard, the Maritime Administration, the Military Sealift Command, and commercial ship, barge and tug owners.
The arrival of the Estocin at the end of March will mark the first time that a surface combat ship has entered Colonna's since its bankruptcy ended three years ago.
``It's a nice job to have,'' said Doug Forrest, Colonna's vice president.
He said that the big job won't mean any new hiring at the shipyard in the Berkley section of Norfolk. The Estocin will stay at Colonna's until the end of May for a drydocking and other overhaul work.
The transfer of the Navy's Atlantic fleet frigates to Norfolk from the Charleston Naval Base and other closing naval bases has meant new opportunities for local shipyards.
``This size vessel is ideally suited to our physical plant,'' Forrest said. ``It fits perfectly in our drydock and can make it up the Elizabeth River.''
Norshipco, which employs about 2,700 people, won a $4.4 million contract from the Navy for repairs and maintenance on the combat stores ship Supply, said Ernest C. Reilly, the yard's vice president of contract administration.
The Supply was delivered to the Navy about a year ago after being built by National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. in San Diego. Work on the Supply will begin in April and continue until mid-June, Reilly said.
The Norfolk shipyard also won a $1.8 million job for a drydocking and repairs on the Naval auxiliary tanker Kanawha. It will be in the shipyard for a month starting in early April, Reilly said.
Norshipco also has won three commercial ship repair jobs in the past month, Reilly said.
The smallest of the three jobs, the Gypsum Baron, arrived Monday for 10 days of repairs. The Gypsum Baron is a Bermuda-based bulk carrier that transports gypsum, which is used in wallboard.
The yard also won annual overhaul contracts on the tanker Philadelphia Sun and the chemical carrier Sea River Wilmington, Reilly said. Work on each will last a month. Both ships are U.S.-operated. The Philadelphia Sun, owned by Sunoco, is due by the end of April and the Sea River Wilmington, affiliated with Exxon, is due in mid-May.
Reilly declined to disclose the value of those contracts, but said, ``They're not insignificant.'' by CNB