THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 1, 1995 TAG: 9511010489
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Moon Engineering Co. Inc. has more in-yard Navy ship repair work now than in the past few years put together.
``It's been a long time,'' said Jim Thomas, Moon's executive vice president and general manager.
The small Portsmouth shipyard just won a $3.8 million contract for repairs and minor ship alterations on the guided-missile cruiser Ticonderoga. And the destroyer Peterson arrived Oct. 24 at Moon's Elizabeth River yard for $2.5 million of work.
The Navy contracts will help boost employment at Moon to about 225, Thomas said. Moon's work force had gotten down to about 175 earlier this year after it finished work on the guided-missile destroyer Barry, its first contract for in-yard repairs on a Navy warship in a couple of years.
Since the Navy began downsizing after the end of the Cold War, Hampton Roads shipyards have been chasing what work is available with cutthroat bidding that slashes profit margins to the bone.
Moon got the latest jobs bidding with very slim margins. ``We just put what we thought was a lean price that we could break even on or even make some money and put some people to work,'' Thomas said.
For the past few years, Moon had found itself outbid on Navy jobs by small margins. It got by doing repairs for the Military Sealift Command, the Maritime Administration and on commercial tugs and barges.
The Ticonderoga, homeported at the Norfolk Naval Base, will arrive at Moon on Nov. 15 and was scheduled to return to the fleet by Feb. 2. Moon should complete the Peterson, also based in Norfolk, by Jan. 25.
``We're just glad to be busy again,'' Thomas said. ``It sure helps the morale around here.'' by CNB