THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 16, 1995 TAG: 9512160281
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
For the second time in a year, Earl Industries Inc. will lease dock space at Metro Machine Corp. to do a ship repair job, its president said Friday.
The Portsmouth-based ``down-river'' company - a ship repair firm without its own waterfront yard - aroused the enmity of some Hampton Roads shipyard executives earlier this year with a similar job.
Also, Marine Hydraulics International Inc. won two contracts for work on the amphibious assault ship Nassau, continuing the small yard's success at winning work since it emerged from bankruptcy in October.
Earl will start work at Metro on the guided missile frigate Halyburton in early January. The 60-day, $1.9 million repair job will keep 50 to 60 of Earl's 400 employees busy, said Earl President Jerry Miller.
Earl completed a larger overhaul of the guided missile frigate Robert G. Bradley at Metro in November. ``The first one went well,'' Miller said.
Earl plans to continue doing jobs at Metro as long as both companies are happy with the arrangement, he said.
Executives at other shipyards have said that Earl has an unfair advantage bidding against them for overhaul work like the Halyburton and Bradley contracts because it hasn't made a heavy investment in waterfront property and facilities.
The Navy, however, seems to be welcoming down-river companies that lease space. Dreadnought Marine Inc. recently leased pier space at Norfolk International Terminals for a job on the guided missile frigate Hawes.
The two contracts won by Marine Hydraulics International total nearly $500,000 of work on the Nassau. While it has a small shipyard on the Elizabeth River, Norfolk-based MHI will perform the work on the Nassau at the Norfolk Naval Base, said Robert Walker, MHI chairman and president.
MHI is also the low bidder on a $1.25 million overhaul for the U.S. Maritime Administration, Walker added. That contract, which would performed at the yard, should be awarded soon, he said.
``Things are looking pretty good for us,'' Walker said of MHI, which employs about 250 people. by CNB