THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996 TAG: 9602140426
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Norfolk Naval Shipyard's greatest liability these days is its size. It's too big for the job it does.
With nearly 1,000 acres of land, 5 miles of riverfront and about 8.5 million square feet of buildings, the Portsmouth shipyard has tremendous overhead costs.
To ease the burden, the yard is trying to persuade the Atlantic Fleet to berth warships at its piers and to move other Navy commands and activities to the yard. It is also consolidating offices and shop spaces within the yard.
Such moves would help ease the shipyard's operation costs and help it function more efficiently, which would make it more competitive with other shipyards, particularly other Navy shipyards still open after the base closing process. It also would ease congestion at the Norfolk Naval Base's piers.
Officials from the Atlantic Fleet Surface Force planned to look at the shipyard today as a possible berthing site for up to 10 destroyers.
Under the yard's proposal, the ships, mostly from the Norfolk Naval Base, would be berthed there temporarily, a shipyard spokesman said. ``This is not homeporting,'' he said.
Capt. William R. Klemm, the yard's commander, disclosed the yard's plan to deal with the excess space in the Feb. 9 issue of ``Service to the Fleet,'' an employee newsletter.
``These facilities were built to wartime workload requirements of new construction shipbuilding when 43,000 people worked three shifts a day,'' Klemm wrote. ``Today, we occupy the same space with 17 percent of the original number of people. All of that space burdens with maintenance and utility costs.''
The shipyard employs 7,300 people, down from more than 12,500 in the late 1980s, before the Navy began shrinking.
The work-force cuts improved the shipyard's labor competitiveness, but the infrastructure burden remained the same.
By attracting warships and other commands to the shipyard's property, the shipyard hopes to spread around its overhead costs. Klemm said the shipyard needs to have between 12,000 and 15,000 people to support its overhead.
Ten destroyers, with crews of nearly 350 each, would help.
``We're working together here in Hampton Roads,'' said Cmdr. John Tull, spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet Surface Force. ``We're trying to think of better, more efficient ways of doing business and providing better service to our ships.''
Tull said it's not just a matter of pier space. It's about the services available at the pier such as shore power cables used for pier-side maintenance, he said.
``It gets to be a juggling game (at the Norfolk Naval Base) to try to move ships around for maintenance availabilities,'' Tull said.
It's also a quality of life issue, said shipyard spokesman Steve Milner. ``We believe (the shipyard) would provide easier crew/family access to ships, in a less congested environment,'' Milner said.
The decision rests with the Atlantic Fleet, which must decide what's best for the warships and their crews.
The Atlantic Fleet has no timetable for a decision on berthing, Tull said. ``It's just under consideration.''
Besides the destroyers, the shipyard has a short wish list of commands and activities it's trying to attract.
The yard has offered office space to six commands or activities, including destroyer squadron staffs, the Fleet Technical Support Center and the regional office of the Navy's consolidated mid-Atlantic Human Resources Office.
``We're looking for anybody to set up shop here who can help us maximize our infrastructure,'' said Steve Milner, shipyard spokesman.
``If successful, the net result will be an increasing number of tenant commands, ships and personnel assigned to Norfolk Naval Shipyard,'' Klemm wrote in the newsletter. ``Their presence will help bring a balance back to our overhead by sharing utility, operating and maintenance expenses of buildings we no longer need.''
The shipyard also plans to consolidate its shops to the smallest number of buildings necessary during the coming year. Currently, shops are scattered all over the yard.
For example, Klemm cited the shipyard's inside machine shop that covers more inside acreage than all but two local shipyards have in their entire plants, inside and out.
The other alternative for dealing with the yard's profusion of space and its costly upkeep is to erect energy-efficient buildings for the shipyard and raze the old structures, many of which date to before World War II.
Klemm called this the ideal solution. But with a price tag of between $300 million and $600 million, it's also unlikely in the present and near-term budget climate, he said.
So, while some buildings will be demolished, it will lobby the Navy to move other commands and activities to the yard. ``Our attitude is, before we tear it down, let's see if someone can use it,'' Milner said. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
by CNB