THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 15, 1996 TAG: 9603150461
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Responding to shrinking defense spending, Norshipco is shutting down most of its small ship-repair yard adjacent to the Campostella Bridge in Norfolk, the company announced Thursday.
The move won't lead to any immediate layoffs at Norshipco, South Hampton Roads' largest private shipyard with 2,700 workers, said Jack L. Roper IV, the shipyard's executive vice president. Instead, the work and employees at the Brambleton plant will be shifted to Norshipco's larger plant in Norfolk's Berkley section, Roper said.
``We're going to stay in the business of repairing small vessels,'' Roper added.
According to Roper, the Brambleton plant employed about 150 workers. But an official with Local 684 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, which represents Norshipco's hourly employees, said there are about 200 workers at the plant.
Roper admitted the consolidation could result in some layoffs, eventually.
``It's impossible to tell,'' he said. ``We're going through that process now. I'll promise you this: We will keep layoffs, if any occur, to a minimum.''
The move will help reduce Norshipco's overhead costs, producing a greater value for its customers, Roper said.
``I think it's a smart business move, and it's high time they do it,'' said Gary Daniel, president of the Boilermakers local.
``If they can do all the work (in the Berkley plant) that they do (in the Brambleton plant), why should they keep two plants powered up, steamed up, at the same time?'' Daniel said. ``It should make us more competitive.''
Daniel said the union was told the entire Brambleton plant would be mothballed soon.
But exactly how much of the smaller yard is closed and whether it is mothballed is still being determined, Roper said.
``Not all decisions have been made as to what's going to be done when,'' he said.
The Brambleton plant, which is on the Elizabeth River's Eastern Branch, does mostly repairs and overhauls of smaller vessels, including tugs, barges, ferries and smaller Navy and Coast Guard ships. Norshipco's Berkley plant, located at the mouth of the river's Southern Branch, has handled larger Navy warships such as cruisers and destroyers, government cargo vessels and commercial ships such as cruise ships and tankers.
But Navy maintenance and overhaul work has been slipping since the end of the Cold War as the fleet has shrunk. The commercial market, particularly in cruise ships, has also softened and gotten more competitive, Roper said.
Norshipco, formally known as Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp., was founded in the Brambleton plant in 1915 as F.O. Smith Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. Inc. Roper, whose family owns Norshipco, admits there's a real sentimental feeling for the small yard.
Many of the smaller warships that the Brambleton yard used to repair are no longer in service, or have been moved away or transferred to the Military Sealift Command, which handles repairs differently.
Meanwhile, barge and tug companies are using larger and larger equipment, which in some cases already has to be repaired at the Berkley plant because of size, Roper said.
Norshipco will likely move its small drydock, called Challenger, to the Berkley plant. That dock can handle ships weighing up to 2,800 tons and 250 feet long. It has two much larger drydocks at the Berkley plant.
Roper said that, in general, Norshipco is doing well. ``Hopefully we'll be able to maintain stable employment through the year,'' he said.
It has bids out on several contracts that will decide that soon, he added.
The consolidation announced Thursday will also affect the shipyard's tiny, underutilized Southern plant, located further down the Eastern Branch, where it has repaired fishing vessels and yachts in the past, Roper said. ILLUSTRATION: Color Map\VP
Norshipco
Area Shown: Berkley Plant
Brambleton Plant
by CNB