THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300457
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 51 lines
In a move that might benefit Hampton Roads shipyards, Bethlehem Steel Corp. acknowledged it is considering selling or even closing BethShip Inc., its money-losing Baltimore shipyard.
Closing the shipyard could mean more workfor shipyards in Hampton Roads.
``It will have a positive effect on the marketplace,'' said Doug Forrest, vice president of Colonna's Shipyard Inc. in Norfolk. ``There will be less ship-repair capability on the East Coast.''
Bethlehem Steel confirmed that it has hired an investment bank, Chase Securities Inc., to help it decide whether it can sell BethShip.
``Bethlehem Steel continues to consider various alternatives for its underperforming units,'' the company said in a statement. These alternatives include continuing to operate the business, selling it, or shutting it down and then trying to sell it.
``No decision has been made on any of these alternatives,'' the statement said.
The Bethlehem, Pa.-based steel company said this summer that all its business units must achieve satisfactory performance or the company will either sell them or shut them down.
BethShip has suffered from Navy fleet downsizing and industry trends that have taken business away from Baltimore.
The market is so weak forship repair there may be no one interested in buying the 105-year-old shipyard, located in Baltimore's Sparrows Point section.
According to industry rumor, Bethlehem Steel plans to close the shipyard if it can't sell it, Forrest said. BethShip hasn't bid for any work that is supposed to be finished after March 1, 1997, he said.
BethShip is one of the last of a once thriving ship-repair industry in Baltimore. It employs about 700 workers, said Bethlehem spokesman Art Roth.
Bethlehem Steel acquired BethShip in 1916 and it was a major shipbuilder during both world wars. It was active in commercial ship construction through the 1970s.
Since 1981, BethShip has built six tug and tank barges, six oil drilling rigs, three container barges and two oceanographic survey ships for the Navy. It also built tunnel sections for Interstate 664 under the James River.
It competes with yards in Hampton Roads for Navy, government and commercial ship repair work.
BethShip has the second-largest privately-owned graving dock in the nation after the huge aircraft carrier building dock at Newport News Shipbuilding. It also has a floating dry dock.
``It's a wonderful facility,'' Forrest said. ``It's in the wrong place at the wrong time.'' by CNB