Northrop ship workers OK contract

Workers approved a labor agreement with Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's Virginia shipyard that includes a provision allowing the company to temporarily reassign workers to other yards, including those in the Gulf Coast. The 52-month agreement covers more than 8,000 hourly workers at the company's Newport News, Va., shipyard. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/31/08)

Destroyer delivered ahead of schedule

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Northrop Grumman says it delivered the 510-foot Truxtun guided missile destroyer 10 weeks ahead of schedule to the Navy. The crew is scheduled to move aboard Dec. 8. The Truxtun, DDG 103, is the 25th Aegis guided missile destroyer produced by Northrop Grumman. The Arleigh Burke class destroyer is expected to be commissioned in spring 2009. The previous DDG-51 built at Pascagoula, the USS Kidd, was delivered to the Navy on Dec. 18, 2006. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/30/08)

Vote on aquaculture delayed

MOBILE, Ala. - Federal fishery regulators delayed a vote on a proposal that would open the Gulf of Mexico to fish farms. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will consider the aquaculture plan at a January meeting in Bay St. Louis, Miss. The proposal would create a permitting process for developers to raise fish in underwater cages in federal waters 3 to 200 miles offshore. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/29/08)

Crozier returns to Mobile's Sea Lab

MOBILE, Ala. - George Crozier will return to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab as executive director for the next two years. The lab’s board voted Wednesday to hire Crozier, who retired in 2007 after directing the lab for 30 years. The post became vacant this month when new director L. Scott Quackenbush died. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/29/08)

Vote near on shipbuilder contract

Hundreds of Newport News shipbuilders got copies of a proposed new contract Sunday, and 6,000 members of the United Steelworkers of America will vote Wednesday. Proposed is a 16.4 percent pay raise over four years, increased pensions and benefits, and a provision allowing Northrop Grumman to shuffle workers among shipyards. (Source: The Virginia Pilot, 10/27/08)

Vote expected on Gulf fish farms

MOBILE, Ala. - Federal fisheries regulators this week will decide whether to open the Gulf of Mexico to industrial-scale fish farms – fish raised in underwater cages and pens – that could yield more than 60 million pounds of additional seafood from the ocean. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a public hearing Wednesday in Mobile before voting on the issue. The plan would create a permitting process for aquaculturists to develop large-scale fish farms, raising only native species in underwater cages. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/27/08)

Euronaval begins in Paris

Euronaval, the international naval defense exhibition, is being held Oct. 27 to 31 at the Paris Le Bourget Exhibition Center. Some 345 companies and organizations from 27 countries will have exhibits. Northrop Grumman will display ship and marine navigation system, showcasing among other things its San Antonio-class amphibious warfare transport ship, a patrol frigate based on the Coast Guard National Security Cutter and the Sa'ar 5B littoral corvette, an enhanced version of the Sa'ar 5 corvette in service with the Israeli navy. (Source: Tcp, PRNewswire, 10/24/08)

Taylor: Northrop hasn't lost destroyer pacts

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Northrop Grumman has not lost contracts for a half dozen new Navy destroyers, despite a document quoted by a trade publication, U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor said Friday. Inside the Navy said the service plans to award contracts for six of the proposed eight DDG-51 destroyers to Bath Iron Works in Maine and two to Northrop Grumman in Pascagoula. Taylor said it was a memo stating someone's thoughts and should not have been released. He said the Navy assured him it's not a done deal. (Source: Mississippi Press, 10/25/08)

NOAA announces plan to upgrade ships

WASHINGTON - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has completed a detailed plan to modernize its marine operations by replacing nine research ships and refurbishing a 10th in the next 15 years. The 19-ship fleet supports a wide range of activities, including fisheries and coastal research, nautical charting, and long-range ocean and climate studies. Nine vessels entered into service since 2001. Two additional ships will enter service in the next year, with one homeported in Mississippi and the other on the West Coast. VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula, Miss. is a major builder of NOAA ships. (Source: NOAA, 10/23/08)

NOAA announces plan to upgrade ships

WASHINGTON - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has completed a detailed plan to modernize its marine operations by replacing nine research ships and refurbishing a 10th in the next 15 years. The 19-ship fleet supports a wide range of activities, including fisheries and coastal research, nautical charting, and long-range ocean and climate studies. Nine vessels entered into service since 2001. Two additional ships will enter service in the next year, with one homeported in Mississippi and one on the West Coast. VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula, Miss., is a major builder of NOAA ships. (Source: NOAA, 10/23/08)

Raytheon gets LPD 17 support contract

TEWKSBURY, Mass. - Raytheon has been awarded a Navy contract for up to $23 million for lifecycle engineering and support for the LPD 17 class of amphibious warfare ships. This award exercises the third of three one-year options included in the original contract awarded to Raytheon in 2005. The work is performed at the Expeditionary Warfare Center, San Diego, Calif.; Seapower Capability Center, Portsmouth, R.I.; and by Raytheon Technical Services Company in New Orleans and SanDiego. (Source: PRNewswire, 10/22/08)

Austal gets $150K tax break

MOBILE, Ala. - The Mobile City Council on Tuesday gave Austal USA a $150,000 break in permitting fees for a new facility on Mobile River that company officials said could employ 1,000 additional workers. Austal is spending $151 million to expand its existing shipbuilding operation by constructing a modular assembly line. The new facility should be running by late summer 2009. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/22/08)

GCRL professor gets $2.3M grant

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - Microbiologist Crystal Johnson at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory has been awarded a four-year, $2.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health to study pathogenic vibrios. Johnson and colleagues from the University of Southern Mississippi Department of Coastal Sciences at GCRL and the Department of Marine Science at Stennis Space Center will collaborate with researchers at the University of Maryland and the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, Wash. (Source: Hattiesburg American, 10/20/08)

Maritime center eyes groundbreaking

MOBILE, Ala. - Ground is expected to be broken in the next two months on a $12 million maritime training center on the east bank of the Mobile River. The 60,000-square-foot center is being spearheaded by Alabama Industrial Development Training. The center will offer free programs and is expected to help answer local shipyards’ demand for up to 1,800 workers over the next several years. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/19/08)

Signal to repair two offshore rigs

MOBILE, Ala. - Signal International said Thursday that it has won a $10 million contract to repair two offshore oil rigs damaged last month by Hurricane Ike. Signal, which is moving its headquarters from Pascagoula to Mobile, said it expects to add 200 workers to the 2,500 it has at two Pascagoula shipyards. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/17/08)

Navy buying more LCS ships

MOBILE, Ala. - The Navy said Thursday it plans to buy three littoral combat ships in fiscal 2010, in addition to the two it will buy next year. But it wants contractors to amend bids to reflect cost savings that come with building multiple ships. The Navy intends to award one boat in 2009 to each of two teams competing to build as many as 55 of the warships. One team, General Dynamics Corp., builds its sea frames at Austal USA in Mobile. (Source: Mobile Press Register, 10/17/08)

Bollinger sues Northrop Grumman

NEW ORLEANS. La. - Bollinger Shipyards filed a $12 million suit against Northrop Grumman in a dispute involving renovation of Coast Guard cutters that were later taken out of service. Bollinger was ordered by Northrop to stop work on the contract after Bollinger delivered six boats and had begun work on six others. Bollinger said it demanded Northrop pay it $12.1 million to terminate the work, but the company refused. (Source: AP, 10/15/08)

DI sea lab director dies

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. - Marine scientist L. Scott Quackenbush, executive director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, died Sunday after a brief illness, officials said. He was 56. Quackenbush, a native of Baltimore, assumed the top job in July. He had previously worked as associate dean for marine science programs at Humbolt State University in Arcata, Calif. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/14/08)

NGI: Focusing on the big picture

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - It's been part of the local economy for more than two years now, yet most residents are likely to know little about it. But the Northern Gulf Institute is becoming a heavyweight research operation, and hopes to begin work soon on a new $9 million building at Stennis. (Source: Alliance Insight, October 2008)

Gulf Island Fab gets state help

Gulf Island Fabrication Inc. will receive $2.3 million in state assistance for a $29.3 million expansion in Terrebonne Parish. The money will help Gulf Island, which has built offshore drilling platforms since 1985, open a new division to build barges and other marine vessels on the Houma Navigational Channel that leads south from the city to the Gulf of Mexico. The company employes 1,100 people in the Houma area. (Source: Baton Rouge Advocate, 10/11/08)

Mullen: Navy faces challenges

WASHINGTON - The Navy's shipbuilding program faces continuing challenges from cost growth and other issues, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a breakfast meeting Thursday. Mullen also praised the quality of today's armed forces, but voiced concern about violence in Afghanistan. He also said military officials must do more to encourage troops with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms to seek help. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/10/08)

Contract: Gravois, $6M

Gravois Aluminum Boats, doing business as Metal Shark Inc, Jeanerette, La., was awarded a $6 million firm fixed price contract for 54 Fast Attack Boats with Active RFID Tags. Work will be performed in Jeanerette, with an completion date of June 30, 2010. TACOM, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 10/08/08)

Destroyer passes tests

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Northrop Grumman officials say the 510-foot Truxtun, DDG 103, went through acceptance trial in the Gulf of Mexico last week and passed. The Navy is scheduled to accept delivery Oct. 24, and the crew will move aboard Dec. 8. The ship will be commissioned in the spring. The Truxtun is the 25th Aegis guided-missile destroyer built by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. (Source: The Mississippi Press, 10/08/08)

LCS christened in Mobile

MOBILE, Ala. - A littoral combat ship christened over the weekend at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile Bay will be delivered to the Navy next year. The Independence, LCS 2, was built by prime contractor General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, along with Austal USA, BAE Systems, L3 Communications Marine Systems, Maritime Applied Physics Corporation and Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. It’s the first U.S. trimaran warship. (Source: Multiple, 10/06/08)

Rolls-Royce to power UK ships

Rolls-Royce won a contract to provide power and propulsion equipment for two of the world's largest warships - the UK’s new 65,000 ton aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth, and HMS Prince of Wales. Rolls-Royce is supplying the MT30 gas turbine as part of an integrated system that includes the carrier's propellers. Rolls-Royce has a propeller foundry in Pascagoula, Miss. (Source; Rolls-Royce, 10/06/08)

CG cutter power up successful

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - The Lockheed Martin Coast Guard Systems team participated in the successful power up of the first set of electronic cabinets and consoles of the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system onboard the Coast Guard's National Security Cutter, Waesche. The 418-foot ship, built at Northrop Grumman's Pascagoula shipyard, is the second ship in a class of multi-mission cutters. The first one, USCGC Bertholf, was commissioned Aug. 4, in Alameda, Calif. (Source: Lockheed Martin, 10/02/08)

Contract: Gryphon, $17.1M

Gryphon Technologies, Greenbelt, Md., awarded $17.1 million contract for procurement of Expeditionary Warfare Program and Landing Craft Air Cushion maintenance, modification, repair, and trial support engineering support services. Work will be performed in Panama City, Fla., and is expected to be completed by October 2013. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Panama City, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 10/02/08)