Contract: Austal, $7.1M

Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., is being awarded a $7,120,153 modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-11-C-2301) to exercise an option for post-delivery support for the USS Jackson (LCS 6). Austal USA will perform the planning and implementation of deferred design changes that have been identified during the construction period. Work will be performed in Mobile, Ala. (70 percent); Pittsfield, Mass. (20 percent); and San Diego, Calif. (10 percent) and is expected to be completed by September 2015. Fiscal 2010 shipbuilding and conversion, Navy funding in the amount of $7,120,153 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/28/14)

Hagel expands on LCS concerns

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said his "considerable reservations" about the Littoral Combat Ship led him to bar planning for any more than 32 ships, 20 fewer than the Navy's program. "I have considerable reservations as to whether this is what our Navy will require over the next few decades," Hagel said in a memorandum to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. The document was obtained by Bloomberg News. Questions have been raised about the ship's cost and survivability in high-intensity combat. The ships are lightly armed and intended to operate in shallow coastal waters. One variant is made in Marietta, Wis., by Lockheed Martin and the other in Mobile, Ala., by Austal USA. (Source: Bloomberg, 02/26/14)

Port deal promises 100 jobs

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The Port of Pensacola has struck a deal with a company that's promising 100 jobs. Offshore Inland will be leasing an empty warehouse and building on adjacent property to manufacture flexible pipes. The company expected to provide the port with $250,000 a year in revenue. Offshore Inland will invest $10 million to $12 million in construction. The city offered an incentive of cheaper rent contingent on the company delivering on the jobs. (Source: WEAR-TV, 02/19/14)

Ingalls shut out of $12B program

Bath Iron Works, Bollinger Shipyards and Eastern Shipbuilding have been awarded first phase contracts in a $12 billion Coast Guard ship program. Huntington Ingalls Industries, with major shipyards in Newport News, Va., and Pascagoula, Miss., and the government's No. 1 shipbuilder, was shut out. Bath, of Maine, is part of General Dynamics, the No. 2 shipbuilder for the U.S. government, according to Bloomberg Industries. Each of the winning companies will receive design contracts valued at between $21 million and $22 million for the Offshore Pagtrol Cutters. Bollinger is in Lockport, La., and Eastern in Panama City, Fla. The ships will have increased range and endurance, larger flight decks and improved surveillance capabilities, according to the Coast Guard. (Sources: Bloomberg, 02/12/14, MarineLog 02/11/14)

Halter launches tug barge

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- VT Halter Marine in Escatawpa on Tuesday launched the ocean-going articulated tug barge Denise A. Bouchard. Construction of the 112-foot vessel began in March 2013, and the keel was laid in May 2013 at VT Halter Marine's Moss Point Marine facility in Escatawpa. Upon delivery, the ATB tug will be paired with Barge B. No.284 and enter into Bouchard's fleet service in New York, N.Y. (Source: Mississippi Press, 02/11/14)

Company returning to N.O.

MOBILE, Ala. -- International Shipholding, a marine services provider, will relocate to New Orleans by the end of 2015. The company, which employs 135 in Mobile, has been in the city nearly seven years at the RSA Battle House Tower downtown. The company founded in 1947, which left New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, was lured back with a $10.3 million incentives package. (Source: nola.com, 02/05/14; al.com, 02/07/14)

Forrestal on final voyage

The long-decommissioned USS Forrestal, the Navy's first super aircraft carrier, began its final voyage Tuesday from the East Coast to a Texas scrapyard. After 38 years of service, the 1,067-foot ship began its 17-day towing voyage down the Delaware River and eventual crossing of the Gulf of Mexico to All Star Metals in Brownsville. The Navy contracted with the metals firm for 1-cent in October to dismantle the ship. In 1967 while the ship was in the Gulf of Tonkin, a fire claimed the lives of more than 130 sailors. Future Sen. John McCain was on the flight deck in his A-4 Skyhawk at the time and escaped the fire. (Source: Fox News, 02/04/14) Gulf Coast note: The Forrestal was assigned to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., in 1991 to replace the USS Lexington as the Navy's training carrier. But the Navy later decided to decommission the ship.

Ingalls buys Moss Point space

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Ingalls Shipbuilding has bought the 12.26-acre former 84 Lumber property with 94,000 square feet of warehouse space, officials said today. Ingalls President Irwin Edenzon said it’s "another component of our strategy to consolidate facilities." The purchase gives Ingalls the ability to store and deploy material in proximity to the shipyard. The property is to be ready for use by fall 2014. Ingalls Shipbuilding is a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries. (Source: Huntington Ingalls Industries, 02/05/14)

LHA 6 back at shipyard

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- The amphibious assault ship America, LHA 6, returned to Ingalls Shipbuilding Friday after successful acceptance sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico. Ingalls' test and trials team demonstrated more than 220 test events to the U.S. Navy's board of inspection and survey (INSURV). America-class ships are 844 feet long with a speed in excess of 20 knots. They'll accommodate a crew of 1,059 and will be capable of carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit, including Marine helicopters, MV‐22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and F‐35B Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. (Source: Ingalls, 02/04/14) Previous

Last Avondale ship leaves yard

The USS Somerset, expected to be the last Navy ship built at Huntington Ingalls Industries' Avondale shipyard, left Monday for a March 1 commissioning in Philadelphia. The 684-foot amphibious transport dock ship is the third ship named after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. The first one, USS New York, was built in Avondale and the USS Arlington was built in Pascagoula, Miss. Somerset is the county in Pennsylvania where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed. Avondale, which has been targeted for closure for several years, delivered its first Navy ship in 1951. HII is seeking an energy-industry partner to keep the shipyard open. (Source: Times-Picayune, 02/03/14)