Birdon America Inc. acquired Metal Shark Boats' 32-acre shipyard in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. This acquisition brings a fully developed shipyard into Birdon's growing portfolio of facilities throughout the US and will allow us to provide a further range of shipbuilding and repair services.
The acquisition of this shipyard will ensure the successful delivery of the Waterways Commerce Cutter (WCC) Program, a vital component of Birdon's $1.187 billion contract to design and build 27 new vessels for the U.S. Coast Guard.
"The investment in this facility will not only ensure we deliver on our promise to the US Coast Guard, but it’ll also provide an opportunity for our subcontract partners in southern Alabama to build and install all components of these vessels in one location," says Birdon Group CEO Jamie Bruce. "I'm extremely grateful to Metal Shark CEO Chris Allard and his team for collaborating diligently with us, in a short period, to complete this deal."
Metal Shark's existing workforce will transfer to Birdon and will continue to execute the current order book of repair work. In the near term, Birdon plans to make significant capital outlays in the shipyard's infrastructure as a further investment in the future. This will foster job creation, accelerate technological advancement, and provide growth to the region's economy. A direct result will be the creation of 300 new jobs in the area over the next two years.
This is a fully developed shipyard fronting a dredged deepwater inlet. It includes five steel buildings for fully self-contained fabrication and construction work, with over 1,700′ of waterfront, a 660-ton Travelift, multiple cranes, and all required equipment for the construction of steel and aluminum vessels up to 300' in length and 1,500 tons launch weight. The shipyard is situated just minutes from the Intracoastal Waterway with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico.
Latest from Defense and Munitions
- Elbit Systems awarded $127 million contract to supply Iron Fist APS
- Amentum awarded $490M contract to modernize U.S. Navy’s Multi-Engine Training aircraft fleet
- INKAS' Armored RAM 1500
- IMTS 2024 Booth Tour: Tornos Technologies
- A Primer on Defense Contract Manufacturing
- The Netherlands, Belgium award BAE Systems contract for 40Mk4 naval gun systems
- Cyngn successfully completes initial deployment of DriveMod Tugger with major defense contractor
- Abaco Systems' SBC3215 high-performance, rugged single-board computer