5 minute read
In Business: Change Order
from WorkBoat March 2022
by WorkBoat
Change Order
ABS Austal USA moves into steel construction and ship repair.
Doug Stewart
By Ken Hocke, Senior Editor
Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., has been a proli c builder of aluminum fast warships for the Navy for two decades. From its humble beginnings in the late 1990s, the yard has blossomed into a world-class shipbuilder, primarily on two Navy contracts — the 421'6"×103.7' Independence-variant littoral combat ship (LCS) and the 338'×93'×12' expeditionary fast transport (EPF) vessel.
The shipyard’s 700,000-sq.-ft. module manufacturing facility (MMF) is a modern, hyper-technological facility with a production line that produces a ship that’s 85% complete when it nishes its trip across the building.
“There’s no losing work because of weather delays here,” said Mike Bell, senior vice president of operations. “My workforce is very young, and we run a lean shipyard.”
Bell’s of ce is not on the other side of the campus in a glassed-in of ce complex right out of Silicon Valley. It’s right there in the MMF. “Anyone can come to my of ce any time to discuss whatever needs to be discussed,” said Bell. “I want the people who work here to feel they can come to me with whatever problem arises.”
Austal USA employs about 3,500 workers, many of whom would have few opportunities to make a living wage if they weren’t a part of the shipyard’s “family.” “Most of these people would have been at McDonald’s 10 years ago,” said Bell. “I’ve had them tell me, ‘I’m the rst person in any generation of my family to buy a house.’”
Bell said his workers know that if they work hard it’s going to pay off for them. But it’s become more than just a job. “They’re part of a team,” he said.
Austal USA can now off er both aluminum and steel manufacturing.
“These are their ships. They built them, and they take a lot of pride in their work. That makes a big difference.”
Once the modules leave the MMF they are transported to the vessel assembly bays using multiaxle transporters capable of lifting modules weighing over 400 tons and measuring up to 120'.
The only catch was putting ships in the water using someone else’s drydock. But having their own drydock now has solved that problem.
With the success Austal has found in the aluminum boatbuilding business and room to grow physically, the company has decided to branch out into steel manufacturing and the repair business — to catch lightning in a bottle again. And that’s exactly what shipyard of cials are doing.
STEEL PRODUCTION
Last March, Austal USA broke ground on its $100 million steel production assembly line facility right next to its aluminum MMF. Austal estimates that it will start steel production in April. The addition of steel capability is designed to keep the shipyard as a major contributor to the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.
During World War II, residents of Mobile built steel Liberty ships that were critical to the war effort. In the coming years, Austal will look to build and deliver steel ships needed by the Coast Guard and Navy.
Bell said the shipyard will bring its proven lean manufacturing processes and facility design to the steel shipbuilding market. These processes have helped deliver 24 ships to the Navy in the last nine years.
The Navy apparently has been satis ed.
The Navy awarded Austal USA a $144 million, two-ship towing, salvage, and rescue ship (T-ATS) detailed design and construction contract in October. The contract award marks the first steel new ship construction program for the shipyard.
The award follows the Navy’s $3.6
Doug Stewart
Austal’s $100 million steel module manufacturing facility is scheduled to open in April.
million T-ATS functional design contract awarded to the shipyard in June.
“We’ll be the only shipyard that can build aluminum and steel combatants,” said Bell. “I’m cutting steel April 1.”
While the shipyard can’t control steel prices, it’s close proximity to a steel mill will help keep the transportation costs down. “We’ve got a steel mill 40 miles away from us,” said Bell.
T-ATS will provide oceangoing tug, salvage and rescue capabilities to support U.S. fleet operations. T-ATS is a multimission common hull platform capable of towing heavy ships. These ships will be able to support current missions, including oil spill response, humanitarian assistance, and wide area search and surveillance. The platform also enables future capability initiatives like modular payloads with hotel services and appropriate interfaces.
The T-ATS award is one of several steel shipbuilding programs Austal USA is pursuing as it diversifies its capabilities. The company had previously submitted a bid to build the Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutter and continues to execute light amphibious warship concept studies.
Bell said Austal’s new steel line and facility expansion also positions it well to be the follow-on frigate yard for the Navy.
SHIP REPAIR
Following the acquisition of additional waterfront property along the Mobile River in 2020, Austal USA quickly established a ship repair facility that came with a 692'×122', 20,000-ton certified Panamax-class floating drydock.
“Almost immediately after word got out that Austal USA had purchased the additional waterfront property, we were inundated with calls from commercial captains looking to return to Mobile to have their ships serviced,” said Bell.
In addition to the drydock, the acquisition included 15 acres of waterfront property spanning almost 3,000 linear feet of waterfront pier space, a 300,000-sq.-ft. outside fabrication area, and 100,000 sq. ft. of covered fabrication facilities — all just 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.
Unlike the aluminum MMF and the new steel MMF under construction, the Austal West Campus repair facility is located across the Mobile River from the 165-acre corporate headquarters. It provides access to deepwater berthing for vessels up to 1,000', manufacturing capabilities that include a friction stir welder, CNC machines, CNC cutting tables, a carpenter shop, machine shop, and electrical and pipe shops. The repair facility also has heavy lifting capability with mobile cranes, overhead cranes and wing wall cranes that travel the length of the 668' (length on blocks) drydock.
The new repair facility is located on part of the old Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. property.
Harley Combs, Austal USA’s West Campus director, said the first order of business was to get the place cleaned up and organized. “We hauled so much trash out of this yard that at one time I was afraid Mike (Bell) was going to stop paying for the trucks that were hauling it all away,” said Combs. “We did all this in-house. We didn’t use any subcontractors. You won’t recognize this place when you see what we’re going to do with it.”
In the meantime, Austal USA’s repair facility is open for business.
Ken Hocke
