Shipyards along the U.S. Gulf Coast have always been diversified, building and repairing everything from small inland towboats to double-hulled tankers. However, the real “bread and butter” work for many of the yards has long been generated by the oil patch. Whether it is high-speed aluminum crew boats, steel-hulled platform supply vessels or towering drill rigs, Gulf Coast yards could be counted on to build a well-designed, well-engineered vessel.

These days, however, orders for offshore vessels are spread thinner than peanut butter on white bread. Gulf Coast shipyards have had to focus their efforts on other markets, such as tugs, Articulated Tug Barges, and ferries. And, now more than ever, the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard with such programs as the Littoral Combat Ship and the Deepwater Initiative are providing an important source of new construction and refit work.

Some U.S. Gulf yards have even taken their strategy in a different direction: If the orders won’t come to us, why not move closer to the orders?

That seems to be Bender Shipbuilding’s plan. Last month, the privately held Mobile, Ala., shipbuilder confirmed that it had opened a wholly owned subsidiary, Astilleros Bender S. De R.L. De C.V., in Tampico, Mexico. Located on 125 acres on the south side of the Panuco River, the shipyard is about 10 kilometers upstream from the Gulf of Mexico and across from Tampico. The yard has 3,000 feet of river frontage and is accessed by a 28-foot deep, maintained channel.

Bender president Tom Bender said, “We are currently designing a larger drydock to be constructed at A.B. to expand our service to customers in Mexico and the region and intend to have it in operation within six months.”

Currently, the facility has a 3,000-ton lift capacity dry dock. A.B. recently completed a docking evolution and repair job for Saam Remolques S.A. De C.V. on its ship docking tug Purepecha and has bookings into July.

The Mexican yard’s management is headed up by production superintendent Eddie Newman, who has held management positions at TNG in Vera Cruz, Bender, McDermott and Gulf Island Fabricators.

NEW CONSTRUCTION PLAN
While the initial focus of Astilleros Bender will be ship repair, Bender has bigger ideas for the facility.

“We also are developing plans,” said Bender, “to build a new construction facility similar to what we have in Mobile. We intend to create a world-class ship repair and new construction facility in Tampico that will make internationally competitive services and products available to our customers.”

According to Frank Terrell Jr., Bender’s vice president, sales, the company’s initial investment in Astilleros Bender is “a little south of $10 million.” That investment could rise to $30 million to $40 million, if a new construction facility is developed on the site.

“This is something that we’ve been studying for a number of years,” said Terrell. “Finally, about three and a half years ago, the stars and planets started to align,” he said. Terrell said Bender choose Tampico because it had “many of the fundamentals we were looking for in a shipyard location, including its proximity to Mobile, a good industrial base and a well-maintained channel.”
Continued Terrell, “Right now, Mexico doesn’t have the equivalent of a Jones Act, but you don’t know what the future holds. We’ll just have to see where the market takes us.”
A.B is Bender’s first international shipyard venture, but not its first expansion. It already has a controlling interest in Tampa Shipbuilding & Repair, Inc., Tampa, Fla., and has a 30% interest in Austal USA, Mobile, Ala.

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