New VT Halter Marine dry dock is open for business

NOVEMBER 6, 2013 — VT Halter Marine Inc. reports that its newest facility, a 12,000 MT floating dry dock, is now open for business and already has its first customers.

“VT Halter Marine is pleased to announce the start of repair operations, making this facility a one stop solution for our customers,” said VT Halter Marine CEO Bill Skinner.

The dock, measuring 546 ft in length, 105 ft in breadth and with a depth of 46 ft, is part of an overall expansion plan at VT Halter Marine’s south shipyard in Pascagoula, MS, where the company is adding a repair facility for semi-submersible drilling rigs and Panamax-size ships.

The addition of the floating dry dock will allow the company to grow into the ship repair business and start a new stream of revenue additional to its existing newbuild business.

The dock will not only establish VT Halter Marine as a repair facility but also add to U.S. Gulf Coast regional ship repair capability, as it will be the newest addition to any existing repair facility in the region.

VT Halter Marine says it can now service not only the repair needs of its existing newbuild customers, but will also expand its repair capabilities to new customers and most likely more than double its customer base for ship r epair business.

The company will thus have a similar business model to its counterpart in Singapore, ST Marine, having both newbuild and repair capabilities.

VT Halter Marine expects to create as many as 400 new jobs with the development of this new facility.