C&C Marine and Repair increases indoor fabrication facilities

Recent towboat deliveries by C&C Marine and Repair include the Paula M. Sperry, seen here alongside the yard

Belle Chasse, La., based C&C Marine and Repair has acquired a 35,000-square-foot fabrication building from Versabar Inc. following the expiration of a leaseback provision in a 2018 purchase agreement between the companies.

The new fabrication bay brings the company’s total, under-roof, indoor fabrication facilities to 540,000 square feet. The new facility has four 40-ton overhead gantry cranes, equipped with 10-ton auxiliary cranes. The shipbuilder will utilize the new building for new construction projects.

“We will make some minor modifications to the building, but otherwise we should be able to start vessel fabricating by June 2020,” says Tony Cibilich, owner of C&C Marine and Repair.

This latest expansion to the Belle Chasse shipyard follows the completion of a new 6,600-square-foot pipe blasting shop, back in March 2020.

“We were able to increase the footprint of an existing fabrication building by extending the slab and adding a lean-to. We outfitted the space with a Viking Automatic Pipe Blasting machine and an Automatic Pipe Fitting Blasting machine,” says Matthew Dobson, who oversaw the project for C&C Marine and Repair.

The new facility measures 120 by 55 feet and is under-roof. The machines can blast pipe between 1 inch and 12 inches in diameter.

The new facility allows C&C Marine and Repair more flexibility with its production schedule by blasting and painting the pipe and fittings in-house.

The recent expansion and improvements to the shipyard have been made to accommodate a growing pipeline of projects. Through the first quarter of 2020, the company has completed production of a 6,600 hp (triple-Z drive) towboat, a 2,600 hp towboat, two deck barges, a spud barge, and two 30,000 bbl tank barges. By the end of the second quarter, C&C Marine will have completed and delivered a second 2,600 hp towboat, another deck barge, and a 2,000 hp diesel-electric cutterhead suction dredge, in addition to multiple projects in various stages of construction.

“We have been fortunate to remain busy during the coronavirus pandemic,” says Cibilich. “C&C Marine and Repair has had to implement new policies and make changes to our facilities to adapt to the impact of COVID-19, but there has been little impact to our production schedule. The new fabrication building will help with our current production, while providing the additional capacity for new jobs.”