VSRA News

On Tuesday, October 16th, members of the Virginia Ship Repair Association had the privilege to hear from Virginia Governor Kaine's Senior Advisor for Workforce, Mr. Danny LeBlanc.  Under Governor Kaine's leadership, the Commonwealth has restructured workforce development.  He tapped Mr. LeBlanc to be his chief action official to spearhead the state's efforts in this critical area.

Mr. LeBlanc set the stage by describing the current and pending crisis industry faces in attracting and retaining qulified stilled workers with the inpending retirements of the "baby boomers".  The Governor will focus on community colleges, as well as a new technical diploma that will be incorporated in the state's high schools.

Please view Mr. LeBlanc's presentation of the Governor's Strategic Approach to Workforce Development and learn more about his innovative approach.  Of note, VSRA is actively working with the Virginia Board of Education as they develop the curriculum for the new technical and advanced technical diplomas.  We must insure they are designed to meet our industry's workforce development requirements for the future.

By STEVE STONE, The Virginian-Pilot
© November 12, 2007 | Last updated 6:12 PM Nov. 12

VIRGINIA BEACH

The Intracoastal Waterway is clear today and officials have begun an inquiry they hope will explain how a huge piece of debris ended up in the channel.

The first question: Just what the heck is the massive, whale-shaped bundle of wood pulled from the waterway?

It is suspected of damaging the cruise ship Spirit of Nantucket on Thursday, forcing its captain to ground the vessel to prevent it from sinking.

"I've never seen anything like it, and I've seen everything there is to see on the waterfront," said Bob Crofton, president of the company that raised it. "I think it was built by aliens."

While it is likely of more Earthly origin, it is a perplexing sight - huge and likely quite old.

It measures 40 feet in length and is 7 to 8 feet tall, and is about 13 feet wide. Crofton estimates it weighs 30 to 40 tons.

It appears to be fashioned mostly of solid timber and has the remnants of metal plates and spikes in it.

Worms have left artistic channels on its surfaces, and other marine life appears to have made it a home.

Boaters stared as they sailed past the hunk resting on a barge at Crofton's Portsmouth facility near the Midtown Tunnel along Scott's Creek.

Crew from the Nantucket also came by to see it.

"It looks like a section of an old, very old, blockade chain that was used to prevent entry of vessels into rivers or bays," said Tom Ruszala, director of nautical operations for Cruise West, the company that operates the Nantucket.

It has several wooden posts sticking out of what used to be its top. They look as if they might once have been bollards used as mooring lines for ships.

The mass curves to a point, or bow, at one end to further enhance the nautical mystery.

Attesting to its age, the 7-foot spikes driven through its width - once presumably flush with the wooden surface - now protrude several inches from the rotted mass.

Crofton shook his head. He has no idea what he is going to do to dispose of it.

"You can't sink it, it will just float back up. And you can't cut it with chain saws," he said.

Whatever it is, now that it is out of the water, the Coast Guard has lifted restrictions on vessels in the area where it was found, a few miles north of the Pungo Ferry Bridge.

A survey team from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains the waterway, used sonar to locate the debris Thursday. The corps then hired Crofton Industries to remove it.

Divers and workers spent much of Saturday trying to lift it, and just after 9:30 p.m., a crane was able to load it aboard the barge.

Within minutes of moving it out of the area, corps personnel surveyed the waterway and confirmed that the draft, which had been reduced to 7-1/2 feet, was back to the minimum of 12 feet in the area.

Col. Dan Anninos, the corps' Norfolk District commander, praised Crofton's fast work clearing the busy channel that is especially popular with recreational boaters. It runs for 1,090 miles from Norfolk to Miami.

Finding the source of the debris may prove "tough," said Terry A. McCann, a corps spokesman.

He said investigators will examine it for evidence of where it came from, but that may be lacking.

"We'll see what the object tells us," he said.

The corps also will question people who work daily along the waterway.

For instance, "we are checking with the operators at the Great Bridge Locks to see if they will recognize the object as something that came through there," McCann said. "It may have been on a barge."

He said anyone with information about the object can call the corps.

McCann said the incident underscores the importance of mariners alerting authorities about obstacles so they can be marked and removed.

"It's the responsibility of mariners, whether they see something, hit something or if they have lost something in the water that may be an obstruction, to notify authorities," McCann said.

The corps estimates that locating and removing the debris will cost about $50,000 - an expense that could fall to whoever is responsible for dropping it in the channel, if that's how it got there.

As for the Nantucket, it has been moved to Colonna's Shipyard in Norfolk for repairs.

There has been no estimate from the vessel's owners, Seattle-based Cruise West, on the cost to fix the damage - a foot long, 2-inch-wide gash in its hull and rudder damage.

None of the 66 passengers or crew aboard was hurt in the incident, which occurred as the vessel was on a 10-day cruise from Alexandria to Charleston, S.C.

Steve Stone, (757) 446-2309, steve.stone@pilotonline.com

TO HELP
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asks that anyone with information about the object pulled from the Intracoastal Waterway to call them at (757) 201-7606.

By JON W. GLASS, The Virginian-Pilot
© October 24, 2007

PORTSMOUTH

In spring 2005, on his way up the coast, John S. Johnson motored his 38-foot Express Cruiser to Ocean Marine Yacht Center for emergency repairs to its hull and propellers.

The Connecticut resident, in the yacht repair business himself, recalls being impressed with the center's quality of service and the nearby downtown waterfront scene.

On Tuesday, Johnson was back in town, this time on official business - as one of Ocean Marine's new owners.

Johnson, chief executive officer of James River Ventures, a New England investment consortium, said the group has acquired the 19.5-acre megayacht repair center and 122-slip marina from Norfolk ship repairer Marine Hydraulics International Inc.

"It was love at first sight," said Johnson, who helped found Brewer Yacht Yards, a chain of boat service centers in New England.

Johnson is a controlling partner of the investment group along with Jim Mattingly, another marine industry veteran who was part of businessman Ted Turner's winning team in the 1977 America's Cup race.

The new owners have ambitious plans for Ocean Marine. They intend to spend $1 million on a riverfront welcome center, a new ship's store and landscaping.

They hope to draw luxury yacht owners from as far away as Europe, aiming to triple the facility's annual revenue to $30 million within three years, Johnson said.

If things really go well, the venture wants to buy an adjacent 2.5-acre waterfront parcel from the city - the so-called North Pier - and build a mixed-use high-rise development featuring restaurants, shops, offices and apartments.

"We're not in this for a real-estate deal," Mattingly said. "We're in this for making a major impact in the yachting community. We want to make this a destination spot for every yachter to come to."

The owners have entered into a "handshake" agreement with Colonna Yachts, a division of Norfolk ship repairer Colonna's Shipyard. The goal is to expand their reach in the mega-yacht service market.

Tom Godfrey Jr., president and CEO of Colonna's, described the agreement as an arrangement to share equipment and employees. Both companies have capabilities the other lacks, and together should be able to attract more megayacht business to Hampton Roads, he said.

Neither the new owners of Ocean Marine nor Marine Hydraulics, known as MHI, would disclose the purchase price. The sale involved a stock buyout of the center's existing shareholders, Johnson said.

When it opened six years ago, MHI officials said developing the Elizabeth River facility cost $23.5 million.

Located just south of City Hall less than a half-mile from the start of the busy Intracoastal Waterway, the center is equipped with twin service bays capable of handling yachts up to 240 feet long, a dry storage shed for up to 322 boats and two lifts for hauling yachts from the water, including a 1,250-ton Synchro Lift.

It had operated as a subsidiary of MHI, giving the company a way to diversify beyond its primary business of servicing Navy warships.

Gary Brandt, MHI's president and CEO, said that Johnson and Mattingly approached him in June about buying the facility. Brandt said the center had not drawn as much business as initially hoped, but it was making money and was not on the market.

The sale will allow MHI to concentrate on its core ship repair business, Brandt said, at a time when the company is in merger discussions with Tecnico Corp., a Chesapeake marine repair company.

Brandt said he expects the merger to occur by the end of the year, resulting in a company of 900 employees - double the size of either company. Revenue from the Ocean Marine sale, he said, will help finance MHI's bid to expand into the commercial ship repair market and increase its share of Navy business.

As part of that effort, MHI spent $21 million to build a pier at its West Ghent shipyard in 2004 and expects to lay out another $40 million to add a dry dock by 2009.

"It's a good deal for us," Brandt said. "The timing is right, and it allows us to focus on the work we do in the shipyard."

At Ocean Marine, Johnson said the new owners will bring in their own five- to eight-member management team, and that the current president, Jim Bento, will be replaced. Plans call for retaining the yacht center's existing force of about 50 skilled workers.

Bento, whose shares in the business were sold under the deal, declined to comment.

Jon W. Glass, (757) 446-2318, jon.glass@pilotonline.com

By JON W. GLASS, The Virginian-Pilot
© October 19, 2007 | Last updated 8:31 PM Oct. 18

NORFOLK

In a move to expand its business, ship repairer Marine Hydraulics International Inc. has added a $4 million steel-fabrication facility to its Campostella headquarters.

The 18,000-square-foot shop is designed to turn raw steel plates into parts to repair and modernize ocean going ships.

It is part of a long-term strategy by the company, known as MHI, to tap into the potentially lucrative commercial ship-repair market and to improve service to the Navy, its biggest customer, its executives said Thursday.

"This is going to open up new markets for us," said Gary Brandt, MHI's president and chief executive officer. "It increases our capability and our efficiency and will ultimately result in lower costs to our customers."

Brandt said the facility will operate as a division of the ship repair company. It will handle MHI's steel-fabrication work on Navy and other jobs but will also attempt to drum up its own business from other companies.

"It's going to be a separate profit center," he said.

With about 425 workers, the employee-owned company is one of the region's largest ship repair firms, and it has been moving aggressively to grow even larger.

Several years ago, MHI shifted its shipyard operations from a small Campostella yard to a deep-water facility in West Ghent, on the Elizabeth River near the Midtown Tunnel. The company built a 1,220-foot-long pier for $21 million there in 2004 and expects to spend $35 million more to add a dry dock by late 2009.

Last year, MHI sold the Campostella yard, which could not accommodate large Navy ships, to consolidate its operations, said Tom Epley, MHI's senior executive vice president and chief operating officer. The yard was sold to Joe Woodington, who operates W3 Shipyards LLC there.

MHI's steel-fabrication plant replaces an antiquated facility at its former yard, Epley said. On Thursday, the company held a ribbon cutting for the new facility, inviting city officials, business VIPs and employees.

The metal building is equipped with an overhead bridge crane that moves on tracks and is capable of lifting 15 tons. It also features separate self-contained enclosures to sand-blast and paint steel parts, designed to capture and filter pollutants. The old open-air facility was wrapped in tarp on the ends.

The new building also has a heated floor. "We'll be able to blast and paint day or night in all conditions," Epley said.

Company officials said the facility should be fully operational in about three months, after the installation of automated equipment capable of bending, pressing, cutting and punching 10-foot-wide by 40-foot-long steel sheets.

Jon W. Glass, (757) 446-2318, jon.glass@pilotonline.com

• Sensor Torch Based Adaptive Intelligent System for Circumferential Welding of Pipe,YuMing Zhang, Adaptive Intelligent Systems LLC
• Induction Brazing Equipment for Shipbuilding Applications, Tom Brown, EFD Induction Inc.
• Introduction of Terac - Fairing with Induction, Mark Wells, EFD Induction A.S., Norway
• Single-Pass GMAW of Pipe Socket Welds, Michael Ludwig, General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works
• Orbital Pipe Welding Today: An Overview, Kenneth J. LeDuc, Magnatech Limited Partnership
• Tandem Gas Metal Arc Welding for Out-of-Position High-Strength Steel Erection Joints, Nancy C. Porter, Edison Welding Institute
• Development of a Large Tee Welder, Michael Ludwig, General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works
• Hybrid Laser-Arc Welding of Pipe & Thin Steel Panel Structures, Dr. Shawn Kelly, Penn State University
• FSW for Naval Shipbuilding, Maria Posada, Naval Surface Warfare Center
• Tandem MAG, Lars-Erik Stridh, ESAB AB, Sweden
• Independent Control of Melting Speed & Base Metal Current Using Double-Electrode GMAW, YuMing Zhang, University of Kentucky
• Transient Thermal Tensioning to Control Buckling Distortion, Randal M. Dull, P.E., Edison Welding Institute
• High Speed Tandem SAW, Nancy C. Porter, Edison Welding Institute
• Development of a CR-Free Consumable for Joining Austenitic Stainless Steels, Dr. Brian Alexandrov, The Ohio State University
• The Use of Portable XRF for Rapid Alloy Verification and Analysis, Bree Allen, Thermo Scientific NITON Analyzers LLC
• Impact of the New OSHA Hexavalent Chromium Standard, Susan R. Fiore, Edison Welding Institute
• Evaluation of Modeling & Simulation Software for Multi-Pass Welded Structures, Garrett Sonnenberg, Northrop Grumman

OSHA has issued new guidance to help employers select and use the appropriate slings when handling and moving materials.

"OSHA's current general industry standard is more than 30 years old," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Edwin G. Foulke, Jr. "This guidance document will aid users in the safe selection and use of slings, including synthetic round slings, which are not covered in OSHA's standard, as well as the newer grades of materials being used in alloy steel chain and wire rope slings."

OSHA adopted its general industry sling standard on June 27, 1975, based on ANSI B30.9-1971 Slings standard. OSHA has since made only minor corrections. OSHA issued its construction industry sling standard on February 9, 1979, and its sling standard for shipyards on April 20, 1982.

Improper selection or use of slings can result in sling failure or load slippage, which in turn can lead to injuries or death. OSHA accident data for the years 1994 to 1996 show that there were four fatalities in general industry involving the misuse or failure of slings.

For more information, visit the OSHA Web site by clicking on the link, Guidance on Safe Sling Use.

The Virginia Ship Repair Association, in partnership with the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, is organizing an important seminar on the environment.  "Environmental Stewardship: The Leadership Role of Businesses" will take place at the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and Conference Center on Wednesday, September 26th, from 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM.

VSRA members BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair and Earl Industries, both leaders in their environmental programs in the ship repair industry, particularly in their successes in cleaning up the Elizabeth River, will be participating.  Another leading manufacturing company with environmental success stories, Stihl, will participate.

Please review the Environmental Stewardship flyer for more details on this important and timely seminar.  The Environmental Stewardship Seminar Agenda can also be viewed to see what will be addressed in the half day semiar.  To sign up for the seminar, go to the Environmental Stewardship Registration Page.