Longtime maritime industry figure Douglas Dixon, who was the former general manager and director of Pacific Fishermen Shipyard in Seattle, has died. Dixon died last week after a short battle with cancer, his friend Bill Forslund told Maritime Publishing May 4. “Unfortunately my friend Doug headed to the hospital in late March with an unknown malady and was quickly diagnosed with cancer that had spread pretty much all over his body,” Forslund said. Another friend, Nathaniel Howe, said that during his lifetime, Dixon was an “unrelenting advocate for the marine trades, both in Pacific Fishermen Shipyard and in youth outreach and workforce development.” “He was instrumental in the Ballard Maritime Academy program at Ballard High School and certainly in the Youth Maritime Training Association and its scholarship program, absorbed into…
British Columbia-based ship design, engineering, building and ship repair Seaspan announced April 25 that it has reached a significant milestone: the 30th anniversary of its Victoria Shipyard. Since its founding in 1994, the yard has grown from a team of five and one 20-foot shipping container into a major ship repair and modernization facility with an 800-person workforce. “Our workforce is the heart of our business and will always be the root of our success,” Seaspan Victoria Shipyards General Manager and Vice President Tony Winter said. “Together, we stand on the values and culture that was built 30 years ago: we continue to focus on customer relationships, quality work, timely delivery and continuous improvement.” Over the last 30 years, Seaspan Victoria Shipyards has repaired 477 vessels in the drydock, including…
Ernesto Saldivar, a civilian contractor at General Dynamics NASSCO’s San Diego-area shipyard, pled guilty in March to stealing nearly $600,000 worth of computer equipment from three U.S. Navy ships. Saldivar was one of the workers who had participated in the shipyard’s ongoing Navy ship modernization efforts. According to his plea agreement, he stole hundreds of items, such as hard drives and laptops, from declassified areas on ships undergoing maintenance between November 2022 and August 2023. Saldivar was selling the stolen items, including two hard drives containing military communications, on eBay. The affected ships included the USS Pinckney, USS Curtis Wilbur and USS Spruance, all of which are guided missile destroyers that underwent updates, repairs and maintenance at NASSCO. In his plea agreement, stated that the total aggregate value of the…
Yard infrastructure projects, facility upgrades and work on notable vessels have kept West Coast shipyards busy over the past year as they take on major jobs and expand operations. Some have purchased new cranes and expanded drydocks, others completed maintenance and repowers on historic boats and a few handled unique projects. Pacific Maritime reached out to yards to find out the latest news, notable jobs and yard improvement projects. Bay Ship and Yacht Co. The big news out of Alameda, Calif.-based Bay Ship and Yacht Co. is the change to employee ownership though an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), Bay Ship and Yacht CEO Joel Welter wrote in an email to Pacific Maritime. “This transition was initiated by BSY’s owners after they explored many options and concluded that selling to…
Under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS), Seaspan Shipyards has contributed more than $5.7 billion to Canada’s GDP through its shipbuilding and repair, refit, and maintenance activities, according to a recent socio-economic study conducted by Deloitte Canada. Additionally, Seaspan is expected to contribute an additional $20.7 billion to Canada’s GDP through 2035, according to the study, which highlights the economic benefits of rebuilding the shipbuilding industry in Canada since the NSS’s introduction in June, 2010. The results of the study were released Nov. 23 by British Columbia-based Seaspan. The National Shipbuilding Strategy is a Government of Canada program operated by the Department of Public Works and Government Services. It was developed in an effort to renew the fleets of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). Upon…
This past summer, a challenging environmental demolition project was put out for bid by Oregon’s Department of State Lands (DSL). The scrapping of an 86-foot derelict hull named Tiffany was to be a demonstration project for the agency’s new program to remove a number of the state’s larger derelict vessels. This required that the entire process meet strict standards to avoid any chance of oil or chemical spills. The contract was won by Global Diving and Salvage of Seattle, with Astoria-based WCT Marine & Construction sub-contracting the floating assets to salvage the vessel and its secure onshore location to recycle it. The proactive action was the direct result of the disastrous situation in Portland in the previous year, when the 15-year saga of two derelict military vessels over 100 feet…
Shipyards in Alaska, California and Washington were among 27 companies to receive grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration’s Small Shipyard Grant Program, which helps shipyards fund facility upgrades, raise productivity and increase job opportunities in the area, it was announced May 3. They include: Highmark Marine Fabrication, LLC of Kodiak, Alaska, which plans to use its $969,191 to buy a 120-ton rough terrain crane. Bay Ship & Yacht Co., of Alameda, Calif., which plans to use its $830,380 grant toward a 165-ton Grove GRT 9165 crane with a 205-foot boom. Driscoll, Inc. dba Driscoll Boat Works, LLC of San Diego, Calif., which is to receive $1 million to buy a 150-ton marine travelift. Marine Group Boat Works, LLC of Chula Vista, Calif., which plans to get $1,142,447…
Four Canadian maritime companies have been awarded a combined $2.6 million in contracts from Seaspan Shipyards to further digitalization and shipbuilding and fleet maintenance modernization efforts. The contracts, announced by Seaspan April 19, includes the following companies: BCS Automation, which is developing a project focused on a ship’s control and monitoring system that seeks to improve vessel design and lower a vessel’s overall life cycle cost. Gastops, which is working on a ‘digital twin’ solution to maximize ship maintenance and performance by “proactively identifying and quantifying vessel equipment performance and maintenance issues before they reach a critical stage;” and 3GA Marine and Kognitiv Spark, which are teaming up to create technology that would give users “real-time customizable digital information, enabling operators to access essential technical data in a mixed reality…
Shipyards in Alaska, California and Washington were among 27 companies to receive grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration’s Small Shipyard Grant Program, which helps shipyards fund facility upgrades, raise productivity and increase job opportunities in the area, it was announced May 3. They include: Highmark Marine Fabrication, LLC of Kodiak, Alaska, which plans to use its $969,191 to buy a 120-ton rough terrain crane. Bay Ship & Yacht Co., of Alameda, Calif., which plans to use its $830,380 grant toward a 165-ton Grove GRT 9165 crane with a 205-foot boom. Driscoll, Inc. dba Driscoll Boat Works, LLC of San Diego, Calif., which is to receive $1 million to buy a 150-ton marine travelift. Marine Group Boat Works, LLC of Chula Vista, Calif., which plans to get $1,142,447…
West Coast shipyards have been busy recently with everything from minor maintenance to major re-power projects. Some yards are also working on enhancing onshore operations and increasing their equipment’s capabilities. Pacific Maritime Magazine reached out to yards up and down the coast to find out the latest news on yard improvement and other projects. Some updates that stand out include managing double-duty operations; notable work with dual-fuel technology; challenging Tier 4 re-power jobs; the restoration of a historic wooden steamship, and installation of larger lifts and expanded drydocks. Seaspan Shipyards Seaspan, based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, has been busy, including several large commercial repair projects in 2022 at the Seaspan Vancouver Drydock, company spokesperson Ali Hounsell said via email. Over a few months, four separate cruise ships came in…
