Could “Pirates of the Caribbean’s” Jack Sparrow’s recent resurrection be responsible for a resurrection of sorts in Maryland shipbuilding?
Two Baltimore harbor events Saturday? the maiden voyage of a coastal cruise liner built by Salisbury’s Chesapeake Shipbuilding Co. and the christening of a tug-barge by Baltimore’s Vane Brothers Co. ? may be rekindling a once-vibrant Maryland tradition now as cold as Davy Jones’ Locker.
“Baltimore Maritime Industrial Park shipyard at Sparrows Point has a subcontractor there that is building a tug-barge,” Derick Lynch, president of Baltimore’s General Ship Repair Corp., said of another articulated tug-barge, the 521-foot “Freeport/Chemical Transporter,” being built by U.S. Shipping Partners LP. It will be launched this year.
“But only those two [Chesapeake Shipbuilding Co. and U.S. Shipping Partners LP] remain for new construction,” Lynch added. “They were building a lot more vessels back in the area’s heyday, and…building very large vessels and at the same time.”
But U.S. Shipping Partners LP is a New Jersey company whose coastal petroleum-hauling vessels are built by the bid-winning shipyard. And the Vane Brothers Co.’s ATB ? the 600-foot “Brandywine/DS-141” ? was built entirely in Wisconsin.
That really only leaves Chesapeake Shipbuilding Co. as the sole shipbuilder in a state that once was the second-leading shipbuilding region in the nation.
“It’s the fourth vessel for American Cruise Lines [built by Chesapeake Shipbuilding Co.],” said Chesapeake Shipbuilding Co. president Tony Severn of the 220-foot “American Star,” now in Baltimore.
Severn has been with the shipbuilder since its migration from Maine “for a better climate” to the Eastern Shore in 1981 and says the 11-acre, 50-75-employee shipyard can build 1-3 vessels per year, depending on size.
The company is currently under contract for another pocket liner for Connecticut-based American Cruise Lines, and is also building a six-car ferry for the state of Delaware and two tug boats for other clients.
