Birdon Acquires Metal Shark's Bayou La Batre Shipyard
Australia's Birdon Group announced its U.S. subsidiary has reached a deal to acquire Metal Shark Boats' shipyard in Bayou La Batre, Ala.
Birdon America said it will utilize the 32-acre facility for vessel repair work as well as newbuild activity, including construction of the U.S. Coast Guard's $1.187 billion 27-vessel Waterways Commerce Cutter (WCC) Program awarded to Birdon in 2022.
Birdon Group CEO, Jamie Bruce, said, “The investment in this facility will not only ensure we deliver on our promise to the U.S. Coast Guard, but it will also provide an opportunity for our subcontract partners in southern Alabama to build and install all components of these vessels in one location.”
“I am extremely grateful to Metal Shark CEO Christopher Allard and his team for collaborating diligently with us, in a short period, to complete this deal,” he added.
Allard told MarineLink that Birdon approached Metal Shark about acquiring the Alabama yard late last year. "They put forth an offer that made good business sense for us and provided long-term opportunities for the Metal Shark Alabama family," he said. "I have known Jamie and the team at Birdon for over a decade and have found them to be honest, good people."
The fully developed shipyard, picked up by Metal Shark through its acquisition of Horizon Shipbuilding in 2018, is situated near the Intracoastal Waterway with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico. It includes five steel buildings for fully self-contained fabrication and construction work, with over 1,700 feet of waterfront, a 660-ton Travelift, multiple cranes and all required equipment for the construction of steel and aluminum vessels up to 300 feet in length and 1,500 tons launch weight.
The yard’s existing workforce will transfer to Birdon and will continue to execute the current order book of repair work, the company said.
In the near term, Birdon said it plans to make significant capital outlays in the shipyard’s infrastructure, resulting in the creation of 300 new local jobs over the next two years.
Allard said Metal Shark will keep a piece of the Bayou La Batre property for continued execution of trainings, trials and autonomy testing. The company will also continue to own and operate its shipyards in Jeanerette and Franklin, La.
"This move will allow us to refocus our energies on our core business, the design and construction of manned and autonomous aluminum vessels," Allard said. "We are aggressively recruiting at both of our Louisiana facilities to grow our team. This will allow us to better serve our customers across our entire range of domestic and foreign military, law enforcement, fire rescue and commercial markets."