NASSCO Books $30M Deal

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics, received a contract from the U.S. Navy for the continuous maintenance, repair, and alterations of the five FFG-7 Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates homeported in San Diego. The contract, including the initial year and four one-year options, has an approximate value of $30 million. Advance planning activities will start immediately to support the first repair and maintenance availability for the USS Curts (FFG-38) in September 2003. If all the options are exercised, 11 ship maintenance availabilities including four drydockings will be performed over the next five years. "With this FFG-7 class frigate contract, depot level maintenance and repairs on all Navy surface ships in San Diego are now conducted under multi-ship, multi-year contracts with the major ship repair companies," said Richard Vortmann, president of NASSCO. "These long-term contracts have proven to be a win-win for the Navy and the ships' crews as well as for private industry. For the Navy, ship maintenance and maintenance planning can be performed on a continuous basis, and the lessons learned from one maintenance availability or ship alteration are applied to the next. This saves the Navy both time and money and improves fleet readiness and response. For industry, we can plan our production work and order material in a timely manner. We also establish long-term relationships with the vital subcontractors in the area who perform much of the work in their own areas of expertise and specialization," he added. In addition to the FFG-7 contract, NASSCO (www.nassco.com) has long-term maintenance contracts on all the LHA and LHD, CG-47 and DD-963 class ships homeported in San Diego. NASSCO is both a new construction and repair shipyard and is now building the second of two roll-on/roll-off trailerships and four double-hulled crude oil tankers for service to and from Alaska. In September, NASSCO will begin construction on the first of 12 new T-AKE dry cargo/ammunition ships for the U.S. Navy. The company employs approximately 3,500 people at its San Diego facility.