Northrop Grumman Gulf Coast Shipyards Return to Work

Northrop Grumman Corporation said yesterday that its Ship Systems sector has put out the call to all its shipbuilders who can return to work at its Pascagoula and New Orleans shipyards on Monday, Sept. 12, to do so.

Both yards will return to partial ship production and office work beginning Monday, Sept. 12, and clean-up and recovery efforts will continue at all sector facilities.

"I doubt there is any other workforce in the world that could reassemble these great shipyards in such a brief time -– just two weeks -- following one of the worst natural disasters to befall this nation in its history," said Philip Teel, President of Northrop Grumman Ships Systems. "These men and women of the Gulf Coast have come to work to restore their shipyards while they also rebuild their homes and communities. This is the character of the American shipbuilder and what makes America's shipyards great."

Both shipyards have restored sufficient power to their operations over the weekend to resume shipbuilding activities this week. Work will begin aboard a number of the 11 Navy and Coast Guard ships currently under construction at the Ship Systems yards Monday. Generators and shore power were moved into place over the weekend to resume work on the guided missile destroyers, amphibious assault ships, Coast Guard cutter, and oil tanker currently under construction. Ship Systems is working with its customers to phase and prioritize its shipbuilding work.

The largest manufacturing employer in Louisiana and Mississippi, Northrop Grumman had thousands of shipbuilders report to work last week to restore the shipyards, and thousands are expected to respond to the call to work Monday. The company's shipyards were impacted by Hurricane Katrina and have spent the last two weeks in facility cleanup, repair and restoration.

Partial shipbuilding work had already begun at the Pascagoula yard last week aboard two ships, the guided missile destroyer Forrest Sherman (DDG 98) and the amphibious transport dock San Antonio (LPD-17).

If employees are not able to report to work, they are instructed to contact their supervisors. During the re-opening period, employees who are not able to report to work due to personal hardship may request additional leave time.

Northrop Grumman Ship Systems includes primary operations in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss.; and in New Orleans and Tallulah, La., as well as in a network of fleet support offices in the U.S. and Japan. Northrop Grumman is one of the nation's leading full-service systems companies for the design, engineering, construction and life-cycle support of major surface ships for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and international navies.