Austal USA Recovers Quickly After Hurricane Katrina

On August 29, as Austal USA was approximately two months from completion of its Northern Expansion, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the North-Central Gulf Coast causing severe damage to infrastructure and agriculture in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. On August 30, a small contingent of Austal employees arrived to begin the cleanup efforts after the storm.

Since Austal's existing manufacturing facility was designed to withstand the elements of a Category 4 hurricane, the damage incurred was minor. The storm surge came over the construction floor, which is designed to flood, by about two feet. Power was not restored to the facility until Thursday and, unfortunately, several of Austal employees and their families incurred damage to their homes and personal property. As a result, it was decided that the facility would remain closed until Tuesday, September 6. Full operations resumed at that time and, as of Wednesday, September 7, 95% of staff had returned to work on a full-time basis.

The new construction facility, in which Austal plans to build the US Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), sustained minor wind damage and the building contractor was operating with a reduced crew until Wednesday, September 7, when they returned with a full production force. This new facility consists of two large bays or 16,480 total square-metres under a common roof for module fabrication/erection and component storage, surrounded by two mezzanine levels for shop space, material storage, and small assembly fabrication; two additional launch aprons in front of each bay; a combined wharf (bulkhead) length of 238 metres; and additional overhead cranes capable of lifting 80-tonne modules in each bay.

The other portion of the expansion is a two-story, 1,951 square-metre administration building which will be complete around Christmas. The Northern Expansion will accommodate a total workforce of up to 700 personnel, almost double Austal's current US workforce.

Austal's Mobile, Alabama, operation has been recognized this year on both the State and local level as "Manufacturer of the Year". It is currently building a 108 metre high-speed vehicle-passenger ferry for a new US operation. Upon completion, this vessel will completely fill the existing shipbuilding shed in which it is being built.

Austal, as a part of a team headed by General Dynamics, is looking forward to receiving word from the US Navy to begin building the much anticipated LCS later this fall. The team's design for the LCS is based on Austal's innovative 128 metre high-speed aluminium trimaran hullform that enables the ship to reach sustainable speeds of nearly 50 knots, and range as far as 10,000 nautical miles, with an unmatched interior volume and payload for vessels of this size.

ENDS