Erie Shipbuilding LLC's facilities (foreground) include a 1,250-ft.-long dry dock and a 4,000-ft.-long pier.

Three views of Joyce L. VanEkenvort, a tug, and Great Lakes Trader, a barge, joined by the Hydraconn coupler system.

After decades of starts and stops, shipbuilding is returning to Erie, Pa., with the launch of Erie Shipbuilding LLC. The company started operations in October 2005, and promises work and the need for welders and welding equipment in the future.

Dirk VanEnkevort, president and director of operations, and John Chapman, vice president and director of engineering, run the company. They say they are dedicated to the advancement of shipbuilding design and fabrication, and that will mean installing new equipment to make the company competitive.

Erie Shipbuilding has begun to hire. As of late December 2005, the company had about 30 employees, and it expects to have 200 employees, including nearly 25 welders, by the end of this year. The company's plan calls for hiring employees as its business increases, Chapman says, adding that he intends to work with local schools, agencies and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) to find qualified welders. Welders at Erie Shipbuilding will have to be certified by the ABS. Chapman says the company also intends to interview former employees of a ship repair company that previously operated at the shipyard.

The work
VanEnkevort, who is also president of VanEnkevort Tug & Barge and All Purpose Marine Products Inc. (www.apmp.com), says that the new shipyard at first will keep busy with work from his existing companies. "We have a book of our own work that will keep us going for a couple of years," he says. The company is plans to convert existing Great Lakes steamers to articulated tug-barges (ATBs). The first project will be the conversion of the Great Lakes steamer Buckeye into a 780-ft.-long, selfunloading, notched-stern barge, and to add a connector system and raised pilot house to a tug boat — the Olive L. Moore. When connected, the tug and barge combination will create the shipyard's first articulated tug-barge.

Conversions are labor intensive, and do not lend themselves to assembly-line production because the mid-section of the ship, which usually requires a large amount of repetitive work, is not involved, says Chapman. Converting a ship into a barge requires removing the stern, steam turbine engines and primary structures, and replacing them with a V-notched stern section to fit the bow of the tug boats. The pilot house on a tug is raised to let pilots see over the barge, and a coupling system is used to hitch and unhitch the tug and barge. Such conversions are the first projects planned for Erie Shipbuilding, and, says Chapman, such conversions have advantages for the new company.

The facility and equipment
"New vessels are about a year out. We have about a year to build our staff, equipment and facilities for doing the work, and becoming as efficient as possible before we start a new-build," Chapman says.

The Erie shipyard is on a 44-acre site with a 1,250-ft.-long dry dock, one of the largest on the Great Lakes. It has a 4,000-ft.-long pier, and a facility with more than 200,000 square feet of production space. "It's a beautiful facility," says Chapman. The shipyard does not have the equipment Erie Shipbuilding needs to build ships, except for overhead cranes. By starting with ship conversions rather than new vessels, the new company will be able to gain experience as it builds its workforce, Chapman says. The shipyard previously was operated by Ingalls Shipbuilding and Litton Industries but the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority purchased the bayfront land and property from Litton in 1974. Later, the facility housed Erie Marine Enterprises, a ship-repair company, and Metro Machine Corp., which provided ship repair and conversion services.

The company is working with a local company, Welders' Supply Co. (www.welderssupplyonline.com), to find welding equipment to meet its immediate and future needs for ship-related work and for large fabrication projects that it hopes to do in the future. Chapman and VanEnkevort point out that the shipyard it has leased has room to grow.

Shipbuilding in Erie, Pa., dates back to the War of 1812, when the fleet that carried Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry and his sailors to victory in the Battle for Lake Erie in 1813 was built in Erie's Presque Bay.