Bath Iron Works is one of three shipbuilders in the country vying for the largest shipbuilding contract awarded by the U.S. Coast Guard to construct the first ships in a new class of offshore patrol cutters.
According to the Bangor Daily News, BIW is competing with the Lockport, La.-based Bollinger Shipyards Lockport LLC and Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc. of Panama City, Fla., for the second phase of the cutter project, which would see the winning shipyard build the first nine to 11 of the ships.
The BDN is reporting the cutters will each cost approximately $421 million to build. The Coast Guard is expected to announce which shipyard will build the vessels sometime this month.
“The [offshore patrol cutters] will be the backbone of [the] Coast Guard offshore presence and the manifestation of our at-sea authorities,” Adm. Paul F. Zukunft, commandant of the Coast Guard, wrote in a fact sheet the BDN reported. “It is essential to stopping smugglers at sea, for interdicting undocumented migrants, rescuing mariners, enforcing fisheries laws, responding to disasters and protecting our ports.”
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