Austal USA hosts Senator Roger Wicker
MOBILE, Ala. – Austal USA welcomed U.S. Senator for Mississippi Roger Wicker to the company’s Mobile, Ala. shipyard today. While onsite, Senator Wicker, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, toured the shipyard’s steel and aluminum manufacturing facilities and viewed the site of Austal USA’s current expansion project. Senator Wicker also reviewed the company’s diverse portfolio of new construction, submarine component, ship repair, and additive manufacturing programs.
Austal USA senior leadership briefed Senator Wicker, a longtime proponent of U.S. shipbuilding, on the company’s high-tech steel shipbuilding production line as well as on Austal USA’s plans for a 65-acre structural expansion south of the existing facility, a $300 million infrastructure investment. He toured the company’s highly automated 170,000 square-foot steel panel line where construction is ongoing on two U.S. Navy towing, salvage and rescue vessels and a Navy dry dock. The panel line houses the latest state-of-the-art computerized and robotic steel processing equipment capable of handling the current and future demands of the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy, including the modular construction of the Coast Guard’s Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) and the Navy’s TAGOS-25 ocean surveillance ships.
“We were excited to have Senator Wicker take time out of his busy schedule to visit with us today. As we showed him around our facility, he saw the pride and commitment of our talented workforce to providing high-quality ships to defend our nation,” stated Austal USA President Rusty Murdaugh. “We have provided our dedicated team of shipbuilders with a state-of-the-art facility which has proven a successful combination in building and delivering ship after ship on-time and on-budget.”
Austal USA has delivered 30 ships to the Navy since 2009 and has eight ships from five different programs currently under construction. The company is investing in a major expansion to increase capacity to support surface ship and submarine module production in Mobile and has established ship service facilities in Mobile, Ala., San Diego, Calif., and Singapore.
