"This is a difficult but necessary decision," says Mike Petters, president and CEO of HII, a builder of shipS for the US Navy and Coast Guard and provider of after-market services for military ships worldwide.
"Due to the reduction in the Zumwalt-class (DDG 1000) ship construction and the recent US Navy decision to use steel products on Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002), there is both limited and declining Navy use for composite products from the Gulfport Facility."
| We are working closely with our Navy customer to efficiently complete our composite work on Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) and the mast of Portland (LPD 27) by the end of the first quarter 2014. |
| Irwin F. Edenzon, president, Ingalls Shipbuilding |
Current work being performed at Gulfport is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2014.
Closure is expected by May 2014.
"Ingalls Shipbuilding continues to perform well in building the composite products for the Zumwalt-class (DDG 1000) programme and has demonstrated considerable learning curve improvements," reports Irwin F. Edenzon, HII corporate vice president and president of Ingalls Shipbuilding.
In connection with the closure, HII expects to 427 employees to be effected, either through headcount reductions or transfers, and to incur total costs of approximately $59 million.
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