GREAT GREATLAKES LAKESSHIPYARD SHIPYARD
Aerial view of Donjon Shipbuilding & Repair’s yard in Erie, Pa.
GREAT LAKES SHIPYARDS ARE BUSTLING
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round the Great Lakes region, shipyards are busy. The need for vessels, maintenance and retrofits, and necessary infrastructure improvements, have led to a hike in activity for some shipbuilders. But disparities in activity between shipbuilders in the region are not the difference between very little business in the sector and lots of it. Some shipyards in the region stayed busy with work throughout the pandemic and its sometimes cumbersome restrictions, others less so. Now, industry pros say, things are picking up. Rick Hammer, general manager for Erie, Pa.based Donjon Shipbuilding & Repair, said he’s seen a noticeable increase in business recently. “We have noticed an uptick,” Hammer said. “I don’t know if I’d link it to the lifting of the pandemic restrictions, but this year we have certainly got more RFQs.” Still, is it possible that the pandemic and the needs it created has in some ways helped to lift 20 Marine Log // September 2021
all boats, so to speak, in shipbuilding? Maybe, in part. Supply chain logistics, capabilities, and ownership are more relevant than ever, because of the pandemic-wrought travel restrictions that made shipping even more important. Now, there’s a new urgency to successfully deliver goods—almost like a wartime situation. That mindset doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon; governments and the public have been mobilized against the perceived threat of COVID and expectations for delivering goods are changing. It’s possible that it means steady business, long-term, for shipbuilding.
Pandemic Progress Donjon Shipbuilding & Repair’s employees expected a rather brackish business pace when the COVID pandemic hit, but were surprised by how well things worked out. “We were anticipating a rather slow year,
but we had a very successful year,” Hammer said. “Most of the work done during the start of the pandemic was based on plans and budgets from the previous year. I think the fact that commerce must continue and is needed to keep America running factored into the activity.” The trains, trucks and ships still have to deliver on time during war or pandemic, no doubt. Still, it’s not as if shipyards were immune to suffering some ill effects of the pandemic. The lockdowns did create problems resulting in delays in materials and labor, but it didn’t truly impede business, according to Hammer. “Throughout the whole process we were able to remain open and operating, because as part of the marine transport industry, the shipyard was deemed to be critical infrastructure with essential workers,” he said. The unprecedented restrictions of the pandemic were especially damaging to industries that depend upon foot traffic, and many
Photo Credit: Donjon Shipbuilding & Repair
By Jonathan Barnes, Marine Log Contributor
