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BATON ROUGE — Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards highlighted the growth of Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards through its acquisition of the shipbuilding assets of Gulf Island Fabrication in Houma, Louisiana. The deal positions Bollinger, based in Lockport, as the largest privately owned and operated domestic shipbuilder in the U.S.

“For 75 years, Bollinger Shipyards has built one of America’s best companies for comprehensive construction, repair and service of marine vessels,” Gov. Edwards said. “Through our support of the offshore oil and gas industry, barges and workboats for maritime commerce, and vital defense vessels, Louisiana’s shipbuilding industry is a global leader. We welcome the combination of Bollinger and Gulf Island shipyard strengths, and we congratulate their employees for the professionalism and skill that makes this merger an exciting new chapter for our state.”

Bollinger operates a dozen facilities offering marine repair, fabrication, new construction, engineering, machining, armature, dry dock, and sandblasting and coating services. Since 1985, Bollinger Shipyards has built 138 patrol boats for the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy, in addition to an extensive portfolio of commercial offshore energy and inland river and harbor vessels.

In acquiring the shipbuilding assets of Houston-based Gulf Island Fabrication in Houma, Bollinger will diversify its portfolio with the addition of towing, salvage and rescue ships for the U.S. Navy, as well as regional class research vessels for the National Science Foundation. The Houma site brings to Bollinger a 437-acre waterfront facility with 198,000 square feet of existing operations, fabrication and warehouse space, along with four floating dry docks.

In addition to multiple facilities in Lockport, Bollinger operates ship fabrication, repair and service sites at Algiers, Amelia, Port Fourchon, Larose, Morgan City, Harvey and Matthews. The addition of Gulf Fabrication’s shipyard assets in Houma, just 30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, will enable Bollinger Shipyards to better serve its key defense and commercial customers.