Metal Shark Boats

US Coast Guard boats built by Metal Shark

Metal Shark Boats is a builder of aluminum vessels that operates shipyards in Jeanerette and Franklin, Louisiana.[1]

The company was founded as Gravois Aluminum Boats in 1986, building primarily small recreational vessels, but as sales declined Gravois incorporated Metal Shark in 2005 with the goal of attracting governmental and commercial clients.[2][3] The company operated out of its Jeanerette facility, building boats up to 60 feet (18 m) in length primarily for government agencies, notably a $192 million contract for almost 500 small response boats for the United States Coast Guard.[4] In January 2014, Metal Shark announced that it had purchased a 25 acres (0.10 km2) site in Franklin, Louisiana on the Charenton Bypass Canal and planned to establish a second shipyard there with the capacity to construct vessels up to 250 feet (76 m) in length; the facility opened in July.[5] In December 2014, Metal Shark reached an agreement with the Damen Group to market and build Damen-designed ships.[6] As of 2016, Metal Shark had built about a thousand vessels for operators around the world.[7]

Metal Shark won the $54 million contract to build 13 Defiant class patrol vessels, under the supervision of the US Navy, intended to be given the USA's Caribbean neighbours.[8][9][10] The class of vessels is based on the Damen Stan 2606 design -- the same design nearby rival Bollinger shipyards used for the US Coast Guard's very successful Marine Protector class of cutters.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Walter Pierce (2017-05-17). "SEE-worthy". Business News. Retrieved 2018-06-15. Privately held, Metal Shark keeps its revenue figures close to the vest. Stickles declined to say what revenue is, but certainly Metal Shark would fall within ABiz’s annual list of the Top 50 Private Companies in Acadiana. Yet the company had humble beginnings as Gravois Aluminum Boats in the mid 1980s.
  2. ↑ "Metal Shark Boats Gets Louisiana Governor's Award". Marine Link. June 6, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  3. ↑ "About Us". Metal Shark Boats. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  4. ↑ "Metal Shark announces expansion plans". Workboat. March 19, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Metal Shark opens new Louisiana shipyard". Workboat. July 30, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Metal Shark to Build Damen Designs". Marine Link. December 5, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  7. ↑ "MN100: Metal Shark Boats". Marine Link. August 24, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Defiant 80-85" (PDF). Metal Shark. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  9. ↑ "Damen, Metal Shark partner for NCPVs". Maritime Security. 2017-07-14. Retrieved 2018-07-07. Under the terms of the FMS, Metal Shark is building up to 13,85ft Defiant class welded aluminium cutters for the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala and other US partner nations.
  10. ↑ "Defiant 80-85 brochure" (PDF). Metal Shark. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  11. ↑ Chuck Hill (2018-06-23). "Metal Shark Builds WPBs for FMS". Chuck Hill's blog. Retrieved 2018-04-03. The Metal Shark boats are a version of Damen’s Stan Patrol 2606 design, so nominally 26 meters long and 6 meters of beam, but according to the Website, 87′ length overall with a beam of 19’6″. The Marine Protector Class were also a Damen 2600 series design, so the two classes share a great deal of DNA.
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