Reps. Fitzpatrick, Perry, Smucker pledge to fight for new federal shipbuilding work at Philly Shipyard

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01), Scott Perry (R-PA-10) and Lloyd Smucker (R-PA-11) recently toured the Philly Shipyard and pledged to redouble their efforts to secure new federal shipbuilding work for Pennsylvania workers.

The lawmakers also received a briefing on the future of the shipyard from Philly Shipyard CEO Steinar Nerbovik.

“The Philly Shipyard represents enormous economic opportunity for residents and enterprises in the Greater Philadelphia region,” Rep. Fitzpatrick said. “I was proud to join Congressmen Perry and Smucker to express our joint support for obtaining work for the Philly Shipyard to bring new jobs to Pennsylvania.”

Philly Shipyard plans to compete for the opportunity to construct a new fleet of six maritime training ships for the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD).

MARAD plans to replace its entire fleet of training ships with a fleet of six new National Security Multi-Mission Vessels, which will perform training and support disaster relief and humanitarian. The selection of the yard to build the ships is expected in the fall of this year.

“This work will secure the future of Philly Shipyard,” Nerbovik said. “Imagine this great facility back to full capacity, with more than 1,200 workers on the job making state of the art ships for the U.S. government. It will be an engine of growth for the entire region.”

The shipyard is one of the country’s leading builders of commercial Jones Act ships. For the majority of the last 20 years, it has specialized in private sector ship construction with 30 vessel deliveries, representing approximately 50 percent of all U.S. large commercial vessels built in the United States since 2003.