BAE To Close Shipyard In Mobile, Ala.

BAE Systems Inc., with its United States headquarters located in Arlington, Va., announced around the first of March the immediate cessation of ship repair operations at its Mobile, Ala., shipyard, with activity at the yard to come to a total halt by June.

In all, 155 out of 170 employees at the shipyard will be laid off as a result, with a small caretaker staff to remain on site after the June closure, said Karl D. Johnson, director of communications, platforms and services for BAE Systems Ship Repair.

Johnson said the shipyard is in the middle of a new-build project, which should wrap up later this spring. He attributed the closure to the years-long downturn in the offshore oil and gas industry.

“The primary business of our Mobile yard is the repair of vessels that service the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas industry,” Johnson said. “That business has been in a prolonged downturn for several years.”

BAE acquired the Mobile shipyard in 2010. The yard was formerly operated by Atlantic Marine.

BAE operates four other shipyards in Norfolk, Va.; Jacksonville, Fla.; San Diego, Calif.; and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with a total of 3,000 employees at those facilities.