Belle Chasse, La.-based C&C Marine and Repair has purchased a 35,000-sq.-ft. fabrication building from Versabar Inc. The new fabrication bay brings C&C Marine's total covered indoor fabrication facilities to 540,000 sq. ft. The new facility has four 40-ton overhead gantry cranes, and is also equipped with 10-ton auxiliary cranes.
C&C Marine took possession of the building from Versabar following the expiration of a lease back provision in the 2018 purchase agreement between the two parties. The shipyard will utilize the new building for new construction projects.
“We will make some minor modifications to the building, but otherwise we should be able to start vessel fabricating by June 2020,” Tony Cibilich, owner of C&C Marine, said in a statement announcing the purchase.
This shipyard expansion follows the completion of the company’s new 6,600 sq. ft. pipe blasting shop, back in March 2020. “We were able to increase the footprint of an existing fabrication building by extending the slab and adding a lean-to. We outfitted the space with a Viking automatic pipe blasting machine and an Automatic pipe fitting blasting machine,” said Matthew Dobson, who oversaw the project for C&C Marine. The new facility measures 120'x54' and is under-roof. The machines can blast pipe between 1" and 12" in diameter. The new facility allows C&C Marine more flexibility with its production schedule by blasting and painting the pipe and fittings in-house.
The recent expansion and improvements to the shipyard have been made to accommodate the growing pipeline of projects. Through the first quarter of 2020, C&C Marine has completed production of a 6,600-hp, triple-Z-drive towboat, a 2,600-hp towboat, two deck barges, a spud barge, and two 30,000-bbl. tank barges. By the end of the second quarter, the shipyard will have completed and delivered a second 2,600-hp towboat, another deck barge, and a 2,000-hp diesel-electric cutterhead suction dredge, in addition to multiple projects in various stages of construction.
“We have been fortunate to remain busy during the Coronavirus pandemic. C&C Marine and Repair has had to implement new policies and make changes to our facilities to adapt to the impact of Covid-19, but there has been little impact to our production schedule,” said Cibilich. “The new fabrication building will help with our current production, while providing the additional capacity for new jobs”.
