In mid-August, World Marine LLC (WMM) sold its Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard to VT Systems, parent company of VT Halter Marine, for $25 million.

VT Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd. (ST Engineering)

World Marine purchased the assets of Signal International in December 2015, which included assets in Pascagoula and the former Bender Shipbuilding & Repair in Mobile, Ala. World Marine’s Pascagoula shipyard had mainly focused on offshore rig repair and conversion. The sale will allow WMM to focus exclusively on activities at its Mobile facility, World Marine of Alabama (WMA).

“With the tightened cash flow low oil prices have brought to all businesses supporting the offshore oil industry, it is important for our company to focus on the business at hand, and most importantly, continue to safely complete the on-time and cost-competitive drydocking and marine repair and fabrication work” at the Mobile facility, Robert Beckmann of WMA said in a statement.

Since the downturn of the offshore and marine industry, ST Engineering said it had been looking to acquire assets that represent long-term value and could enhance its capabilities while offering scale advantages in the marine repair segment. The acquired assets are located in close proximity to VT Halter’s Pascagoula yard.

Ken Hocke has been the senior editor of WorkBoat since 1999. He was the associate editor of WorkBoat from 1997 to 1999. Prior to that, he was the editor of the Daily Shipping Guide, a transportation daily in New Orleans. He has written for other publications including The Times-Picayune. He graduated from Louisiana State University with an arts and sciences degree, with a concentration in English, in 1978.