Business News

Metal Shark wins $54M U.S. Navy contract

Jeanerette-based company’s proposal was selected from a field of six competing shipyards.

Photo by Robin May

Jeanerette-based shipbuilder Metal Shark was selected by the U.S. Navy to build Near Coastal Patrol Vessels for U.S. partner nations through the Department of Defense Foreign Military Sales program.

Metal Shark’s proposal was selected by Naval Sea Systems Command from a field of six competing shipyards, the company reports in a press release.

Under the terms of the award, potentially worth upwards of $54 million, Metal Shark will build up to thirteen 85-foot Defiant-class welded aluminum cutters for the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and other U.S. partner nations. Additionally, Metal Shark will supply electro-optical infrared sensors, diagnostic equipment, in-country reactivation, crew familiarization, and test support to NCPV operators.

The new vessels are based on Damen Shipyards’ Stan Patrol 2606 design, tailored by Metal Shark to suit the requirements of the NCPV mission. The versatile cutter can accommodate a wide range of mission profiles including search and rescue, border patrol, police and customs duties, counter-narcotics operations, and securing waters of economic importance.

“The NCPV award is the first result of a multi-year collaboration between Damen and Metal Shark,” Metal Shark CEO Chris Allard said in the release. “The Damen team has consistently provided us with outstanding technical support, their designs are thoroughly proven in service across a range of markets, and their global service network has proven to be a very powerful selling feature.”

The NCPV fleet will be built at Metal Shark’s waterfront shipyard in Franklin, which recently completed the on-time delivery of six 88-foot, high-speed passenger vessels for New York City’s new NYC Ferry Service, and also delivered the first six of eighteen 45-foot patrol boats to the Vietnam Coast Guard.

Read more about Metal Shark in the recent ABiz profile, “See Worthy.”