North Atlantic Ship Repair

NORTH ATLANTIC SHIP REPAIR

Fixing big ships in the northeast

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NORTH ATLANTIC SHIP REPAIR

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North Atlantic Ship Repair

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PROFILE

With a commanding presence in America’s northeast and boasting 30 years of maritime industry heritage, North Atlantic Ship Repair has fought its way to the top in a limited but highly competitive and fierce market. Though the firm’s future was already bright, its recent acquisition by a passionate new owner has initiated exciting and considerable future plans which are already in motion. Edward Snyder, company President and CEO, filled Richard Hagan in on all the details.

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orth Atlantic Ship Repair, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts on America’s northeast coast, is a ship repair service provider, specialising in the overhauling of primarily large vessels for both government and commercial clients.

The company owns two facilities; one in Boston, and one in Philadelphia. Both yards have similar capabilities, with each boasting its own dedicated production team and a drydock capable of accommodating ships of up to 1,100ft x 105ft, with over 60,000 tonnes displacement capability.

The Philadelphia facility has the added benefit of a 1,000ft pier, significantly improving its overall efficiency.

Between the two locations, the company has three large mobile harbour cranes, with two based in Boston and one in Philadelphia, and a 65 tonne mobile crane also located in Philadelphia.

Altogether, the company employs roughly 200 workers. Full production

teams are located in both facilities.

Administrative services are all located in the Boston facility.

A Bostonian success story Having joined the company as a partner in the 1990s soon after its establishment (originally named Boston Ship Repair), Edward Snyder is a veteran of the company’s journey and his current title of President and CEO has been well-earned.

The company enjoyed early success as a standalone operation in Boston but was limited, with only a single drydock and no pier space. When the opportunity arose to acquire the Philadelphia shipyard location, it was a perfect means for expansion.

Adding a second shipyard with a pier more than doubled the capabilities of North Atlantic Ship Repair.

In 2020, a local Bostonian acquired North Atlantic Ship Repair (formerly Northeast Ship Repair). Its new ownership

North Atlantic Ship Repair

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North Atlantic Ship Repair

NORTH ATLANTIC SHIP REPAIR

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PROFILE

is deeply passionate about the shipyard and ensuring the sustainability of its operations, and the critical local blue-collar jobs it provides. There is a serious commitment to make critical investments into the shipyards to ensure North Atlantic Ship Repair continues to move in the modern era of ship repair. The new ownership has entrusted this vitally important task to the capable, veteran hands of Mr Snyder and his team.

“Our new owner has entrusted my staff and I to run the company and continue expansion into the next generation,” said Mr Snyder. “We are thankful for that backing!”

For decades, North Atlantic Ship Repair was owned by private-equity firms, which did not have a long-term investment timeline for the shipyards. Now, having the company’s ownership in the hands of a local businessman with significant roots to the City of Boston has proved to be a win/win, according to Mr Snyder. “Our owner has a great reputation with the City. He is a people’s person and has a love for the city and the area we’re in.”

Hauling out the big white girl One of North Atlantic Ship Repair’s highestprofile government customers is Military Sealift Command (MSC). The company has done (and continues to do) plenty of work with this department, but a particular highlight has been its maintenance work on the USNS Comfort.

The USNS Comfort is a very big, very white hospital ship owned by the United States Navy. Since her launch in 1976, she’s seen ongoing use around the world in major relief efforts, providing high-tech, advanced hospital and medical care facili7

North Atlantic Ship Repair

ties to both warzones and natural disasterhit communities, amongst others. But at her age, and with her length of 894 ft, when she needs maintenance, she needs a drydock the size of the ones owned by North Atlantic Ship Repair.

USNS Comfort has been a regular visitor to North Atlantic Ship Repair in the past, which has carried out maintenance work on her at least three times since 2012 alone. And while she has always been a relatively well-known ship amongst the public, her deployment to New York during the height of the Covid lockdowns and her specific mentions in the media by the US government raised her profile significantly. And with that, North Atlantic Ship Repair’s profile was raised as well.

“We’ve received commendations from the government for our work on her,” Mr Snyder revealed. “It is very satisfying and we’re very proud of our contribution to this awesome vessel.”

Cruising into chaos While North Atlantic Ship Repair’s biggest client is the US government, the cruise industry also visits the facilities from time to time. Mr Snyder was keen to elaborate on the differences between these government and private client projects.

“Government jobs are longer in duration, while cruise ships need to be done within seven to ten days. When you’re working on a cruise ship, it’s non-stop work for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it’s changes on-the-go at all times. Therefore your production team needs to be able to adapt and make critical decisions to be successful. Our ability to provide a fully dedicated production team

to a cruise ship project is something that truly sets up apart from any of our competing shipyards.

“When a cruise ship is in, all hands are in and working many hours a day to get it done,” he continued. “Government work is more defined, with longer overhaul periods.

But it requires higher certification levels and ongoing inspections throughout the process. The inspections are very specific and abundant in all aspects of the project.

Basically, what we can do on a cruise ship in seven days takes us over a month on government contracts.”

In one particular cruise ship project highlight, the company achieved a remarkably fast turnaround between two massive cruise ships that both required drydock work, one right after the other.

“We had one cruise ship arrive and tie up just outside our drydock, and the other inside the drydock finishing up. As soon as the ship in the drydock was complete, we had to take it out and swap places with the other cruise ship. We managed to complete that operation within the same day due to similar docking plans. It was a real highlight for us and one which emphasises our efficiency, dedication and the speed at which we are able to make decisions.”

‘Pier-ing’ into the future North Atlantic Ship Repair has exciting future plans that are already in motion.

“Our hope is that in the near future we can work with the City of Boston to re-construct the deteriorated South Jetty pier just outside our drydock,” revealed Mr Snyder. “This new pier will be a tremendous asset to the City of Boston and our shipyard in the future.”

He added: “We don’t have a pier there and one is greatly needed. There are

existing piers but age and deterioration has taken place and re-construction is needed.”

An ongoing planning effort is in progress at the Port of Boston to support an increase in marine traffic, specifically as it relates to larger vessels. To maintain its competitiveness, in 2014, the Massachusetts Port Authority commenced the Conley Terminal Modernization Program, an $800 million investment into the infrastructure of the Port of Boston.

This program included partnering with the US Army Corps of Engineers on the dredging and deepening of the Boston Harbor, rehabilitation of two existing berths at Conley Terminal, construction of a new deep-water berth and expansion of Conley Terminal yard.

“We believe the reconstruction of the South Jetty pier is the final piece of a very large effort to make the Port of Boston a full-service port for large vessels,” said Mr Snyder. “Our Boston facility will be able to service all the needs of the vessels transiting the area and layberthing at the South Jetty pier, potentially even allowing us to simultaneously work on two vessels at the same time.”

Meanwhile, Mr Snyder further revealed that the company has plans to significantly upgrade its workshop facilities in the near future.

“Everything in terms of the facilities goes back to the 1940s when they were originally constructed; like many shipyards our facilities are old. Therefore, we’re planning to substantially upgrade our facilities and the workshops within them.”

In conjunction with those large CapEx projects, the company has begun an apprenticeship training program partnering with the local communities.

“The program is an outreach to the underserved, minority communities of Boston, to attract them into these highpaying blue collar jobs. It’ll be a win-win for both us and the communities in an environment in which recruitment has become a major challenge.”

The strengths of being smaller According to Mr Snyder, one of North Atlantic Ship Repair’s major hallmarks amongst its clients is its size – because of what that means for the kind of

service the company is able to deliver to customers.

“We’re focused on the individual project,” he explained. “Whether it’s a government or commercial customer, they have our full attention, whereas in bigger yards, the relationship and service may not be the same. We’ve always had a great reputation with our customers for our efficiency and dedication.”

Concluding, Mr Snyder offered his vision for the company’s future: “I want to help the business continue into the next generation. I’m one of the original owners, going back over 25 years, so our focus now is on building sustainability into the business. We want to grow it with our younger generation who are coming into the business right now and continue to create blue-collar jobs in the northeast for years to come.

“I’d like to know that when I leave, I have left it in the best possible hands and created the best opportunities for all involved.” n

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