VT Halter Marine Inc. (VT Halter Marine), a subsidiary of VT Systems, Inc. (VT Systems), announced its newest facility, a 12,000 MT Floating Drydock, is now open for business and already has its first customers.

The dock, measuring 546 ft.. in length, 105 ft. in breath and with a depth of 46 ft., is part of an overall expansion plan at the south yard in Pascagoula. This is where VT Halter Marine is adding a repair facility for semi-submersible drilling rigs and Panamax-size ships.

The addition of the Floating Drydock will allow the company to grow into the shiprepair business and start a new stream of revenue to its existing new-build business. The dock will establish VT Halter Marine as a repair facility. It will also benefit the U.S. Gulf Coast Ship Repair Capability, as it will be the newest addition to any existing repair facility in the region. VT Halter Marine can now service not only the repair needs of its existing newbuild customers, it will also expand its repair capabilities to new customers and will most likely more than double its customer base for shiprepair business. VT Halter Marine will now have a similar business model as its counterpart in Singapore, ST Marine, having both newbuild and repair capabilities.

VT Halter Marine expects to create as many as 400 new jobs with the development of this new facility.

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  Photo: VT Halter Marine