Post by ferryfast admin on Jun 1, 2011 9:56:28 GMT -5
Austal on the grow to handle Navy work
Published: Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 8:40 PM
By Dan Murtaugh, Press-Register
blog.al.com/press-register-business/2011/05/austal_on_the_grow_to_handle_n.html
MOBILE, Alabama -- Austal USA is nearly doubling the size of both its workforce and Mobile River shipyard to be able to complete work on two U.S. Navy contracts worth more than $5 billion.
The Australia-based company employs about 2,100 in Mobile, and expects to hire about 130 people a month until it reaches a workforce of about 4,000.
Company officials recently started several projects at its 115-acre site including:
--Doubling its modular manufacturing facility by adding 740,000 square feet of space.
--Building an administration building/office complex of approximately 110,000 square feet.
--Extending and improving an existing bulkhead.
--Building an additional waterfront assembly bay of approximately 60,000 square feet.
--Expanding an existing assembly building to approximately 60,000 square feet.
It has also acquired land adjacent to its current shipyard, where it is adding approximately 85,000 square feet under roof and 4,150 linear feet of bulkhead.
The sale of $225 million in Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds is funding much of the work. About $60 million was used to refinance previous debt, while $165 million went to new construction.
Congress passed Gulf Opportunity Zone, or GO Zone, legislation to help the Gulf Coast recover after 2005 hurricanes. Investors accept lower interest rates on such bonds because the interest is tax-exempt. Interest rates on GO Zone bonds can be expected to save a borrower 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent a year.
Austal sold the bonds in two groups of $112.5 million, secured by letters of credit from National Australia Bank Ltd. and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.
Between the Go Zone benefit and the letters of credit, Austal was able to get interest rates of less than 2 percent on the bonds, the company said in a news release.
Published: Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 8:40 PM
By Dan Murtaugh, Press-Register
blog.al.com/press-register-business/2011/05/austal_on_the_grow_to_handle_n.html
MOBILE, Alabama -- Austal USA is nearly doubling the size of both its workforce and Mobile River shipyard to be able to complete work on two U.S. Navy contracts worth more than $5 billion.
The Australia-based company employs about 2,100 in Mobile, and expects to hire about 130 people a month until it reaches a workforce of about 4,000.
Company officials recently started several projects at its 115-acre site including:
--Doubling its modular manufacturing facility by adding 740,000 square feet of space.
--Building an administration building/office complex of approximately 110,000 square feet.
--Extending and improving an existing bulkhead.
--Building an additional waterfront assembly bay of approximately 60,000 square feet.
--Expanding an existing assembly building to approximately 60,000 square feet.
It has also acquired land adjacent to its current shipyard, where it is adding approximately 85,000 square feet under roof and 4,150 linear feet of bulkhead.
The sale of $225 million in Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds is funding much of the work. About $60 million was used to refinance previous debt, while $165 million went to new construction.
Congress passed Gulf Opportunity Zone, or GO Zone, legislation to help the Gulf Coast recover after 2005 hurricanes. Investors accept lower interest rates on such bonds because the interest is tax-exempt. Interest rates on GO Zone bonds can be expected to save a borrower 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent a year.
Austal sold the bonds in two groups of $112.5 million, secured by letters of credit from National Australia Bank Ltd. and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.
Between the Go Zone benefit and the letters of credit, Austal was able to get interest rates of less than 2 percent on the bonds, the company said in a news release.