Post by ferryfast admin on Oct 10, 2007 16:23:30 GMT -5
Austal names new COO for Mobile shipyard
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
By KAIJA WILKINSON
Business Reporter
Press~Register/Mobile, AL
www.al.com/
Austal USA on Tuesday named Joe Rella chief operating officer of its Mobile shipyard.
He replaces Dan Spiegel, who had held the position for just over a year. Spiegel is no longer with Austal, according to the company.
Rella, whose first day on the job was Tuesday, most recently served as director of sales at Jeffboat LLC, the Jeffersonville, Ind.-based manufacturing arm of American Commercial Lines Inc.
"We at Austal are looking forward to Joe's contribution to the business, given his breadth and depth of experience in the shipbuilding industry," said Bob Browning, Austal USA's chief executive officer, who arrived in Mobile in August.
Rella comes at a key time for Austal Ltd.'s U.S. subsidiary, which over the summer reached the 1,000-employee mark in Mobile.
The second of two 353-foot, high-speed passenger/vehicle ferries for Hawaii Superferry Inc. and a 127-meter Littoral Combat Ship for the U.S. Navy are now under construction at the shipyard.
Last month, an announcement on a new, $200 million modular facility -- that would at least double employment -- was postponed in light of possible LCS cutbacks.
The Senate has approved a fiscal 2008 spending bill that would cancel the second Austal LCS and provide no new funding for future orders in fiscal 2008. A House version would spare the second Austal LCS, but provides only about $339.5 million for new ship orders, less than half of what the Navy requested.
Austal is part of a team led by Virginia-based General Dynamics Corp. that is competing with a Lockheed Martin Corp.-led team to build up to 55 of the vessels.
Further, the first Hawaii Superferry has been idled amid environmental protests after briefly starting service in late August, and on Tuesday, a Maui circuit judge ruled that the vessel cannot sail until an environmental assessment is performed. Superferry officials have said such an order could force the company to abandon its plans for inter-island ferry service, which in turn could affect the company's plans for the second boat under construction in Mobile.
Austal won a $190 million contract to build the pair of vessels.
But Austal USA's new executive remained upbeat Tuesday and said expansion is not out of the question. The shipyard is competing for a second U.S. military contract -- the eight-ship Joint High Speed Vessel program. Bids are due Oct. 31, but the company said it did not know when the government would make a decision.
Rella said Austal is "not hanging its hat" on the LCS program.
"There are other initiatives that we are currently pursuing," he said, declining to be more specific. "There is a growing appetite for aluminum-hulled vessels," an Austal specialty.
After enlisting in the U.S. Navy and receiving an appointment to the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., Rella graduated from the academy's nuclear power engineering program in 1987.
With more than 10 years of experience at Gulf Coast shipyards, Rella moved to Mobile in 1992 to work at Northrop Grumman Ship
Systems' Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula.
At Ingalls, Rella served as an engineer and program coordinator for the Navy's multipurpose amphibious assault ships, overseeing conversion of the USS Inchon.
Rella then went to work for Atlantic Marine Holding Co., overseeing construction and delivery of a pair of chemical tankers for a commercial client.
While at Atlantic, he enrolled in Spring Hill College's master of business administration program, graduating in 2002.
He had been at Jeffboat, located just over the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky., for about a year.
Rella, 45, said he is working with a real estate agent to find a new home for his family, which includes his wife, Juanita, and two children.
"Both my children were born in Thomas Hospital in Baldwin County," he said. "So this is like coming home."
(The Press-Register's Sean Reilly and the Associated Press contributed to this report
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
By KAIJA WILKINSON
Business Reporter
Press~Register/Mobile, AL
www.al.com/
Austal USA on Tuesday named Joe Rella chief operating officer of its Mobile shipyard.
He replaces Dan Spiegel, who had held the position for just over a year. Spiegel is no longer with Austal, according to the company.
Rella, whose first day on the job was Tuesday, most recently served as director of sales at Jeffboat LLC, the Jeffersonville, Ind.-based manufacturing arm of American Commercial Lines Inc.
"We at Austal are looking forward to Joe's contribution to the business, given his breadth and depth of experience in the shipbuilding industry," said Bob Browning, Austal USA's chief executive officer, who arrived in Mobile in August.
Rella comes at a key time for Austal Ltd.'s U.S. subsidiary, which over the summer reached the 1,000-employee mark in Mobile.
The second of two 353-foot, high-speed passenger/vehicle ferries for Hawaii Superferry Inc. and a 127-meter Littoral Combat Ship for the U.S. Navy are now under construction at the shipyard.
Last month, an announcement on a new, $200 million modular facility -- that would at least double employment -- was postponed in light of possible LCS cutbacks.
The Senate has approved a fiscal 2008 spending bill that would cancel the second Austal LCS and provide no new funding for future orders in fiscal 2008. A House version would spare the second Austal LCS, but provides only about $339.5 million for new ship orders, less than half of what the Navy requested.
Austal is part of a team led by Virginia-based General Dynamics Corp. that is competing with a Lockheed Martin Corp.-led team to build up to 55 of the vessels.
Further, the first Hawaii Superferry has been idled amid environmental protests after briefly starting service in late August, and on Tuesday, a Maui circuit judge ruled that the vessel cannot sail until an environmental assessment is performed. Superferry officials have said such an order could force the company to abandon its plans for inter-island ferry service, which in turn could affect the company's plans for the second boat under construction in Mobile.
Austal won a $190 million contract to build the pair of vessels.
But Austal USA's new executive remained upbeat Tuesday and said expansion is not out of the question. The shipyard is competing for a second U.S. military contract -- the eight-ship Joint High Speed Vessel program. Bids are due Oct. 31, but the company said it did not know when the government would make a decision.
Rella said Austal is "not hanging its hat" on the LCS program.
"There are other initiatives that we are currently pursuing," he said, declining to be more specific. "There is a growing appetite for aluminum-hulled vessels," an Austal specialty.
After enlisting in the U.S. Navy and receiving an appointment to the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., Rella graduated from the academy's nuclear power engineering program in 1987.
With more than 10 years of experience at Gulf Coast shipyards, Rella moved to Mobile in 1992 to work at Northrop Grumman Ship
Systems' Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula.
At Ingalls, Rella served as an engineer and program coordinator for the Navy's multipurpose amphibious assault ships, overseeing conversion of the USS Inchon.
Rella then went to work for Atlantic Marine Holding Co., overseeing construction and delivery of a pair of chemical tankers for a commercial client.
While at Atlantic, he enrolled in Spring Hill College's master of business administration program, graduating in 2002.
He had been at Jeffboat, located just over the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky., for about a year.
Rella, 45, said he is working with a real estate agent to find a new home for his family, which includes his wife, Juanita, and two children.
"Both my children were born in Thomas Hospital in Baldwin County," he said. "So this is like coming home."
(The Press-Register's Sean Reilly and the Associated Press contributed to this report