Page 36: of Marine News Magazine (November 2010)

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36 MN November 2010

Pontoon Launcher for the USN

Trident Submarine Launch facility,” said Plotkin.

In the mid-1980s, a project to help re-deck the 12 miles of approaches to the Throgs Neck Bridge was awarded to Steelways, and the company pro- duced and delivered – more than 60 miles to the south on the Hudson

River via barge – a series of asphalt- covered one-inch thick steel plates, plates measuring 42 ft. x 40 ft.

It is this project, and in fact most of the company’s large scale projects, that highlight what Plotkin and CFO

Steven Laker believe to be the compa- ny’s primary benefit: location, loca- tion, location. “Where we are located is virtually the crossroads of New England and the Northeast U.S.,” said Laker, “as we are located minutes from several major interstates, Stewart

International Airport, three rail spurs, and of course the waterway.”

In addition to its central location to every major mode of transport,

Plotkin notes that the company offers a massive concrete launchway, capa- ble of launching structures up to 300 x 125 ft. “When it comes down to it, a key to our success is our location, as delivery cost in many of these projects is a determining factor, and we have many advantages (in regards to trans- port).”

Third, but certainly not least, the shipyard is able to draw from a deep and capable labor pool. “We are in a labor surplus area,” Laker said. “We’re a union shop, and we have about 35 to 40 employees at a given time (and

Steelways in Brief

Major Transport Hubs:

CSX Railroad; Interstate I-84; Stewart

International Airport

Land: 60 waterfront acres

Facilities: • 54,800 sq. ft. fabrication shop • Three 10-ton overhead cranes • Concrete launchway (capable of 300 x 125 ft.) • Marine railway able to haul 500 ton vessel (140 x 65 ft.)

Tank Construction: • Above ground welded stainless and carbon steel storage tanks, 1,000 to 100,000,000 gal.

Marine Construction:

Barge, Drydock Casisson, Shipbuilding,

Steel Deck Re-plating, Bridge Rehab www.steelwaysinc.com