Page 9: of Marine News Magazine (January 2012)

Vessel Construction & Repair

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www.marinelink.com MN9the desire or the commitment to do government work. There is a substan- tially higher cost of bidding and cer-tainly a higher cost of overhead struc- ture when performing government shipbuilding programs. All of the ?second tier? shipyards in America do commercial work and some also choose to do Government work. Both sectors have great opportunities in the near future. Keeping Safety as a culture is a top priority ? or at least given lipservice ? at most yards. Yet, at Bollinger, you seem to make it work in practice. Tell us what sets your yard(s) apart in this way? Safety in the workplace is NOT lip service. The commitment must come from the top of the organization and be forcefully driven throughout. We started a WAR on accidents more than 10 years ago ? and the culture doesn?t change quickly. With CON- STANT commitment to a safe and accident free workplace, real change can occur. We are PASSIONATE about safety and by living with that PASSION in mind, organizations change. There is never a day that goes by that SAFETY is not in the fore- front of our planning and execution of the day?s activities. Arguably, the drilling moratorium has eased and leases are starting to be awarded in GOM ? when do you see increased work as a result of that news coming to fruition? Has it started already? It is just starting. We see increased interest in building equipment to service the increased offshore activity (which had been at a near standstillsince April of 2009). Both new build- ing and repair activity have increased. We also hear that a number of vessels that had been deployed to foreign worksites are now considering return- ing to US waters with this increased activity. Maybe life is getting back to a more normal place in the domestic markets ? at least as normal as can be expected in a business that constantlychanges.MN#1 (1-17):MN 2011 Layouts 1/5/2012 3:59 PM Page 9

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