Page 41: of Marine News Magazine (April 2019)

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Up and Running; Already Paying Dividends

The VT Halter Marine Blast and Paint Facility went through equipment commissioning in September 2018 with BlastOne and MegaDoor put into full operation in

October 2018. That’s a good thing, because the yard has secured new contracts since its opening and the facility is currently 100% booked to the end of July 2019.

Timothy Pryor, PE, is a VT Halter Marine Facilities and Structural Engineer at the Pascagoula yard. In January 2016, he took on the project. During the design and con- struction phase, he worked closely with equipment sup- plier BlastOne International as well as VT Halter Marine coatings experts Bennie Curry, Anthony Krebs, and Ron

Arnold. Arnold now runs the facility.

When it was fully up and running, VT Halter Marine

President and CEO Ronald Baczkowski called the new fa- cility, “a game-changer.” Pryor agrees, explaining, “There are three aspects to the facility that Ron is referring to.

Firstly, from an environmental standpoint, the facility will allow us to minimize particulate matter emission into the atmosphere during blasting or painting operations.

So, that is de