Page 30: of Marine News Magazine (September 2025)

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Feature

Ship Repair

It is no different in global shipbuilding. The foreign $6.2B and the RRF yards produce their own designs and with that easily fol- The Secretary of Transportation has given us the op- low through with production and they understand their portunity to support and rebuild our repair capacity and own standards. The U.S. yards rely on designs provided $6.2 billion US dollars has been provided to make it by outside sources and in our antiquated competitive pro- work if it is done correctly within the MarAd RRF pro- cess, your guess is as good as mine and who will eventually gram. Yes, $6.2 billion U.S. dollars within a program of build. The Far East yards employ their own naval archi- vessels that are idle and wait orders to serve.

tects – hundreds. And with that the risk of “change order” The average age of the RRF ? eet is ? fty-one (51) years. or delivery delays are mitigated. It is a proven design. The last true “activation” was Desert Fox, Desert Storm

Make no mistake about it, with the cost of new construc- and Desert Freedom. The after-action reports describing tion in the United States, our repair capability to complete the failures of the program from both activation and oper- replacement of outdated machinery, large steel renewals and ation resulted in additional foreign tonnage being ? agged upgraded coatings will work to achieve existing tonnage life in. “Reserve Operating Status” was developed where select- extension periods well beyond the vessel’s next drydock. ed tonnage was made available with a reduced operating

This is the transition period needed during the next decade crew, at selected berths with developed maintenance pro- to rebuild our shipyard capacity for new construction. cedures to make them available between 48 and 76 hours.

Colonna’s Shipyard 30 | MN September 2025