Page 55: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 1993)

continued success on the burgeon- ing gaming vessel market and At- lantic Marine's success in finding commercial business to replace dwindling government repair busi- ness. "Shipowners which have relied on government work only are going to have to learn to do a lot of new things...fast," he said.

For the coming years, Mr.

Doherty envisions three markets as key to the yard's success: dinner boats, gaming boats and ferries.

Atlantic Marine recently delivered the 222-foot, Caterpillar-powered,

Rodney Lay & Associates-designed

Alton Belle gaming boat to Alton

River Gambling.

Work continues on the Martha's

Vineyard, a 230-foot, GM-powered ferry for Woods Hole, Martha's Vine- yard & Nantucket Steamship Au- thority, as well as the Empress II, a 238-foot gaming vessel for Empress

River Casino.

Both vessels are scheduled for delivery at the end of this year.

Atlantic Marine built some of the first casino vessels for Iowa, where riverboat gaming had its birth in 1991. Since that time, they have built five casino vessels.

But while the passenger vessel market is the growing portion of

Atlantic Marine's business today, it surely was not always so.

Atlantic Marine, Inc. has two fa- cilities in Jacksonville, Fla.: its new construction division and Atlantic

Dry Dock Corp., its ship repair and conversion division.

Founded in 1964, Atlantic Ma- rine has built over 225 vessels in a variety of styles and sizes in both steel and aluminum for the domes- tic and international markets.

Atlantic's vessels are built using modular construction techniques, and incorporates state-of-the-art equipment including computerized lofting and generation of hull parts, a numerically-controlled machine for cutting hull parts and automatic and semi-automatic welding equip- ment.

Atlantic Marine has several piers and two launchways capable of han- dling vessels up to 400 feet, and a river water depth of 38 feet provides good access.

Atlantic Dry Dock, the repair and conversion division, is equipped with two marine railways with a lifting capacity of up to 4,000 long tons, and the 1,300-foot full service bulkhead is available for topside work.

Realizing it takes skilled and dedi- cated employees to make state-of- the-art equipment run and make its business prosper, Atlantic provides a variety of training and advance- ment opportunities for all of its work- ers.

For example, a new formalized multi-craft training program was recently launched, according to

Kathie Chumley, human resources manager, which allows employees to learn an additional craft, while still performing their normal du- ties.

She said this not only provides additional job security for the indi- vidual, but results in a more skilled and dedicated employee for Atlantic

Marine.

For more information on Atlantic

Marine in Jacksonville, Fla., its fa- cilities and capabilities,

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ARD PROFILE

An overview of the Atlantic Marine Yard.

Photo Credit: Aerial & Architectural Photo, Inc.

Atlantic Marine Focuses On

Commercial Market, Investment In

Employees To Stay Competitive

A medium-sized shipyard with approximately 750 employees, At- lantic Marine in Jacksonville, Fla. has positioned itself to take advan- tage of market conditions on both the repair and newbuild side of the industry for the 90s. "Business is good today, after many years when business was not so good for shipyards our size," said

Edward Doherty, president. Mr.

Doherty pins his yard's current and

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August, 1993

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Financing • Marine & Hospitality Services Available by Contract (415)989-1467 Days • (510)658-4610 Evenings • Fax (510)658-3868

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