Page 40: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2012)

40Maritime Reporter & Engineering News FEATURE SHIP REPAIR The New York metropolitan area is known for many thing, but cheap labor is not among them, and the labor-intensive ship repair industry generally flourishes in re- gions ripe with volumes of affordable help. This makes the story Mike Cranston and Alex Gomez ? partners in Bayonne Dry Dock & Repair Corp. and GMD Shipyard Corp. ? compelling, as the com- pany?s repair prowess has been a staple on the East Coast waterfront for more than 20 years. By Greg Trauthwein In the notoriously cyclical ship repair business, and as the world economy slowly crawls back from the abyss, ship repair yards such as Bayonne Dry Dock& Repair Corp. and GMD Shipyard Corp. keep the business intact with a strong focus on its customer service anda diverse service offering, focused on servicing larger oceangoing ships in its Bayonne, NJ facility, and the smaller workboat and coastwise trade market in its Brooklyn facility. ?Business is good. We?re getting a lot of inquiries, and our Bayonne operationis booked up until August 1, 2012, and our Brooklyn operation is booked up until almost the beginning of the sum- mer,? said Mike Cranston, president. ?We see the economy turning a little bit, but we still are seeing a reluctance to do any modifications; I still see most of our cus- tomers committing only the regulatory requirement maintenance.? Building a Business?I didn?t wake up one day dreaming that this is what I would be doing ? it kind of evolved,? said Cranston, in ex- plaining his roots in the business. Cranston is the first in his family to make a career in the shipyard business, starting out in the early 1980s when he went towork for his current partner?s father as a laborer and driver. ?In 1986 he acquired the lease to theBrooklyn Navy yard,? Cranston said, and thus began a life dedicated to fixing ships. ?We worked on a lot of govern- ment and commercial work ? and I grew up in this business through a lot of the hands-on work on the ships, evolving to office work.? While the business was successful, the tandem realized that they were losing sig- nificant business due to the 127 ft. air draft restriction of the Brooklyn Bridge.?We realized that there was a lot of work we were turning away because of the Brooklyn bridge height,? Cranston said. The year 1997 was a significant milestone for the company, as that was when the Bayonne facility was added. The early to mid-90s saw significant re- alignment and closure of U.S. militarybases, and the city took over the Military Ocean Terminal, Bayonne. The drydock had not been used for 15 years, but the government had maintained the pump room. ?When the city took over, I went over and negotiated a lease with them. We started building that place up, and it took us almost two years to build it up to a point where we were able to take our first ship in there,? said Cranston. Today, in Bayonne the Bayonne Dry Dock & Repair Corp. operates a full serv-ice ship repair yard located in the PortJersey area of New York/New Jersey har- bor. Situated a few miles from the Ver- Bayonne Dry Dock & Repair Co. & GMD Shipyard Corp. Two Yards, No Waiting in NYC (Photo: Greg Trauthwein) In February, U.S. Shipping?s 29-year-old chemical carrier M/V Charleston entered Bayonne Drydock for a regulatory dry docking, inspection and special survey. MR March 12 # 5 (33-40):MR Template 3/6/2012 9:12 AM Page 40