Shipbuilding Resumes at Northrop Gulf Yards

Northrop Grumman Corp. said Monday that it had begun limited ship production at its two large shipyards in Louisiana and Mississippi, providing a boost to economic recovery in the hurricane-ravaged region. The defense contractor, headquartered in Century City, is the largest employer in both states with about 19,000 workers.

In Pascagoula, Miss., about 5,500 people showed up for work, or a little less than half of the 12,000 that typically work at the shipyard. The number is expected to grow throughout the week as news of the production start begins to trickle through the community where many people lost homes or were evacuated, Northrop spokesman Brian Cullin said.

“We are the largest manufacturing employer” in Mississippi and Louisiana, Cullin said, “so we feel we have a responsibility for rolling as fast as we can. We believe we can provide some kind of economic engine for recovery.”

Northrop’s Gulf Coast complex has seven ships in various stages of production -- three destroyers, two amphibious assault ships, a helicopter carrier and a Coast Guard cutter.

At Northrop’s Avondale shipyard in New Orleans, about 1,000 people, or about 15% of its normal workforce, showed up after the company began alerting employees over the weekend. Because of damage to the local roads, most of the workers are driving to one of three locations near the city and then being transported by bus to the shipyard. The company has three amphibious assault ships and an oil tanker under construction at Avondale.

Northrop said it was able to restore electrical power to the shipyards over the weekend and that it had been able to restart production sooner than expected because most ships weathered the storm with little or no damage. In the last week about 3,000 workers also helped rebuild many of the essential structures at the shipyards, Northrop said.