Britain’s BAE Systems on Friday evening said it will invest about $100 million over the next two years purchasing a new dry dock and other infrastructure improvements at its ship repair yard in San Diego, part of commitment the company made over two years ago to expand and enhance the shipyard as the Navy shifts more fleet assets to the Pacific.
The announcement was made in conjunction with a ceremony marking the dedication of an approximately $25 million pier replacement at the shipyard that was begun more than two years ago to better support current and future Navy needs. The new Pier 4 is 415-feet long and 64-feet wide and includes new services such as fresh water, electrical, sewage and storm water containment.
The new dry dock will be located adjacent to Pier 1, 950-feet long and 205-feet wide and have a design lifting capacity of 55,000 tons, and be the company’s largest in the United States when it goes operational in early 2017.
BAE said that the new dry dock will accommodate Navy cruisers, destroyers, amphibious assault ships, mine countermeasures ships, new large deck amphibious assault and transport dock ships, and both variants of the Littoral Combat Ship. It will also be able to service other ships and vessels including those for the Military Sealift Command, the Coast Guard and U.S. Maritime Administration.
The dry dock will also allow double-docking of both LCS variants as well as destroyers and cruisers.
“Our primary strategy and mission in San Diego is to support the U.S. Navy and its rebalance to the Pacific,” Erwin Beiber, president of BAE’s Platform & Services sector, said in a statement. “The new pier and dry dock will complement and expand the shipyard’s existing capacity in this homeport and provide greater capabilities to our customers. Our continuing investment in the region further demonstrates our commitment to San Diego and recognizes the important role it plays in our strategy.”
BAE expects over the next five years to add up to 500 employees at its San Diego ship repair facilities as work expands based on Navy requirements. The company currently employs about 3,000 people in the region, including ship repair workers and employees supporting the U.S. military and intelligence community.
BAE has seven full-service shipyards in Alabama, California, Florida, Hawaii and Virginia. The company’s ship repair yards in San Diego and Norfolk, Va., are its largest.
The new dry dock in San Diego will also feature environmental design features such as LED lighting, electric cranes, air-cooled emergency generators, a zero discharge closed-loop salt water system, and storm water recovery systems.