Four years after closing its shipyard in Avondale, La., Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] on Thursday said the facility has been sold to a joint venture consisting of a terminal operator and redevelopment company.
Terms of the sale to Avondale Marine, which consists of T. Parker Host and Hilco Redevelopment Partners, were not disclosed. A spokeswoman for HII told Defense Daily that any impact from the sale on the company’s financials wouldn’t be discussed until results are reported.
HII built more than 2,000 Navy and Coast Guard ships and commercial tankers at Avondale, including LPD amphibious assault ships and the Healy medium icebreaker, but consolidated that work at its Pascagoula, Miss., operations due to decreased ship construction demand and excess capacity. The Avondale site is about 254 acres.
HII said its Pascagoula-based Ingalls Shipbuilding segment continues use a portion of Avondale through the Univ. of New Orleans Maritime Center of Excellence for engineering and design work in support of its shipbuilding programs.
Avondale Marine will develop the former shipyard into a multimodal logistics hub with expectations that more than 2,000 jobs will be created.
“Our team will unleash its potential by transforming the shipyard into a global logistics hub for intermodal commerce,” Adam Anderson, president and CEO of T.P. Host and principal of Avondale Marine, said in a statement.