Eastern Shipbuilding 'well positioned' to meet US defence needs, new CEO says
A Heritage-class offshore patrol cutter under production at Eastern Shipbuilding's Panama City shipyard. (Photo: Eastern Shipbuilding)
The Floridian shipbuilder sees opportunities in conversions and is protesting a decision by the US Coast Guard to award a significant contract to competitor Austal USA in court.
Speaking to Shephard after he was appointed the new CEO of Eastern Shipbuilding Group last week, Joey D'Isernia said the Florida shipyard was 'well positioned' to meet the demands of the US Navy and US Coast Guard (USCG).
In 2016, Eastern was selected to design and build stage 1 of the USCG's new Heritage-class offshore patrol cutters (OPCs), which D'Isernia said was the largest acquisition programme in the service's history.
D'Isernia said the US needed to retain an industrial complex of tier-one and two shipyards to support its fleet acquisition plans.
He added: 'There are obvious concerns about the
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