No dry dock in revised plan for Lorain maritime facility

LORAIN — An updated plan to service Navy submarines would no longer see a dry dock built in the International City. Bartlett Maritime Corp. released an update to a plan it originally pitched to the Navy in early 2022. While the original plan would have seen a naval submarine dry dock built in Lorain — bringing an estimated 3,000 jobs with it — the update would instead see construction of a ship component overhaul, repair, remanufacturing and testing facility to be built on a brownfield. The component repair center, or CRC, would bring 500 to 1,000 jobs, Bartlett Maritime CEO and retired Navy Capt. Ed Bartlett said via email Thursday evening. When Bartlett Maritime submitted its original proposal, it received feedback the Navy wasn't comfortable bringing a submarine up to the Great Lakes, Bartlett wrote, in part because the St. Lawrence Seaway is not deep enough for modern vessels and would require additional measures to bring them to Lake Erie. Additionally, submarines cannot do submerged sea trials in the freshwater of the Great Lakes, as it requires different ballasting. "Based upon this Navy feedback, we changed our plan in mid-2022, focusing on selecting another shipyard location, but have not publicly announced this change until now," Bartlett wrote. The CRC in Lorain would be joined by another in Lordstown for constructing ship components and material stocking and a foundry in an unspecified location. The updated proposal includes the option for a fifth naval shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina. The new shipyard would be at the Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek and could begin construction as early as 2024. Bartlett said he originally looked at the Midwest as it already had skilled trades personnel who do not want to move to the ocean coasts for work, but addressed what may be a labor shortage in South Carolina by bringing in rotating crews transported from where they live to living quarters to work for a period of time, before going home. He compared it to rotations on offshore oil rigs and said workers from Northeast Ohio could work an extended time in South Carolina before returning home. The shipyard in Charleston would be completed after the facilities in Lorain and Lordstown. "The bottom line is that with our company being headquartered in the Cleveland metropolitan area, we are still going to become a significant Northeast Ohio employer — even if the work location for some of our employees will be at the other end of I-77," he wrote. If the Navy approves the updated plan, about 30 skilled trades trainees would be hired two months after Bartlett Maritime is contracted, and receive 16 weeks of paid training to be able to then work at a temporary facility while the others in Lorain and Lordstown are being built. Once the builds are underway in the two Rust Belt towns, Bartlett estimated crews would move into the new facilities about 18 to 24 months later. All the facilities would be under a long-term lease-purchase agreement with the Navy. The updated plan has received continued support from the AFL-CIO Metal Trades Department — which has thrown its weight behind the project since its inception, including at an April 2022 rally in Lorain. In a news release Tuesday, James Hart, president of the Metal Trades Department said the plan is an "innovative, actionable solution the U.S. Navy needs to address its ongoing shipbuilding backlog, capacity and capability." "If we do not act with a sense of urgency to address the current shipbuilding crisis, we risk our nation's security during an increasingly precarious time," Hart said in the release, noting the plan is also an opportunity to bring good-paying, skilled, union jobs to Lorain and Lordstown. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, also still supported the Navy's consideration of Bartlett's proposal. "Ohio workers have the talent and the skills to ensure we have a modern Navy, stronger than any in the world," Brown said in a statement. "I hope the Navy will give this proposal full and fair consideration." Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley said he was disappointed the updated plan would not provide as many jobs as initially proposed for Lorain, but "On the other side of the coin, it maybe gives Lorain a better chance for having a facility built here." "We have probably one of the best locations in the country as far as climate and the ability to undertake this type of an operation," Bradley said Thursday. He referenced a June 22 congressional research service report detailing the Navy's maintenance backlog, noting "there is a definite need for getting these submarines back into operational deployment." That report states about 37 percent of the Navy's nuclear-powered attack submarines sit in or await depot maintenance — up from 23 percent a decade prior. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.