Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard

Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard in Sparrows Point, Maryland, USA, was founded in 1887 as Maryland Steel. It was acquired by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in 1916 and renamed. The shipyard was sold in 1997 to Baltimore Marine Industries Inc.. As of 2012, it is owned by Barletta Industries, which has converted it to the Sparrows Point Shipyard and Industrial Complex.^[1][2]

History

S.S. Hoxbar ready for launching at Sparrows Point, Maryland, February 15, 1919

Maryland Steel built tugs, coastal passengers, dredges, cargo ships and a few destroyers. Following the purchase by Bethlehem, it serviced and repaired ships and manufactured industrial products. One famous vessel built in this early period was the Ancon, launched as Shawmut, which, in 1914, was the first ship to transit the Panama Canal.

Facilities at the yard included a graving dock, a floating drydock and two full-service outfitting piers which together provided nearly 3,000 feet of berthing space.

World War II

During World War II, the Sparrows Point Shipyard built ships as part of the U.S. government's Emergency Shipbuilding Program to help re-build the British Merchant Navy. Liberty ship production was a primary goal of the yard.

Once part of a chain of 17 shipyards operating under BethShip, the Sparrows Point Shipyard was the only location remaining by 1990.

Baltimore Marine Industries, Inc.

In October 1997, the shipyard was sold to the Veritas Capital Fund, a New York-based merchant banking and investment firm which built a $300 million cold rolling mill complex on the site which opened in 1999. Veritas reorganized the facility as Baltimore Marine Industries, Inc. (BMI) and won two US Navy contracts for new ship construction and dismantling of older tonnage.^[3]

Although BMI was selected to build a fleet of deluxe cruise ships, the cruise line was never able to secure financing. With no orders on the horizon and no work aside from the two modest Navy contracts, BMI collapsed in bankruptcy in 2003.^[4]

Barletta Industries

All assets were purchased by Barletta Industries Inc. in 2004 and reorganized as the Sparrows Point Shipyard and Industrial Complex. Barletta claims it has modernized the infrastructure and refurbished the yard to prepare for leasing specific yard structures, buildings and land to companies in maritime and heavy industry.^[5]

See also

• Bethlehem Steel

References

1. "Sparrows Point Shipyard Industrial Complex Home Page". Archived from the original on May 11, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
2. "Sparrows Point Shipyard Industrial Complex History Page". Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
3. "Baltimore Marine Industries, Inc. Bethlehem Shipbuilding Sparrows Point MD". globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
4. U.S. Court of Appeals for 4th Circuit Case N0. 06-1206 (BAMI Vs. Maersk Line), 9 Feb 2001
5. Barletta Industries website

External links

• Papers of Frederick W. Wood at Hagley Museum and Library. Wood was a designer and constructor of the Sparrows Point steel plant and shipyard. He was also its president through its sale to the Bethlehem Steel Company.
• The Research notes on Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Hagley Museum and Library consist of materials collected by John B. Lovis for the writing of his book on the history of the Sparrows Point Plant, plus original Bethlehem Steel documents from his tenure in the Corporate Planning Department.
• Robert W. Pemberton papers, 1918-1999. 3.00 linear feet, at the University of Maryland Libraries, State of Maryland and Historical Collections. Working files of a National Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer of Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America who was associated with the Sparrows Point and Key Highway shipyards in Baltimore.