by Jonathan Hale

During the past year, Gulf Copper traveled to the Bahamas and purchased a large drydock that had been sunk, broken over its length and cut in half during salvage. The drydock as we originally found it is pictured above.

Gulf Copper assembled a project team working from Galveston and supplemented with employees from Mexico and the Bahamas to undertake repair and refurbishment of the remaining drydock section. The drydock pontoon and wingwalls were realigned while cropping out all distorted and wasted steel. Approximately 450 tons of new steel was inserted in way of damages and the dock was equipped with new pumps, valves, new electrical system, and Bergan Controls. After six months of work and prior to Hurricane season, the drydock was towed from Freeport, Bahamas to Galveston, Texas to complete commissioning and begin a new life. The completed dock, with a lift capacity of 35,000 tons, is pictured below.

 

Dry Docking by Gulf Copper

 

The initial job for the drydock was to lift the “Superdreadnought” U.S.S. TEXAS – BB35 on August 31st. Upon completion of repairs to the Battleship Texas, it is anticipated the drydock will have many more years of job creation at our Galveston shipyard.

Gulf Copper wishes to express appreciation to the many people who helped make this project a success over the past year, including:

  • David Casale and the Gulf Copper project team
  • The Battleship Texas Foundation
  • Moody National Bank
  • Resolve Marine
  • The Port of Galveston
  • Signet Maritime
  • Orion Marine Group
  • Valkor Engineering
  • McGriff Insurance Services
  • Sealy Technical Services