McDermott International closing Amelia yard

McDermott International’s August announcement that it would shutter its historic fabrication yard in Amelia affected an estimated 350 permanent jobs.
The company plans to consolidate and restructure its Atlantic operations, with operations here moving to Altamira, Mexico. Some personnel from the Morgan City yard are being offered positions elsewhere in the company, including in Mexico and Houston, McDermott spokeswoman Louise Denly said.
The Morgan City yard’s location and a lack of deep water access are unable to support McDermott customers’ project needs, the company stated in a news release. The Morgan City yard originally was developed to serve an offshore industry that has changed significantly over the past 50 years.
Stephen M. Johnson, McDermott chairman of the board, president and CEO, said in August “After many months of consideration, we have made these decisions which are driven by the evolving market demands of the offshore engineering and construction industry in the Gulf of Mexico.”
Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Gray, said that the yard, on property that straddles the Assumption and St. Mary parish line, is scheduled to close around the first of the year. However, McDermott did sign a 5-year lease for the property, so plans are in the works to “do something to bring that yard back.”
Harrison said he met with Johnson in Washington, D.C., earlier this year where he was told the company is looking into building component parts for petrochemical industries at the Amelia yard.
With the component building capacity comes the potential for a lot of work, Harrison said.