Landrieu: Coast Guard to buy more Metal Shark boats

The Coast Guard is raising the number of Metal Shark boats built in Jeanerette that will it buy from 44 to 60, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-New Orleans, announced this morning.
In July, Landrieu reported she used her position as the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee to urge the Coast Guard to speed up its order of Metal Shark boats.
At the time, Metal Shark was in danger of losing jobs if the Coast Guard did not place its initial order of boats for fiscal year 2014 quickly, Landrieu said.
In August, Metal Shark announced plans for a new $10 million Metal Shark Aluminum Boats facility on the Charenton Canal with more than 60,000 square feet of manufacturing space on a 25-acre site south of U.S. 90 near Franklin.
The shipyard will be capable of supporting aluminum and steel shipbuilding operations for vessels up to and exceeding 250 feet in length. Smaller vessels will continue to be built at the company’s existing facility in Jeanerette.