BIW to receive another destroyer contract from Navy thanks to ship-swap agreement

File photo / Tim Greenway Bath Irons works is expected to receive a Navy contract to build another destroyer because of a ship-swap agreement with a shipyard in Mississippi.

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The Navy has agreed to award a contract to build a destroyer at Bath Iron Works in addition to the five already under contract, but Congress must still authorize and approve funding for the sixth ship.

By awarding the contract to the Maine shipyard, the Navy would be honoring a 2002 agreement to build a ship at BIW if it awarded a contract for an amphibious attack ship to a shipyard in Mississippi.

Defense News reported that the Department of Defense announced Friday afternoon it was awarding Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., a $200 million contract to build an additional amphibious transport ship.

“Consistent with the ‘swap agreement,’ the Navy will award BIW a corresponding DDG 51 ship,” said Capt. Thurraya Kent, a Navy spokeswoman, who told the trade publication that the Navy will award BIW a DDG 51 ship contract in accordance with the swap agreement.

A spokeswoman for BIW declined to comment on the announcement.

Early negotiations between the company and the largest union at the Bath shipyard began last month.

BIW officials have said the shipyard is looking to complete negotiations before the current contract expires next May to make the shipyard more competitive for a Coast Guard cutters contract that will go out to bid early next year. The company has warned it could cut more than 1,000 jobs if it doesn’t secure the Coast Guard contract, according to the Associated Press.

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