Bethlehem Beaumont Shipyard was a

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

that opened in 1948. The yard is located on an island in the

Neches River The Neches River () begins in Van Zandt County west of Rhine Lake and flows for through the piney woods of east Texas, defining the boundaries of 14 counties on its way to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs, ...

and upstream of the

Sabine Pass Sabine Pass is the natural outlet of Sabine Lake into the Gulf of Mexico. It borders Jefferson County, Texas, and Cameron Parish, Louisiana. History Civil War Two major battles occurred here during the American Civil War, known as the First and ...

that grants access to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. The deep-water port shipyard was founded in 1917 as the Beaumont Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. Beaumont Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company started as a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Emergency Shipbuilding Program The Emergency Shipbuilding Program (late 1940 – September 1945) was a United States government effort to quickly build simple cargo ships to carry troops and materiel to allies and foreign theatres during World War II. Run by the U.S. Maritime ...

yard. In 1922 the Pennsylvania Car & Foundry, of

Sharon, Pennsylvania Sharon is a city in western Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city, located along the banks of the Shenango River on the state border with Ohio, is about northeast of Youngstown, about southeast of Cleveland and about northwest o ...

purchased the yard and renamed the yard Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc.. The yard built

barges Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by Pusher (boat) ...

and rail cars and also operated under the name Petroleum Iron Works at the site. For

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the yard build

tugboats A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

and barges as part of the

emergency shipbuilding program The Emergency Shipbuilding Program (late 1940 – September 1945) was a United States government effort to quickly build simple cargo ships to carry troops and materiel to allies and foreign theatres during World War II. Run by the U.S. Maritime ...

. After the war

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...

purchased the yard in 1948 as part for the

Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when the Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works. In 1917 it was incorporated as Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co ...

. Bethlehem Beaumont Shipyard transitioned the yard into a

jackup rig A jackup rig or a self-elevating unit is a type of mobile platform that consists of a buoyant hull fitted with a number of movable legs, capable of raising its hull over the surface of the sea. The buoyant hull enables transportation of the unit a ...

offshore drilling rig An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...

yard. The yard closed in the 1980s, with the rig market collapse. Bethlehem Steel sold the yard in 1989 to

Trinity Industries Trinity Industries Inc. is an American industrial corporation that owns a variety of businesses which provide products and services to the industrial, energy, transportation and construction sectors. Now, the company has five business groups, wh ...

. Trinity Industries purchased a Panamax floating and continued operations. The Panamax floating was moved to New Orleans in 1994.

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company CB&I is a large engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company with its administrative headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. CB&I specializes in projects for oil and gas companies. CB&I employs more than 32,000 people worldwide. In May ...

purchased the yard in 2006. Chicago Bridge & Iron turned the yard into a fabrication yard. In 2017 Chicago Bridge & Iron Company closed the yard due to damage from

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

, ending work for 455 employees. Many of workers were relocated to other Chicago Bridge & Iron sites. The site is now Allegiant Industrial Island Park Campus that opened in 2018.

Beaumont Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company

Beaumont Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company (1919-1920) wooden ships: (Cargo ships built for

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

for World War I. Beaumont Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company also operated a 2,500 ton

marine railway The patent slip or marine railway is an inclined plane extending from shoreline into water, featuring a "cradle" onto which a ship is first floated, and a mechanism to haul the ship, attached to the cradle, out of the water onto a slip. The m ...

. *''Swampscott'', Design 1001 Cargo Ship, Oct. 1918 *''Quemakoning'', Design 1001 Cargo Ship, May 1919 *''Oneco'', Design 1001 Cargo Ship, April 1919 *''Angelina'' Design 1001 Cargo Ship, June 1919 *''Awash'' Design 1001 Cargo Ship, completed as a barge *''Shelbank'', Schooner, June 1920, completed as Marie F. Cummins *''Shelby'', Schooner, May 1920, completed as Albert D. Cummins, now rest in mud in the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...

Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc.

In the interwar period the yard built over 200 vessels, mostly for companies in the oil business, with

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...

being the biggest customer by number of ships. The first war related work came in the form of two C1-A cargo vessels for the Maritime Commission. Apart from 4 minesweepers for the Navy and a handful of ships for private businesses, Pennsylvania produced primarily for the merchant marine with C1-A and C1-M ships the most numerous types of ships built. USS Sangay (AE-10) underway with a deckload of mines in 1943

USS Sangay (AE-10) underway with a deckload of mines in 1943

Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc. (1926-1947) built for World War II: *

YMS-1-class auxiliary motor minesweeper The ''YMS-1'' class of auxiliary motor minesweepers was established with the laying down of ''YMS-1'' on 4 March 1941. Some were later transferred to the United Kingdom as part of the World War II Lend-Lease pact between the two nations. One sh ...

Type C1 ship Type C1 was a designation for small cargo ships built for the United States Maritime Commission before and during World War II. Total production was 493 ships built from 1940 to 1945. The first C1 types were the smallest of the three original M ...

a C1-A and C1-M

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

s, 71 built. * 71 of 395

s ** 46 of 65 C1-A ** 24 of 211 C1-M-AV1 ** 1 of 6 C1-M-AV8 * 4 of 95 s ** , , , *

Type V ship The Type V ship is a United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM) designation for World War II tugboats. Type V was used in World War II, Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Type V ships were used to move ships and barges. Type V tugboats were made of ...

V4-M-A1

Tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

s *

Type N3 ship Type N3-S ships were a Maritime Commission small coastal cargo ship design to meet urgent World War II shipping needs, with the first of the 109 N3, both steam and diesel, type hulls delivered in December 1942. A total of 109 N3 ship were built ...

N3-S-A2 small coastal cargo ship. *

Type R ship The Type R ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II refrigerated cargo ship, also called a reefer ship. The R type ship was used in World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cold War. Type R ships ...

R1-M-AV3, refrigerated cargo ships **Examples: * SS Kielce Type N3-S-A2 * USS Corduba (AF-32) a R1-M-AV3 Type R ship *

USS Kerstin (AF-34) USS ''Kerstin'' (AF-34) was an ''Adria'' class stores ship in service with the United States Navy from 1945 to 1950. History ''Kerstin'' was launched 16 July 1944 by Pennsylvania Shipyards, Beaumont, Texas, under a United States Maritime Comm ...

R1-M-AV3 * USS Lucidor (AF-45) R1-M-AV3 * USS Muscatine (AK-197) C1-M-AV1 Type C1 Ship, *Point Arena, V4-M-A1 Tugboat *Stratford Point V4-M-A1 Tugboat * SS Cape Sable C1-A Cargo, became UN Navy Sangay (AE 10). * USS Adria R1-M-AV3 refrigerated cargo ship

Bethlehem Beaumont Shipyard

The ''Beaumont Yard'' was one of the major sources of offshore drilling rigs built in the United States with 72 offshore rigs built at the yard. Bethlehem Beaumont Shipyard (1948-1982) built: *

Semi-submersible platform A semi-submersible platform is a specialised marine vessel used in offshore roles including as offshore drilling rigs, safety vessels, oil production platforms, and heavy lift cranes. They have good ship stability and seakeeping, better than dr ...

s *

Jackup rig A jackup rig or a self-elevating unit is a type of mobile platform that consists of a buoyant hull fitted with a number of movable legs, capable of raising its hull over the surface of the sea. The buoyant hull enables transportation of the unit a ...

s *Tower Barges * Deck Barges * Drill Barges *Container Barge *Self-Propelled Semisubmersible Drill Rig

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company Beaumont

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company Beaumont (1982-2017) closed the Beaumont yard, called Beaumont Island Park Fabrication Services, in 2017, after the site was flooded due to Hurricane Harvey in September 2017. The sited had fabricated and transport large-scale process modules, shop-built ships and large steel plate subassemblies since 1982. In 2008 Chicago Bridge & Iron Company sold the site to

Port of Beaumont The Port of Beaumont is a deep-water port located in Beaumont, Texas near the mouth of the Neches River. It is the fourth busiest port in the United States according to the American Association of Port Authorities ''U.S. Port Ranking by Cargo To ...

. Port of Beaumont entered into a partnership with Allegiant Industrial to rebuild the 75 acres site.

Allegiant Industrial Island Park Campus

Allegiant Industrial opened the Allegiant Industrial Island Park Campus (2018- ) on the site in October 2018. The site has 500,000 square feet of welding, painting and fabrication space.Allegiant Industrial Island Park Campus
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