Bethlehem Beaumont Shipyard was a

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...

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 an ...

that grants access to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

. 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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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. Maritim ...

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 northwe ...

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

barges A barge is typically a flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and marine water environments. The first modern barges were pull ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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, such ...

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. Maritim ...

. After the war

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success ...

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-based shipyard Union Iron Works. In 1917, it was incorporated as Bethlehem Shipbuil ...

. 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 ...

offshore drilling rig An oil platform (also called an oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, etc.) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms w ...

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 drydock and continued operations. The drydock was moved to New Orleans in 1994.

Chicago Bridge & Iron Company CB&I, originally known as Chicago Bridge & Iron Co, is a global engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm that specializes in storage solutions for infrastructure and industrial projects. CB&I was founded in 1889 and is headquartere ...

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 tropical cyclone that made landfall in 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 tropical cy ...

, 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 a corporation 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 ...

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

marine railway A 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 mar ...

. *''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 region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

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 Independ ...

being the biggest customer by number of ships. The

Texas oil boom The Texas oil boom, sometimes called the gusher age, was a period of dramatic change and economic growth in the U.S. state of Texas during the early 20th century that began with the discovery of a large petroleum reserve near Beaumont, Texas. ...

could conceivably have to do something with this unusually high activity at a time when shipbuilding in the rest of the country was at a low point due to the surplus produced in the World War I boom years. 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. Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc. (1926-1947) built for World War II: *

Type C1 ship Type C1 was a designation for 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 Maritim ...

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 List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

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 o ...

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, suc ...

s * Type N3 ship N3-S-A2 small coastal cargo ship. * Type R ship R1-M-AV3, refrigerated cargo ships **Examples: * Type N3-S-A2 * a R1-M-AV3 Type R ship * R1-M-AV3 * R1-M-AV3 * 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 USS ''Sangay'' (AE 10). * 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 ...

s *Tower Barges *

Deck Barge The Type B ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II barges. Barges are very low cost to build, operate, and move, and can transport bulky cargo. Because barges lack engines for self-propulsion, they are ...

s * 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 (and nicknamed "The Island"), in 2017, after the site was flooded due to Hurricane Harvey in September 2017. The site 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 T ...

. 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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