Navy in exclusive agreement with Shipyard

by Nick Delgado

Guam - Negotiations between the U.S. Navy and the Guam Shipyard are underway for the long-term lease of the former Ship Repair Facility. The Guam Shipyard was the lone bidder to respond to the Navy's request for interested companies to lease the facility for performing ship repair, overhaul, and maintenance of vessels on Guam.

Guam Economic Development Authority administrator Karl Pangelinan says he's very happy with the news, saying, "We're happy that it was retained with the ship and that it stayed with a small business. A little sad that GEDA is now out of the picture in terms of the lease revenues that we received from the Guam Shipyard but that is the small price to pay in terms of the big benefit for the whole island of Guam."

Pangelinan adds that although GEDA will lose out on the roughly $11,000 a month in rent for the lease of the property, the government will reap the benefits from the retention of jobs. The Guam Shipyard is currently subleasing the facility from GEDA, which is set to expire on September 30. Shipyard president and CEO Mathews Pothen meanwhile attributes the hard work of his employees to their ability to providing quality ship repair and dry docking services to the Navy, the Military Sealift Command and Coast Guard ships.

Pothen says the shipyard will invest substantial capital to improve the facility and upgrade the machinery and equipment in the coming years to enhance the ship repair capability.