Marystown Shipyard being sold by Kiewit Offshore Services
Company to retain Cow Head fabrication yard
The idled Marystown Shipyard will soon have a new owner.
Kiewit Offshore Services has entered into an agreement to sell the property and assets of the shipyard to a private Newfoundland company, according to Daniel Villeneuve, the CEO and president of the unnamed purchasing company.
In a press release, Villeneuve said the sale will include all of the assets and property associated with the shipyard site, while Kiewit will retain ownership of its Cow Head fabrication site.
"We are fully committed to returning to the area's roots of shipbuilding, to build a stable workforce and to work with the union and the town council of Marystown," Villeneuve said in the release.
In the same release, Glynn Smith of Kiewit said the sale will allow the company — which has owned the shipyard since 2002 — to centralize its operations at Cow Head.
"We continue to look for opportunities to bring work there and value the strong relationships we have built with the local workforce and the Marystown and the Burin Peninsula community," Smith said.
Kiewit workers finished up the last major project at the shipyard — building the Hebron drilling support module — in December 2015.
An online profile featuring Villeneuve says he is owner of VinKing Marine Enterprises which has called Port Harmon, Stephenville home since 2013.
It goes on to say the company owns the deep-sea port at Port Harmon and also has an adjacent 400-acre storage and staging property.