Metal Shark Boats is an American developer and builder of aluminum-hull vessels that operates shipyards in Jeanerette and Franklin, Louisiana. [1] It offers a variety of vessels ranging from commercial transportation to specialized law enforcement and military applications.
The company was founded as Gravois Aluminum Boats in 1986, building primarily small recreational vessels. As sales declined Gravois incorporated Metal Shark in 2005 with the goal of attracting governmental and commercial clients. [2] [3] The company operated out of its Jeanerette facility, building boats up to 60 feet (18 m) in length primarily for government agencies, notably a $192 million contract for almost 500 small response boats for the United States Coast Guard. [4]
In January 2014, Metal Shark announced that it had purchased a 25 acres (0.10 km2) site in Franklin, Louisiana on the Charenton Bypass Canal and planned to establish a second shipyard there with the capacity to construct vessels up to 250 feet (76 m) in length. The facility opened in July 2014. [5] In December 2014, Metal Shark reached an agreement with the Damen Group to market and build Damen-designed ships. [6] As of 2016, Metal Shark had built about a thousand vessels for operators around the world. [7]
Metal Shark won the $54 million contract to build 13 Defiant-class patrol vessels, under the supervision of the US Navy, intended to be given the USA's Caribbean neighbours. [8] [9] [10] The class of vessels is based on the Damen Stan 2606 design—the same design nearby rival Bollinger shipyards used for the US Coast Guard's very successful Marine Protector class of cutters. [11]
Metal Shark manufactures a smaller class of 38 feet (12 m) patrol vessels, also called the Defiant class. [12] Metal Shark delivered the first of several Defiant class vessels to Senegal and Cabo Verde in February 2018. Those vessels were gifts from the USA.
Operators of Metal Shark Boats:
Privately held, Metal Shark keeps its revenue figures close to the vest. Stickles declined to say what revenue is, but certainly Metal Shark would fall within ABiz's annual list of the Top 50 Private Companies in Acadiana. Yet the company had humble beginnings as Gravois Aluminum Boats in the mid 1980s.
Under the terms of the FMS, Metal Shark is building up to 13,85ft Defiant class welded aluminium cutters for the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala and other US partner nations.
The Metal Shark boats are a version of Damen's Stan Patrol 2606 design, so nominally 26 meters long and 6 meters of beam, but according to the Website, 87′ length overall with a beam of 19'6″. The Marine Protector Class were also a Damen 2600 series design, so the two classes share a great deal of DNA.
The two 38 foot (11.5 m) Defiant class patrol boats were handed over to the Senegalese Navy during a ceremony on 8 February 2018 in Dakar, Senegal. The donation included boat repair and maintenance kits, and towing vehicles, and a two-week training session on the use and maintenance of the vessels.