Rejected Aegis sale won’t hurt BIW, lawmakers say

BATH – Sale of Aegis destroyers to Taiwan would have given Bath Iron Works a boost, but the U.S. decision not to sell the ships won’t hurt the shipyard, lawmakers said.

The shipyard has been the lead yard in the design and construction of the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers. And while constructing ships for another country would be a bonus for the shipyard, BIW was not anticipating the extra work from Taiwan, said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who serves on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee.

“Since the previous administration has also rejected the sale, there will be no impact on Bath Iron Works because the company was not counting on this work, although BIW obviously would have welcomed it,” Collins said.

Earlier this month, officials from General Dynamics, which owns BIW, told a congressional committee that unless Navy spending on shipbuilding increases, shipyards such as BIW may be forced to lay off workers.

The Aegis ships will be phased out in 2005. Beginning next year, the Navy will reduce from three to two the number of Aegis ships built annually by BIW and its competitor, Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss.

As a result, BIW could face a gap in its shipbuilding schedule until the new line of destroyer, the DD-21, comes into production, U.S. Rep. Tom Allen said. “The sale of ships to Taiwan would be beneficial to BIW in the long term, but would not fill the gap that could occur in the next three years,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, who earlier this year joined a bipartisan group of senators urging President Bush to support the Taiwan sale, said the shipyard will get by without the foreign contract, her spokesman said.

“The construction of ships for a foreign nation would be a bonus for BIW,” Snowe spokesman Dave Lackey said, “but would not be integral to the future of the shipyard.”