Walter Thomassie, Managing Director, Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors, LLC

Q: Please provide a brief career background.

A: I came up as a teenager and young adult in a vertically integrated seafood business (catching and processing primarily shrimp, tuna, & swordfish), which was initiated by my father, Robert Thomassie. I pulled my first marine gear at the age of 15, and performed all types of maintenance, repair, design and construction in both our fishing fleet and our processing plant. As operators of a small family business, my brothers and I grew up performing various duties as the business grew (i.e., basic diesel mechanics, fabrication and welding, electrical installations and troubleshooting, commercial refrigeration, digging ditches, shoveling shrimp, outside machinist, etc). You name it, we did it with our own hands.

My father has a passion for all things marine, and we built several of our own fishing vessels (launching them with wedges, hammers, and a lot of sweat), as well as offshore towing vessels my father operated separately through the late 70’s and 80’s. He eventually started our proper shipyard operations in 1990, reviving a defunct waterfront fabrication facility in Houma, LA. I became involved in shipyard operations full time in 2002, starting from the ground up, and have been a Managing Director of our shipyard operations since my father’s retirement in 2010.

Being involved in a hands-on family business, I have gained over 23 years of experience in shipbuilding, cost estimating, operations management and vessel design in the marine vessel construction and repair industry. I believe many of the lessons learned in the trenches with my team have proven invaluable in navigating the management of our business and the associated projects, many of which are complex, high value endeavors for sophisticated clients. Over the years, I have been fortunate to participate in and watch the growth of the individuals I am surrounded with at our company, and I am proud of their abilities and accomplishments – we truly have a team that punches above their weight class.

Q: Please provide a ‘By the Numbers’ look at your shipyard today.

A: Thoma-Sea has grown over the years with a proven ability to design, manage, and execute complex commercial marine and government vessel construction projects from concept through delivery. We have built an excellent team, managing a work force of 500+ employees, delivering many vessels of various sizes and mission requirements ranging up to 330-ft. in length and 10,000LT of displacement.

Thoma-Sea’s experience in the construction and repair of marine vessels covers a variety of vessel types and sizes, including but not limited to: Offshore Supply Vessels, Well Stimulation Vessels, Hydrographic Research Vessels, Inland Tugs, Offshore Tugs and Anchor Handling Vessels, Ferries, Complex Trawler/ Processors, Specialty Vessels, and Barges for both commercial and government clients. We have built some of the most complex commercial vessels, including a cutting edge 100m Trawler/Processing vessel for the pollock fishery, Last Generation Well Stimulation vessels, and Seismic Research vessels.

Thoma-Sea is a small/medium shipbuilding and repair company consisting of three shipyard locations, (2x New Construction, 1x Repair/ Conversion) covering over 100 combined acres of waterfront property. TMC facilities provide covered fabrication shops at each location, a full steel processing center (Blast, Paint, CNC cutting, NC forming, Frame Bending, etc.), an ABS Certified Machine Shop, and a Pipe Spooling Shop with NC bending and CNC profiling capabilities. TMC repair operates four floating dry docks ranging in capacity from 3500T to 10,800T, the largest of which has a well for servicing drop down thrusters. TMC has a demonstrated combined facility production capability of ~10-12,000T of steel production per year when fully manned, and has delivered as many as 10 vessels of varying types in a year during peak production cycles.

Q: Over the course of your career, put in perspective the attention to all matters maritime you have seen to date coming from the Trump administration, as compared to any/all other administrations you’ve seen during your tenure.

A: While other administrations have supported US shipbuilding efforts, the current administration is putting a much larger emphasis on shipbuilding and the Marine Industrial Base than previous admins. This focus is encouraging, as retaining and reversing the decline of yet another domestic industry is important to the long-term US economy and National Security. There are currently few material details available, with broad initiatives having been released and it is a bit early to predict the full scope and impact of the President’s initiative regarding shipbuilding on all classes (or sizes) of shipyards, particularly whether small and mid-sized shipyards are thoughtfully considered in the proposed initiatives and policies. Mid and Small tier shipyards represent a significant portion of the nation’s capacity and this sector also represents a valuable resource which may be leveraged for growth should there be a strategic evaluation of the available resources and creating a plan for leveraging these same resources both as a bridge and long-term solution for supply chain constraints related to vessel production here in the US. It will also be interesting to see what initiatives, if any, will be ultimately enacted to encourage/ support commercial projects and small to mid-sized shipyards (such as enhancing the availability to smaller yards of proven and scalable shipbuilding technology solutions as well as timely regulatory approval of novel approaches to improvements), as there are notably less projects due to the unprecedented rate of inflation realized over the past five years. The administration’s overtures seem to indicate there will be initiatives to encourage commercial sector projects, but any program must be practical and realistic to support the commercial sector and allow for stakeholders to truly take advantage of same, our hope is that the administration further engages with the commercial industry for effective programs.

Q: How has this attention already materially impacted your shipyard operations, and/or how do you anticipate it will impact your business in the coming 12-36 months?

A: The President’s focus has not led to any material impacts on shipyard operations to date but has given rise to engagement from various government personnel and advisors active in gathering data and input from stakeholders. I am cautiously optimistic this gathering of information and input from industry will result in refining policies and initiatives in a meaningful manner for the US shipbuilding industry as a whole. It is difficult to project the direct impact of implemented policies on our operations, but our initial impression is that there is an earnest effort on behalf of the federal government to become more educated and engaged in the US shipbuilding and repair industrial complex.

Q: Please discuss in depth one project, one vessel – either recently completed or ongoing – that best illustrates the cumulative capabilities of your shipyard.

A: While we have had and continue to have our share of exciting projects, such as the ongoing construction of the next generation research vessels for NOAA, I would have to say the Arctic Fjord was the vessel that most represents our shipyard’s capability. The size and scope of this project was simply not supposed to be possible for a shipyard (or company) of TMC’s size and is a testament to our capabilities. The Fjord represents the latest and largest new construction of a Pollock Factory Trawler here in the US. The Norwegian design was created by Kongsberg (Rolls-Royce at the time) based upon Kongsberg’s 80m design previously built for various European Fisheries. She is a beautiful and complex vessel, 99.3m x 21m x 8.5m, with accommodations for 152 persons in hi-spec accommodations. The vessel hull design is optimized and highly efficient and further takes advantage of energy (heat) scavenging from various prime movers and used in various processes, resulting in a highly efficient vessel. [This ship] demonstrates the ability of quality US shipyards to build more complex hull form successfully. TMC performed more than 90% of the steel forming in-house, including the frame bending, and subcontracted the most complex compound bends to a regionally local forming company. An extensive amount of high-strength, high wear steel, as well as alloys such as 316L stainless steel and Copper-Nickel illustrated the skill of our craftsmen with the fit-up and welding (and weld sequencing) of the various components, as well as the precision installation of the various machinery systems. In addition to the vessels normal auxiliary systems, the vessel included a sophisticated low pressure hydraulic trawl system, with 14 remote controlled winches that included a variety of sensors and feedback to monitor trawl position, tension, and other parameters important to the operation. The vessel’s NAV/Comm and sonar systems are second only to the NOAA research vessels we are currently building, with much of the same equipment. The pilot house command and control center is sophisticated, requiring extensive integration of the various feeds and inputs. The cargo freezing system is a state-of-the-art cascading refrigeration system designed to efficiently support freezing and storage of the vessels finished product, as well as chill the fresh water and seawater used in the receiving bins and factory operations. The automated packaging and palletizing system with integrated elevator and conveyor system was designed with crew safety in mind, replacing the previous method of hand-stacking finished product in the freezer holds. The art of installing the vessel, trawl deck, factory, and packaging systems, and all of the support systems required for operation was a feat of engineering, planning, and execution. Every aspect of the vessel required precise planning and execution, as all of the systems had to fit into the available spaces surrounding the massive cargo hold, resulting in extremely dense machinery spaces. This vessel was built during the COVID-19 pandemic and was on dry-dock for launch during the direct impact of Hurricane IDA (successfully weathering the storm)! The vessel was a first of its kind built in America and has been successfully working in the fishery since it’s delivery in 2023 and is a shining example of a successful shipyard team effort, coupled with a truly collaborative owner group relationship.

Q: How are you investing in your shipyard today?

A: TMC is currently investing in shipyard improvements focused upon multiple areas. As our workforce is our most valuable resource, TMC is active in improving facilities and break areas for our workforce, updating training programs and a training center for our skilled labor force, and improved production support facilities with upgraded meeting spaces and areas for team collaboration. TMC is also in the planning phase of upgrading automated and semi-automated systems, such as robotic welding for our panel lines and sub-unit fabrication as well as further upgrades to our pipe fabrication shop.