Swiftships

Swiftships is a shipbuilding and marine engineering company headquartered in the Port of South Louisiana, United States. The company operates globally[1] and specialized in the construction of small to medium sized vessels made of steel, aluminum or fiberglass.[2] Swiftships is involved in ship design, construction, repair and maintenance activities.

History

Founded by Fred Sewart in 1942, Swiftships began as Sewart Machine Works and then as Sewart Seacraft[3] in 1946. The company became a supplier of "Swift Boats" to the US Navy during the Vietnam War (Swiftships delivered 193 Fast Patrol Crafts to the US Navy throughout the conflict).[1] The mission objective of the Swift Boat was to provide the Navy with a fast boat that could patrol the river shores for enemy soldiers.[4]

In 1969 the company was renamed as Swiftships.[5]

Since 2004 and for the next years, Swiftships built ships for the oil and gas industry of the Gulf of Mexico[6][7] and restored vessels for the Dominican Republic.[8]

The company created its first fully unmanned surface vehicle in 2015, called Anaconda (AN-1), and later the Anaconda (AN-2), for which Swiftships teamed with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette[9] and augmented technology developers.[10][11]

Since 1942 Swiftships has designed and built over 600 naval vessels and commercial platforms.[2]

In March 2026, Swiftships filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing assets and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million.[12]

Co-production

In 2008 the company signed a contract with the Egyptian Navy, initiating a co-production program, building vessels in-country.[13] The partnership includes a yard in Alexandria, where the company produces patrol crafts.[14]

In 2009, Swiftships was awarded a contract by the U.S. Navy to provide Follow on Technical Support on behalf of the Iraqi Navy that included the establishment of a Ship Repair Facility in Umm Qasr, Iraq.[15][16][17][18]

Yards

In 2020, Swiftships operates three yards in the US and one co-production yard (JV) with the Egyptian Navy in Alexandria, Egypt:

Products

Ship types include:

References

  1. 1 2 "Swiftly Going Places Where Others Fear". Swiftships. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Swiftships". shipbuildinghistory.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "Yachts .com Swiftship Yachts". www.yachts.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  4. ↑ Network, Warfare History (10 June 2019). "Swift Boats: How America Used These Tiny Warships to Wage War In Vietnam". The National Interest. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  5. ↑ "Swiftships back in commercial market". WorkBoat. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "Back to Business". WorkBoat. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Swiftships Completing 20-Acre Repair Yard In Freeport, Texas". magazines.marinelink.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  8. ↑ "Entregan dos guardacostas a la flota naval dominicana - Diario Dominicano". www.diariodominicano.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  9. ↑ "Swiftships, UL Lafayette develop unmanned boat for military". University of Louisiana at Lafayette. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  10. 1 2 "AN-2 Anaconda". www.navaldrones.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Robotic Marine Vehicles: Meet the Anaconda-2". magazines.marinelink.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  12. ↑ "Filing Alert: Swiftships Chapter 11". Bondoro. 18 March 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  13. ↑ "Egyptian Navy to get four more vessels from Swiftships". defenceWeb. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  14. ↑ "Swiftships Strengthening Its Global Presence". www.monch.com. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  15. ↑ "Swiftships gets $14.5 million more for Iraq Navy support". Marine Log. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  16. ↑ "Swiftships Orders Build Iraqi Navys Coastal Patrol Capabilities". Defense Industry Daily. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  17. ↑ "Swiftship cleared for $150m Iraqi Navy support contract". Naval Today. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  18. ↑ "US Approves $150m for Iraqi Navy Vessels and Ship Repair". Iraq Business News. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  19. ↑ IBERIAN, DWAYNE FATHERREE | THE DAILY. "Breaux adapting to changing boat market". The Daily Iberian. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  20. ↑ "Swiftships". Interlink Capital Strategies. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  21. ↑ "Currently we building of 6 fast patrol aluminium". Egyptian Ship Repair&Building Co. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  22. ↑ "Bahrain buys two American boats built Swiftships". weaponews.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  23. ↑ "BIDEC 2019: Swift Ships showcases fast patrol vessel and coastal patrol boat". www.armyrecognition.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  24. ↑ "Contracts for February 4, 2019". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  25. ↑ "NAVSEA Picks Swiftships LLC to Design, Build LCU Replacement in $18M Contract Award". USNI News. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  26. ↑ "Landing Craft Utility (LCU) - Defense Daily". Defense Daily. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  27. ↑ Burgess, Richard R. (3 April 2020). "Navy Orders Four New LCU 1700 Utility Landing Craft from Swiftships". Seapower. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  28. ↑ "Pakistan orders two corvettes from US-based Swiftships". Quwa. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  29. ↑ "Pakistan Navy buying vessels for special operations from US company". DAWN.COM. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
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