What is a Shipyard?
A shipyard is a facility for building, maintaining, and repairing ships and boats which can vary in size from personal sailing boats to large container ships designed to travel around the globe. Usually, a shipyard is positioned in an advantageous location along a large inland river, harbor, or shoreline, and some historic shipyards have operated in the same location for hundreds of years. Numerous people work in a shipyard, including naval architects, engineers, electricians, and an assortment of other skilled tradespeople who contribute to the construction of a ship. A shipyard also has a large amount of specialized equipment. At the most basic, a shipyard simply builds ships. However, most shipyards also maintain and repair ships that they have built, or ships caught in emergency situations which cannot return to their home shipyard. Typically, shipyards for civilian and military ships are kept separate, because of the security demands of the military, and the highly specialized shi
A shipyard is a facility for shipbuilding, repair, maintenance, and shipbreaking. Some shipyards also manufacture offshore oil and gas drilling platforms. Shipyards are dangerous construction zones with many worker hazards. Shipbuilding and ship repair activities include painting, surface preparation, tank cleaning, and all aspects of marine construction. Routine ship engine maintenance requires handling engine fluids such as oil, antifreeze, and hydraulic fluids. A ship may be repaired or maintained while afloat or may be hauled into a dry dock area out of the water. Before repairs, a ship’s ballast and bilge tanks may be emptied of dirty water into the surrounding waters. New ships are built in dry docks. Because shipyards are located on the water, pollution created by shipyard activities can fall into the water directly or be carried in by runoff. Shipbuilding and ship repair use toxic chemicals including chromium, copper, nickel, and lead. When large ships are cleaned, a process ca
There is a converted-modified Shipyard on the south side of the Lake Washington Ship Canal taking shape, and it is “classy”. For those who boat through the Canal, or drive on W. Commodore Way, the differences are striking. On the old Marco Shipyard are two dramatically different developments. Facing the street appear to be pretty conventional mixed-use office buildings. On the water, however, is innovation. The Salmon Bay Marine Center has begun to take shape with two completed buildings nearly ready for occupancy and several substantial new docks. This will collectively be the home of a maintenance facility, outfitting facility and “staging” facility for large yachts. In other words, a Shipyard. It breaks with the conventional vision of Shipyards–the buildings are tasteful, there are ample sidewalks, unobstructed docks and wide gangplanks. Open space is plentiful. Within the facility are Provisioners, Repairers, Designers–services to meet the demands of large cruising yachts. There
