The US-based shipbuilder announced it will lay off some of its employees, as part of its efforts to “adjust its operations and workforce in line with its current order backlog”. The company has already laid off approximately 10% of its workforce during the first quarter of 2018.
The shipbuilder is currently building two container ships for Matson (Hulls 029-030). During Q1 2018, Hull 029 was successfully launched from the building dock and the first block of Hull 030 was placed in the building dock. The planned delivery dates for Hulls 029 and 030 are Q3 2018 and Q1 2019, respectively.
In addition, during Q1 2018, the project to build up to four additional environment-friendly vessels for the Hawai’i containership trade was placed on hold and the Letter of Intent between Philly Shipyard and TOTE for the construction and sale of these vessels expired in January. TOTE’s ships, which were planned for deliveries for 2020 and 2021, would have secured additional workload for the shipyard.
While Philly Shipyard continues to actively seek the new orders and capital necessary to build vessels after Hull 030, it has begun to adjust its operations and workforce in line with its current order backlog. These adjustments include idling parts of its facilities and laying off some of its employees.
