Sometimes we see something incredible that prompts us to think, “How is that possible?” One example is watching an enormous shipping barge or a towering Coast Guard cutter or a long Navy submarine lifted out of the ocean and into dry dock for maintenance.
The company Pacific Shipyards International does that regularly, right in Honolulu Harbor. Locally owned and operated, it's been around for nearly 80 years and employs over 200 people.
HPR went down to Pier 24 with CEO Iain Wood and Vice President of Programs Troy Keipper to learn more about dry docking and the kinds of jobs the industry creates.
Wood said lifting a ship out of the water can take anywhere from four to 12 hours depending on the complexity of the ship and the dock.
Floating dry docks must be submerged deep enough for a ship to float inside. To do that, workers allow water into a tank to lower the dock. Then they pump the water out to lift the dock back to the surface — this time, holding a ship.
"When you walk underneath, and you realize you're walking underneath 8 million pounds of steel, it's kind of awe-inspiring," said Wood, referring to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kimball.
Once a ship is out of the water, crews start a long list of repair and maintenance jobs. Kimball was dry-docked for three months earlier this year.
"It's fast, it's intense. There's a lot going on. The entire ship's being torn apart in a lot of cases. And so you have to be able to work in that high-paced environment," Wood said.
He said local dry dock companies are important because they allow ships to stay in Hawaiʻi instead of traveling to the continent for repairs, which can take ships out of the area for many more months.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Nov. 7, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Sophia McCullough adapted this story for the web.
