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Icon of the Emerald City
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For almost nine continuous decades, Todd Pacific Shipyards has proudly built and repaired
ships on the Seattle waterfront and provided thousands upon thousands of jobs to generations of skilled
craftspeople throughout the Puget Sound area. The year was 1916 when the William Todd Company purchased
a shipyard from the Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Company and thus became the first iron and steel
shipbuilding yard in the Pacific Northwest. Of note, Todd Seattle constructed submarines for the Electric
Boat Company
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in 1918, and commencing in 2003, eighty-five years later, Todd Pacific Shipyards again teamed with EB to work
together on a multi-year ballistic missile submarine ("SSGN") conversion project.
Growth, Decline, and A New Beginning
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World War II brought massive changes and boom years to Todd Shipyards. The organization grew to encompass eleven
facilities nationwide that constructed or repaired 23,000 ships for the war effort. The Seattle Division alone
built 126 ships of six different classes in just 36 months. As the country transitioned to a post war economy,
the company reorganized and continued to operate seven shipyards on the Pacific, Gulf, and Atlantic coasts.
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After experiencing considerable fluctuations in the ship construction, conversion, and repair markets
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in the 1950's and 1960's, the 1970's saw Todd Seattle construct Washington State's two then largest double-ended ferries,
the Spokane and Walla Walla. Navy new builds included four Charles Adams Class Guided Missile Destroyers, seven
Knox Class Frigates, thirteen Oliver Hazard Perry Class Guided Missile Frigates for the US and Australian navies,
a floating dry dock,and the USNS Hayes, a catamaran-hulled oceanographic research ship. Commercial
new construction included self-unloading phosphate rock barges, and seven tug supply boats.
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Challenging times resurfaced in the 1980's driven by an overall decline in the industry, and the company filed
for bankruptcy protection in 1986. Reorganization ensued, and by 1990, the company had rightsized to a
single 46 acre facility on Harbor Island in Seattle, where it today continues to successfully operate
the Northwest's largest ship repair and construction yard. Major projects accomplished in the 90's
included the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) of eight Coast Guard High Endurance Cutters, and the
world's first open top conversion of a container ship. Late in the decade, Todd Pacific built three Jumbo
Mark II car ferries, largest in the country, for the State of Washington. This was followed in the early years
of the new century when Todd also built a Power Barge for export, and "Cutting Edge" structures for the new
Tacoma Narrows Bridge caissons.
The New Milennium and The Way Ahead
Since the arrival of the new century, much of Todd Pacific Shipyards' focus has been on achieving our vision to
be the Best Shipyard on the West Coast of North America. We want customers to choose Todd because of our safety
and quality, cost and cycle time, and customer service, and we strive to meet these objectives in all market
segments, both government and commercial. Our customers include the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard,
the Washington State Ferries,
other ferries, cruise, container, tank, and fishing vessels, dredges, tugs, and barges. ISO 9001-2000 certification,
in-house engineering, procurement, subcontracting, and project management staff coupled with government-approved
accounting, procurement, and billing systems, and a strong facility security system are discriminators that
benefit our customers.
Under long term Navy repair contracts, Todd performs a large portion of the non-nuclear repairs on Puget
Sound home ported Nimitz class aircraft carriers. The company also repairs submarines, destroyers, frigates,
and continues to partner with Electric Boat in the SSGN conversion project. Todd accomplishes all dry dockings
and associated repairs of the Coast Guard's Polar Class icebreakers and high Arctic research icebreaker
Healy. The Army, Maritime Administration (MARAD), Military Sealift Command (MSC), and National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) complete a diverse group of government customers.
Under the leadership of CEO Steve Welch, Todd Pacific Shipyards embarked
upon a commitment to improve safety, quality, process re-engineering and the implementation of Lean manufacturing
concepts in 2001. That story is still unfolding - see Safety and Quality
and Lean Manufacturing capabilities for details.
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