The U.S. Navy has awarded Jacksonville-based TOTE Services LLC a $2.2 billion contract to serve as vessel construction manager of its Medium Landing Ship program.
In a July 14 news release, TOTE Services announced the contract was for construction of up to eight of the vessels as part of a program supporting the Navy and Marine Corps’ planned 35-ship LSM fleet.
As vessel construction manager, the company will execute and manage subcontracts with Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana, for one McClung-class vessel and Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin, for four more. TOTE Services will have flexibility to determine the award strategy for up to three additional ships in that initial batch.
TOTE Services said it will subcontract with several firms to support technical execution of the program, including Leidos Gibbs & Cox of Arlington, Virginia; The McHenry Management Group of Chesapeake, Virginia; MAD Security of Huntsville, Alabama; and Damen Shipyards Group of Gorinchem, Netherlands, which designed the ship.
According to the maritime news site workboat.com, the LSM is designed to support U.S. Marine Corps distributed operations and littoral maneuvers, providing the ability to rapidly move and sustain forces in contested coastal environments. Each ship will have capacity for 500 metric tons of cargo and up to 282 troops.
TOTE Services provides ship management and vessel construction services for government and commercial customers. It also manages a fleet of more than 30 ships and provides turnkey technical, safety, crewing and operational solutions.
TOTE Services is part of the TOTE Group, a member of the Seattle-based Saltchuk companies.