Swiftships
American shipbuilding and marine engineering company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Swiftships is a shipbuilding and marine engineering company headquartered in the Port of South Louisiana, United States.[1] The company operates globally[2] and specialized in the construction of small to medium sized vessels made of steel, aluminum or fiberglass.[1][3] Swiftships is involved in ship design, construction, repair and maintenance activities.
History
Founded by Fred Sewart in 1942, Swiftships began as Sewart Machine Works and then as Sewart Seacraft[4] in 1946. The company became a supplier of "Swift Boats" to the US Navy during the Vietnam War (Swiftships delivered 193 Fast Patrol Crafts to the US Navy throughout the conflict).[2] The mission objective of the Swift Boat was to provide the Navy with a fast boat that could patrol the river shores for enemy soldiers.[5]
In 1969 the company was renamed as Swiftships.[6][1]
Since 2004 and for the next years, Swiftships built ships for the oil and gas industry of the Gulf of Mexico[7][8] and restored vessels for the Dominican Republic.[9]
The company created its first fully unmanned surface vehicle in 2015, called Anaconda (AN-1), and later the Anaconda (AN-2), for which Swiftships teamed with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette[10] and augmented technology developers.[11][12]
Since 1942 Swiftships has designed and built over 600 naval vessels and commercial platforms.[3]
In March 2026, Swiftships filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing assets and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million.[13]
Co-production
In 2008 the company signed a contract with the Egyptian Navy, initiating a co-production program, building vessels in-country.[14] The partnership includes a yard in Alexandria, where the company produces patrol crafts.[15]
In 2009, Swiftships was awarded a contract by the U.S. Navy to provide Follow on Technical Support on behalf of the Iraqi Navy that included the establishment of a Ship Repair Facility in Umm Qasr, Iraq.[16][17][18][19]
Yards
In 2020, Swiftships operates three yards in the US and one co-production yard (JV) with the Egyptian Navy in Alexandria, Egypt:
- Morgan City, Louisiana[3]
- New Iberia, Jeanerette,[20][21] Louisiana
- Freeport, Texas[8]
- Egyptian Shipyard Repair Building Co. - partnership with the Egyptian Navy to co-produce Swift vessels in Egypt under an approved MLA by the United States government.[22]
Products
Ship types include:
- Fast Patrol Vessels: company supplied vessels to Iraq (Swiftships Model 35PB1208 E-1455), Bahrain,[23] US governments and other.[24]
- Landing Craft: company has long-term agreement with a US government to build up to 32 new series LCU 1700 Class.[25][26][27][28]
- Corvettes: Swiftships started a program with the Pakistan Navy to build multi-purpose naval platforms, 75 meter corvette, for security and high threat missions.[29][30]
- Fast Supply Vessels: to Rodi Marine and other commercial groups.[3]
- Unmanned Surface Vessels- Anaconda (AN-2)[11][12]