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. The company operates globally[1] and specialized in the construction of small to medium sized vessels made of steel, aluminum or fiberglass.[2] 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[3] 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).[1] 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.[4]
In 1969 the company was renamed as Swiftships.[5]
Since 2004 and for the next years, Swiftships built ships for the oil and gas industry of the Gulf of Mexico[6][7] and restored vessels for the Dominican Republic.[8]
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[9] and augmented technology developers.[10][11]
Since 1942 Swiftships has designed and built over 600 naval vessels and commercial platforms.[2]
In March 2026, Swiftships filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing assets and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million.[12]
Co-production
In 2008 the company signed a contract with the Egyptian Navy, initiating a co-production program, building vessels in-country.[13] The partnership includes a yard in Alexandria, where the company produces patrol crafts.[14]
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.[15][16][17][18]
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[2]
- New Iberia, Jeanerette,[19][20] Louisiana
- Freeport, Texas[7]
- 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.[21]
Products
Ship types include:
- Fast Patrol Vessels: company supplied vessels to Iraq (Swiftships Model 35PB1208 E-1455), Bahrain,[22] US governments and other.[23]
- Landing Craft: company has long-term agreement with a US government to build up to 32 new series LCU 1700 Class.[24][25][26][27]
- Corvettes: Swiftships started a program with the Pakistan Navy to build multi-purpose naval platforms, 75 meter corvette, for security and high threat missions.[28][29]
- Fast Supply Vessels: to Rodi Marine and other commercial groups.[2]
- Unmanned Surface Vessels- Anaconda (AN-2)[10][11]