Swiftships

Swiftships is a shipbuilding and marine engineering company headquartered in the Port of South Louisiana, United States. The company operates globally and specialized in the construction of small to medium sized vessels made of steel, aluminum or fiberglass. 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 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). 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.

In 1969 the company was renamed as Swiftships.

Since 2004 and for the next years, Swiftships built ships for the oil and gas industry of the Gulf of Mexico and restored vessels for the Dominican Republic.

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 and augmented technology developers.

Since 1942 Swiftships has designed and built over 600 naval vessels and commercial platforms.

In March 2026, Swiftships filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing assets and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million.

Co-production

In 2008 the company signed a contract with the Egyptian Navy, initiating a co-production program, building vessels in-country. The partnership includes a yard in Alexandria, where the company produces patrol crafts.

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.

Yards

In 2020, Swiftships operates three yards in the US and one co-production yard (JV) with the Egyptian Navy in Alexandria, Egypt:

Products

Ship types include:

References

  1. 1 2 "Swiftly Going Places Where Others Fear". Swiftships. 16 August 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Swiftships". shipbuildinghistory.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "Yachts .com Swiftship Yachts". www.yachts.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  4. ↑ Network, Warfare History (10 June 2019). "Swift Boats: How America Used These Tiny Warships to Wage War In Vietnam". The National Interest. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  5. ↑ "Swiftships back in commercial market". WorkBoat. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "Back to Business". WorkBoat. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Swiftships Completing 20-Acre Repair Yard In Freeport, Texas". magazines.marinelink.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  8. ↑ "Entregan dos guardacostas a la flota naval dominicana - Diario Dominicano". www.diariodominicano.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  9. ↑ "Swiftships, UL Lafayette develop unmanned boat for military". University of Louisiana at Lafayette. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  10. 1 2 "AN-2 Anaconda". www.navaldrones.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Robotic Marine Vehicles: Meet the Anaconda-2". magazines.marinelink.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  12. ↑ "Filing Alert: Swiftships Chapter 11". Bondoro. 18 March 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  13. ↑ "Egyptian Navy to get four more vessels from Swiftships". defenceWeb. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  14. ↑ "Swiftships Strengthening Its Global Presence". www.monch.com. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  15. ↑ "Swiftships gets $14.5 million more for Iraq Navy support". Marine Log. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  16. ↑ "Swiftships Orders Build Iraqi Navys Coastal Patrol Capabilities". Defense Industry Daily. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  17. ↑ "Swiftship cleared for $150m Iraqi Navy support contract". Naval Today. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  18. ↑ "US Approves $150m for Iraqi Navy Vessels and Ship Repair". Iraq Business News. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  19. ↑ IBERIAN, DWAYNE FATHERREE | THE DAILY. "Breaux adapting to changing boat market". The Daily Iberian. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  20. ↑ "Swiftships". Interlink Capital Strategies. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  21. ↑ "Currently we building of 6 fast patrol aluminium". Egyptian Ship Repair&Building Co. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  22. ↑ "Bahrain buys two American boats built Swiftships". weaponews.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  23. ↑ "BIDEC 2019: Swift Ships showcases fast patrol vessel and coastal patrol boat". www.armyrecognition.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  24. ↑ "Contracts for February 4, 2019". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  25. ↑ "NAVSEA Picks Swiftships LLC to Design, Build LCU Replacement in $18M Contract Award". USNI News. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  26. ↑ "Landing Craft Utility (LCU) - Defense Daily". Defense Daily. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  27. ↑ Burgess, Richard R. (3 April 2020). "Navy Orders Four New LCU 1700 Utility Landing Craft from Swiftships". Seapower. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  28. ↑ "Pakistan orders two corvettes from US-based Swiftships". Quwa. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  29. ↑ "Pakistan Navy buying vessels for special operations from US company". DAWN.COM. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2020.