Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard was founded in 1887 as Maryland Steel in Sparrows Point, Maryland. It was acquired by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in 1916 and renamed Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard. The shipyard was sold in 1997 to Baltimore Marine Industries Inc. (BMI). It is currently owned by Barletta Industries, which has converted it to the Sparrows Point Shipyard and Industrial Complex.[1][2]
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Maryland Steel built tugs, coastal passengers, dredges, cargo ships, and a few destroyers. Following the purchase by Bethlehem, it serviced and repaired ships and manufactured industrial products. One famous vessel built in this early period was the SS Ancon which became the first ship to transit the Panama Canal in 1914.
Facilities at the yard included a graving dock, a floating drydock and two full-service outfitting piers which together provided nearly 3,000 feet of berthing space.
During World War II, the Sparrows Point Shipyard built ships as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding Program to help re-build the British Merchant Navy. Liberty ship production was a primary goal of the yard.
Once part of a chain of 17 shipyards operating under BethShip, the Sparrows Point Shipyard was the only location remaining by 1990.
In October 1997, the shipyard was sold to the Veritas Capital Fund, a New York-based merchant banking and investment firm which built a $300 million cold rolling mill complex on the site with a scheduled opening in 1999.
Veritas reorganized the facility as Baltimore Marine Industries Inc. (BMI) and won two Navy contracts for new ship construction and dismantling of older tonnage. Although BMI was selected to build a fleet of deluxe cruise ships, the upstart cruise line was never able to secure financing. With no orders on the horizon and no work aside from the two modest Navy contracts, BMI collapsed in bankruptcy in 2003.
All assets were purchased by Barletta Industries Inc. in 2004 and reorganized as the Sparrows Point Shipyard and Industrial Complex. Barletta claims it has modernized the infrastructure and refurbished the yard to prepare for leasing specific yard structures, buildings and land to companies in maritime and heavy industry.[3]