Ketchikan Shipyard

Ketchikan Shipyard is a full service facility that serves vessels traveling in Alaska’s surrounding waters. Coffman provided mechanical and electrical engineering design and commissioning services for the $25 M indoor ship building and repair complex. Spanning across 16.5 acres, the facility includes a 25,000 sf ship assembly hall and production center complete with offices, shops, and employee facilities.

The mechanical design elements included heating and ventilation, welding gas distribution system with central supply, compressed air distribution system with twin 350 hp air compressors, variable repositionable ventilation and exhaust, boilers, pumps, fuel oil transfer and distribution, and the support building HVAC. There were limited examples for a shipbuilding facility of this magnitude, so the design team worked closely with the owner and operator to develop the systems.

In order to maintain independence between the engineering design and commissioning, Coffman turned the building commissioning over to an engineer that was not involved with the design. Coffman’s design engineer and commissioning agent worked closely to turnover a fully commissioned facility that met the owner’s project requirements.