Dirk VanEnkevort, President of Erie Shipbuilding, has spent 30 years involved in Great Lakes shipping, starting out as a deck hand and working his way up to being a tug captain.  He, along with his father, Clyde VanEnkevort, has been involved in the construction, conversion and maintenance of self-unloading Articulated Tug Barge (ATB) vessels for over twenty-five years.  He, along with Clyde VanEnkevort has designed and managed the conversion and construction of several tugs and barges currently operating on the Great Lakes including the 840’ ATB Joyce VanEnkevort/Great Lakes Trader, the newest, most modern and efficient ATB operating on the Great Lakes.

There is currently a great need on the Great Lakes and the ocean to utilize major shipyard facilities as oil tankers are converted to double skin vessels to comply with OPA 90, new oil tankers being built to replace outdated ones, the proposed building of several new Great Lakes self-unloader vessels along with the repair, maintenance and rebuilding of a significant portion of the American and Canadian Great Lake self-unloader and bulker fleets.

Recognizing this need, ESB leased the former Litton Industries shipyard and dry dock (built in 1969)  in Erie, PA from the Erie Port Authority.

The former Litton Shipyard is a major shipyard facility that Litton used in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s to build two 1000’ self-unloading vessels for use on the Great Lakes.  These two vessels are still operating on the Great Lakes to this day.

The Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority purchased the shipyard from Litton in the 1980’s. Later, the facility housed Erie Marine Enterprises, a ship-repair company, and Metro Machine Corp., which provided research and development services to the department of defense.