View source for Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard

{{Short description|Site in Sparrows Point, Maryland, US}}
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[[File:Bethlehem Steel Mill, Sparrows Point, Maryland.jpg|thumb|Bethlehem Steel, Sparrows Point, Maryland]]
'''Maryland Steel,''' in [[Sparrows Point]], [[Maryland]], US, was founded in 1887. It was acquired by [[Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation]] in 1916 and renamed as the '''Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard'''. The shipyard was sold in 1997 to Baltimore Marine Industries Inc. In 2012, it was owned by Barletta Industries, which had converted it to the '''Sparrows Point Shipyard and Industrial Complex'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spshipyard.com/index.html |title=Sparrows Point Shipyard Industrial Complex Home Page |access-date=2008-05-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511191056/http://www.spshipyard.com/index.html |archive-date=May 11, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spshipyard.com/history.html |title=Sparrows Point Shipyard Industrial Complex History Page |access-date=2008-05-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509073024/http://www.spshipyard.com/history.html |archive-date=May 9, 2008 }}</ref> As of 2021, it is owned by [[Sparrows Point Terminal, LLC]] and has been renamed '''Tradepoint Atlantic'''.

==History==
[[Image:SSHoxbar1919.jpg|thumb|The S.S. ''Hoxbar'' ready for launch at Sparrows Point on February 15, 1919]]
Maryland Steel built [[tug]]s, coastal passengers, dredges, cargo ships, and a few destroyers. Following its purchase by [[Bethlehem Steel]], it serviced and repaired ships and manufactured industrial products.{{Fact|date=May 2008}} One famous vessel built in this early period was the {{SS|Ancon|1901|2}}, launched as ''Shawmut'', which, in 1914, was the first ship to transit the [[Panama Canal]].

Facilities at the yard included a [[Dry dock#Graving|graving dock]], a [[Dry dock#Floating|floating drydock]] and two full-service outfitting piers which together provided nearly 3,000 feet of berthing space.{{Fact|date=May 2008}}

===World War II===
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.{{Fact|date=May 2008}}  The shipyard also constructed 21 [[Cimarron-class oiler (1939)|''Cimarron''-class oiler]]s from 1938 to 1946.

Once part of a chain of 17 shipyards operating under [[Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation|BethShip]], the Sparrows Point Shipyard was the only location remaining by 1990.{{Fact|date=May 2008}}

===Baltimore Marine Industries, Inc.===
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 which opened in 1999. Veritas reorganized the facility as Baltimore Marine Industries, Inc. (BMI) and won two US Navy contracts for new ship construction and dismantling of older tonnage.<ref>{{cite web|title=Baltimore Marine Industries, Inc. Bethlehem Shipbuilding Sparrows Point MD|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/bethlehem.htm|website=globalsecurity.org|access-date=28 March 2015}}</ref>

Although BMI was selected to build a fleet of deluxe cruise ships, the cruise line was never able to secure financing.{{Fact|date=May 2008}} With no orders on the horizon and no work aside from the two modest Navy contracts, BMI collapsed in [[bankruptcy]] in 2003.<ref name="U.S. Court of Appeals for 4th Circuit Case N0. 06-1206 (BAMI Vs. Maersk Line), 9 Feb 2001">[http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/061206.P.pdf U.S. Court of Appeals for 4th Circuit Case N0. 06-1206 (BAMI Vs. Maersk Line), 9 Feb 2001]</ref>

===Barletta Industries===
All assets were purchased by Barletta Industries Inc. in 2004 and reorganized as the Sparrows Point Shipyard and Industrial Complex.{{Fact|date=May 2008}} 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.<ref>[http://www.spshipyard.com/ Barletta Industries website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512215923/http://www.spshipyard.com/ |date=2008-05-12 }}</ref>
[[File:BETHLEHEM STEEL PLANT AT SPARROWS POINT - NARA - 546808.jpg|thumb]]

=== Liquidation ===
The plant continued to change hands, from [[ArcelorMittal]] to [[Severstal]] (for $810 million) to [[Renco Group]] (R.G. Steel; for $1.2 billion) and finally to liquidator [[Hilco Trading]] in 2012 (for $72 million).<ref>Brooke C. Stoddard, ''Steel: From Mine to Mill, the Metal that Made America''; Minneapolis: Zenith Press, 2015; p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=q-_6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA287 287].</ref><ref>Jamie Smith Hopkins, "[http://www.mcall.com/business/bs-bz-sparrows-point-sold-20120808-story.html Sparrows Point purchased for $72 million by plant liquidator]", ''Morning Call'', 8 August 2012.</ref><ref>Christine Hansen, "[https://mdbiznews.commerce.maryland.gov/2011/03/rg-steel-acquires-sparrows-point-steel-mill/ RG Steel Acquires Sparrows Point Steel Mill]", ''MDBizNews'' 2 March 2011.</ref> Hilco sold the plant's cold mill to [[Nucor]] in 2013.<ref>Jamie Smith Hopkins, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20151210152448/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-12-13/business/bs-bz-sparrows-point-cold-mill-20121212_1_environmental-liability-transfer-joe-rosel-sparrows-point Sparrows Point's cold mill to be used for pare parts: Purchase could kill workers' hopes that steel plant might reopen]", ''Baltimore Sun'', 13 December 2012.</ref> The blast furnace was demolished in January 2015.<ref>Pamela Wood, "Sign of the times: Sparrow's Point blast furnace demolished", ''Baltimore Sun'', 28 January 2015.</ref>

The property is now owned by Sparrows Point Terminal, LLC, a partnership of Hilco and [[Redwood Capital Investments]], who has renamed it "Tradepoint Atlantic". The site has been granted "zoning flexibility" and [[Enterprise Zone]] tax credits. Future tenants include [[FedEx]].<ref>Nathalie Sherman, "[http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-sparrows-point-tour-20150622-story.html As Sparrows Point demolition continues, plans for rebuilding begin]", ''Baltimore Sun'', 22 June 2015.</ref><ref>Pamlea Wood, "[http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-md-co-sparrows-point-brand-20160112-story.html Former Sparrows Point steel mill gets new name]", 12 January 2016.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Bethlehem Steel]]
*[[Steelworkers and Shipyard Workers for Equality]]

==References==
{{Primarysources|date=May 2008}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://findingaids.hagley.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/0884.xml Papers of Frederick W. Wood] at [[Hagley Museum and Library]]. Wood was a designer and constructor of the Sparrows Point steel plant and shipyard. He was also its president through its sale to the Bethlehem Steel Company.
* The [http://findingaids.hagley.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/2410.xml Research notes on Bethlehem Steel Corporation] at [[Hagley Museum and Library]] consist of materials collected by John B. Lovis for the writing of his book on the history of the Sparrows Point Plant, plus original [[Bethlehem Steel]] documents from his tenure in the Corporate Planning Department.
* Robert W. Pemberton papers, 1918-1999. 3.00 linear feet, at the [[University of Maryland Libraries]], State of Maryland and Historical Collections. Working files of a National Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer of [[Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America]] who was associated with the Sparrows Point and Key Highway shipyards in [[Baltimore]].

[[Category:Defunct shipbuilding companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Sparrows Point, Maryland| ]]
[[Category:Bethlehem shipyards]]
[[Category:Shipyards of the United States]]
[[Category:Industrial buildings and structures in Maryland]]
[[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Maryland]]