Bardex to transform River Port’s Newport News shipyard with an OmniLift® of more than 25,000 Te

Bardex Corporation has been selected to supply a new OmniLift® shiplift system to River Port, LLC, an S23 Holdings company, at its facility in Newport News, Virginia. The system will be operated by East Coast Repair & Fabrication, LLC (ECR) and is part of a strong push to expand capacity for construction, maintenance, repair and fleet support.

This is no minor upgrade: it will be a new dry dock and, once completed, a NAVSEA-certified facility. With a maximum lifting capacity of just over 25,000 metric tonnes (about 27,600 short tons, according to WorkBoat), the OmniLift will make it possible to service and repair larger vessels and also to launch sub-assembly modules for Navy ships.

What the system brings

The OmniLift will be custom-designed for Newport News:

• 48 lifting stations of 640 Te each (WorkBoat puts them at around 705 short tons)
• A platform of about 450 × 110 ft (137 × 33.5 m)
• Linear chain jack technology (no steel wire ropes as the primary lifting medium)
• Motion control to keep the platform level and synchronized under real operating conditions

The goal is precise load control, reliability, maintainability, operational flexibility and value across the entire life cycle.

The project also includes a rail transfer system and several land-based work positions (hardstand). This way, a vessel comes out of the water, is transferred ashore and the shiplift is freed up for the next one. ECR will be able to work on several vessels out of the water simultaneously, with higher throughput and shorter waiting times for naval and commercial customers.

Bardex covers engineering design, equipment manufacturing, controls, installation support, commissioning, training and life-cycle support. Engineering is already underway; entry into service is anticipated for September 2028.

Jorge Rivera, founder and CEO of S23 Holdings, summed it up:

“This investment is about giving our people the infrastructure and capability they need to serve our customers more effectively.”

As operator, ECR will be able to take in larger vessels, carry out several repair availabilities at once and offer more flexibility and shorter lead times to the Navy and commercial customers.

From a regional perspective, the project adds construction and repair capacity on the U.S. East Coast: more vessels ashore, more parallel work and a platform designed for demanding operation, not just for a one-off lift.