Litton, Avondale to Team Up on Ship Projects

Litton Industries Inc. and Avondale Industries Inc. said they’ve teamed up to pursue three future shipbuilding projects, and may do so for others as well. The companies, two of America’s leading shipyards, will cooperatively bid for several billion dollars’ worth of expected orders for crude-oil transport ships, Coast Guard cutters and U.S. Navy cargo ships during the next several years. Avondale and Litton’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division also agreed to become preferred partners. The agreement “will expand the opportunities for both of our firms and permit us to fully utilize our competitive strengths on a combined basis,” said Albert Bossier Jr., Avondale’s chairman and chief executive. The agreement comes as a dwindling number of orders, and the technical complexity of new ships, planes and other weapons, has made teaming arrangements among competitors common in the defense industry. Shares of Woodland Hills-based Litton fell 13 cents to close at $53 on the New York Stock Exchange; New Orleans-based Avondale’s shares fell 13 cents to close at $22.13 on Nasdaq.