NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 28, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Three 53-foot trailer trucks loaded with supplies and equipment departed Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) New Orleans facility on Sept. 27 to assist the company's Integrated Systems sector's Lake Charles, La., facility with Hurricane Rita recovery efforts.
A photo accompanying this release is available at http://media.primezone.com/noc/
The trucks containing food, water, ice, generators, compressors, 1,980 gallons of diesel fuel, tarps, acetylene torches, corrugated siding, cleaning supplies and a washer and dryer, are intended to provide relief to company employees in Lake Charles after they took care of Northrop Grumman Ship Systems employees in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
"This is our way of returning the favor to our fellow Northrop Grumman teammates who have suffered the impact of Hurricane Rita," said Woody Oge, the site director at Northrop Grumman's New Orleans facility. "They really came to our aid when we needed it right after Katrina and we're just glad to be able to help them out in their time of need."
The Integrated Systems sector in Lake Charles transported fuel and water to the New Orleans facility to assist the yard in restoring operations after Katrina. Northrop Grumman is utilizing the emergency-response experience learned from past storms to allow facilities to assist each other in times of need. The company's Newport News sector moved fuel, rolling stock, food, water and other critical materials to Pascagoula, Miss., following Katrina. Also, the company's Information Technology sector moved rapidly to help reinstate the company's networks in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Northrop Grumman is the largest manufacturing employer in both Mississippi and Louisiana. In the four weeks since Katrina, Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems facilities in New Orleans, Pascagoula and Gulfport have made great strides in recovery efforts. While assessment and cleanup efforts are still ongoing, the sites have returned to ship production. Nearly 60 percent of the employees have returned to work, with more expected daily. To speed along that effort, the company is working with various federal and state agencies to provide temporary housing for displaced employees.
Northrop Grumman Ship Systems includes primary operations in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss.; and in New Orleans and Tallulah, La., as well as in a network of fleet support offices in the U.S. and Japan. Ship Systems is one of the nation's leading full-service systems companies for the design, engineering, construction and life-cycle support of major surface ships for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and international navies.
