General Ship Repair Corporation
The General Ship Repair Corporation (GSR) is a family-owned ship repair yard on Key Highway in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, in business since 1924 and now run by the fourth generation of the Lynch family. The yard handles repairs afloat, dry dockings of tugs, barges, cruise and passenger boats, and government vessels using two 1,000-ton class floating drydocks, and it sends downriver and riding crews to ships calling at Baltimore and nearby ports. In-house shops cover steel fabrication, machining, piping, electrical, rigging and painting, with an industrial arm, Baltimore Metal Works, serving shoreside factories and businesses. GSR reports a team of 45 available 24/7/365 for emergency and scheduled work.
General Ship Repair Corporation
Founded in 1924 by Charles "Buck" Lynch, The General Ship Repair Corporation (GSR) has operated from the same Key Highway site on Baltimore's Inner Harbor for a century, celebrating its 100th anniversary and passing to a fourth generation of Lynch family ownership. Over its history the yard converted Liberty Ships, docked LASH barges, and serviced everything from schooners and paddle wheelers to super tankers; today its core business is repair and maintenance for the regional workboat market. A self-sufficient operation with a team of 45, GSR is available 24 hours a day for emergency and scheduled work.
Services
- Ship repairs afloat, including mobile repair at any cargo pier and riding crews that sail with the vessel
- Downriver emergency repairs to ocean-going ships calling Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia, plus service to the area's ready reserve fleet
- Dry docking of tugs, barges and motor vessels; repairs, conversion and construction
- Steelwork, painting, rigging and machinery repairs; diesel mechanics and inside/outside machinists
- Crane and rigging load testing with dynamometer and certified weights up to 500,000 lbs
- NDT and inspection: ultrasonic thickness gauging, dye penetrant, magnetic particle, air and hydro testing, competent-person gas/oxygen checks
- Industrial fabrication and repair through the Baltimore Metal Works division, including field service and installations
Facilities
- Drydock #1: 114' keel blocks, 60' between wing walls, 18' draft over 2' blocks, 1,000-ton capacity, certified for U.S. Coast Guard
- Drydock #2: 116' keel blocks, 60' between wing walls, 15' draft over 2' blocks, 1,050-ton capacity, certified for U.S. Coast Guard
- Combined docks: 200'–250' keel blocks, 60' between wing walls, 2,050-ton lifting capacity
- Fabrication shop with shearing, rolling, CNC burning table and USCG/ABS certified welders
- Machine shop with lathes up to 27 ft between centers, portable boring bars, rigging and millwright service
- Pipe shop with bending and testing; electrical shop with licensed marine electricians and motor rewinding
- Paint shop with airless spray, sandblasting, high-pressure and portable UHP water blasting, and a floating self-contained blasting and coatings barge; portable shops for on-site work
- MARAD Small Shipyard Grant funded dry dock wash water removal and processing system
Vessel Types
- Tugs and barges
- Dinner cruise and passenger vessels
- Navy, Army and U.S. Coast Guard vessels, including Island Class cutter reactivation/overhaul
- Bulk carriers, Ro-Ro and other ocean-going commercial ships
- Historic sailing vessels such as Pride of Baltimore II
Location
- Home office and yard: 1449 Key Highway, Baltimore, MD 21230, adjacent to the Baltimore Museum of Industry
- Overseas representatives in Germany, Greece, Norway and Hong Kong