Gulf Island Fabrication Inc
A maker of the massive steel structures that hold offshore energy equipment above the water, Gulf Island Fabrication builds drilling platforms, jackets, hulls and subsea modules, and repairs and maintains them for the energy and industrial sectors. It was founded in 1985 when offshore pioneer Alden "Doc" Laborde — the engineer behind the first mobile offshore drilling rig — bought a Louisiana fabrication facility out of bankruptcy during an industry downturn. The name nods to its home waters: the "Gulf" of Mexico, where its Houma, Louisiana, yard on the navigation canal floats finished structures directly out to sea.