Philly Shipyard's chief financial officer, Brian Leathers, has died unexpectedly at the age of 60.

Leathers joined the Philadelphia-based yard in early 2019 as its strategy and compliance officer and was promoted to the post of finance chief that July.

"It is with great sadness that we share the news of Brian's passing, and our entire organisation mourns his death," said Philly Shipyard chief executive Steinar Nerbovik.

"Brian was a well-respected colleague and friend to many. His positive energy, enthusiasm, and dynamic personality will be sorely missed."

The Oslo-listed company said it would immediately begin the process to appoint a successor and has already taken measures to handle the interim period.

Leathers had previously been the chief financial officer at Austal USA, Australian shipyard group Austal's US yard in Mobile, Alabama.

In taking that post in 2008, TradeWinds reported Leathers had joined from California's United Security Bancshares, where he developed the company's strategic programme, created management reporting systems and built up a compliance programme.

He also spent 15 years in manufacturing, as director of estimating and pricing at Teledyne Brown Engineering and accounting and systems manager at Kaiser Aluminium.

Philly Shipyard spent a chunk of 2019 languishing after its orderbook dried up.

The company said in March 2019 that it was exploring taking on government contracts and, in August, made two deals to repair ships owned by the US Maritime Administration and managed by TOTE Maritime.

The yard then secured a contract to build five merchant marine training vessels for the US government, which it contracted with TOTE to build.