Capt. Frank Camelio steered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard through a near closure, improved efficiency and helped chart the course for a planned major modernization ahead.

He's retiring after a career that began as a Navy reservist in 1977 and three years in Hawai'i at the shipyard, with concerns still very much alive for the future of the state's largest industrial employer and its workforce of 4,800.

A change of command is scheduled for 10 a.m. today at Pearl Harbor. His successor, Capt. Gregory Thomas, is arriving from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which was recognized for its efficiency.

With the U.S. Atlantic Fleet Submarine Force, Thomas worked on requirements for the acceptance of the lead ship in the Virginia class of new nuclear attack submarines — an unspecified number of which will be based at Pearl and which will account for a lot of future shipyard work.

Among those will be the USS Hawai'i, expected to arrive in 2009.

"I see positives in (the command change). I think that we're sorry to see Capt. Camelio go, because we've been working especially closely with him over the past couple of years, and I wish him well," said Jim Tollefson, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i.

But Pentagon brass also speak highly of Thomas, who has a Ph.D. in hydrodynamics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Thomas most recently was operations officer at the Portsmouth shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

"Portsmouth reportedly made some tremendous strides in improvement, so if he (Thomas) was able to do that at Portsmouth, I'd like to think that he could do it here," Tollefson said.

Thomas, a native of Portsmouth, Va., will become the 46th commander of the shipyard.

In a 2005 round of base closures, the Pentagon had considered closing either the Pearl Harbor shipyard or its Portsmouth counterpart. Neither ended up on the chopping block.

But concerns remain that Pearl could be marginalized if efficiency doesn't continue to improve. Toward that end, a plan to renovate its World War I and II-era waterfront infrastructure is under way.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, recently included $30.2 million for drydock ship support services at Pearl Harbor in a 2008 military construction bill that was passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The money would represent the start of hundreds of millions of dollars in waterfront upgrades that are planned through 2030 to keep the shipyard competitive. Pearl Harbor is one of four Navy yards.

Camelio is credited with instituting new processes that helped Pearl Harbor improve efficiency. He instituted an improvement program that resulted in an estimated $20 million in cost reductions, and brought in a leadership system that emphasized accountability and professional development, the Navy said.

Prior to the change of command, a "Star" flag-raising ceremony will be held with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration awarding Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard "Star" status for excellence in health and safety in the workplace.

"Star" is the highest rating attainable under OSHA's Voluntary Protection Programs, the shipyard said.

The rate of employee injuries and illnesses at protection program sites are typically less than half the average of their respective industries.

The approval makes the shipyard the only Defense Department facility in the state to rate the distinction, the shipyard said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.