The New York-quoted shipbuilding conglomerate has had little to say about Avondale as of late but did provide a brief update in its annual report.

“Although closure is still the baseline assumption for Avondale, we are pursuing other opportunities to utilize this facility,” HII told investors Thursday.

Avondale has been a candidate for closure for some time but management pledged to explore the possibility of re-entering the commercial shipbuilding arena in 2013.

While