Hundreds of jobs open at Fincantieri Marinette Marine for U.S. naval shipbuilding

As we’ve reported, the U.S. Navy wants to decommission several ships that were built in Marinette within just the past decade. Yet, it’s full steam ahead for Fincantieri Marinette Marine to make more U.S. naval vessels.

The U.S. navy is proposing to decommission about 24 ships, a handful of which were built at Fincantieri Marinette Marine when the navy wanted faster, more maneuverable vessels. However, now priorities are shifting to long-range weapons and different threats.

“We make major investments in modernization, and those investments are important,” U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro shared during his visit to Fincantieri Marinette Marine on April 14. “Just like every new piece of technology sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t work out. When they don’t work out we have to basically shift gears in order to be able to use the American tax payer’s money most effectively. We have to apply the right return on investments that we make.”

The two Freedom class littoral combat ships currently being built in Marinette won’t be affected by the potential U.S. navy decommission plan. Additionally, Marinette Marine is set to build a new class of ships in July, called Constellation Class Frigates. The Navy has already ordered two Frigate ships from the Marinette shipyard with the option for eight more in the future.

“They don’t have one sitting on the shelf,” CEO of Fincantieri Marinette Marine, Mark Vandroff, emphasized. “By the time you order it, or the Navy orders it, it’s some number of months to get and you have to get a certain critical mass of your material. Everything from raw steel to a finished product like a pump or an engine.”

A labor shortage is another hurdle. Marinette Marine is already looking for about 300 workers for welding and electrical help with another 100 needed to provide engineering expertise on the new Frigate ships.

Fonte: Firstalert

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