STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – It was standing room only Tuesday as the South Yard Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding officially opened its doors.
Two new buildings were constructed for the project.
Building 433 is 92,000 square feet, and building 411 is just slightly smaller at 67,000 square feet.
Sturgeon Bay Mayor David Ward tells FOX 11 this solidifies the city’s status in the business of building ships.
“It really makes us in the ship building business for the next, like I said, 25 to 30 years. It’s the newest tools with this Navy contract, and the yard has been very successful in the commercial side as well.”
The project took 18 months, with Ward saying it could make Sturgeon Bay competitive on an international scale.
But a shipyard is only as good as the workers inside.
Vice President and General Manager for Fincantieri Todd Thayes says they haven’t had a tremendous struggle in attracting and maintaining talent, and the company is always on the lookout for new employees.
“We’ve been holding our own as it comes to hiring, and we’ve been bringing in some pretty young help, and we’ve been able to maintain, of course you always lose some. It was a lot easier a few years back, but we’re doing ok right now.”
It’s Thayes’ hope that with a new, attractive facility in Sturgeon Bay, skilled workers will want to call this their place of work.
“I really do believe that people will enjoy working in here. It’s bringing some outdoor ship building operations inside, you know, climate controlled. So yes, I really do hope that it’ll attract folks to this business, I think so.”
Adding all military programs within Fincantieri Marine Group and Fincantieri Marinette Marine will have opportunities to have some work done at the new facility.
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