Marinette Marine wins extension on Navy contract to build more ships

Marinette Marine will be building the latest round of Navy combat ships, according to a recent announcement from the company.

 

Back in 2010, Lockheed Martin snagged a contract to build littoral combat ships a few at a time for the U.S. Navy, and the Navy just followed up on that by commissioning two more, the seventh and eighth out of a possible ten ships.

 

Marinette Marine is subcontracting with Lockheed to build the ships, and delivered the first ship on the contract in 2013, with another to be launched later this year. Three more are under construction in Marinette right now, and a sixth will begin construction later in 2014.

 

So once Marinette Marine's shipyards are freed up from those ships, two more will follow right on their heels, which means no down time for the shipbuilder and increased investment from its parent company, Fincantieri. Over the last several years, Fincantieri has put more than $74 million into process upgrades, increased efficiency and expansion of its Marinette facilities to speed construction of the Navy ships, and its other contracts. 

 

That may sound like a lot, but the Navy contract will total almost $699 million. Marinette Marine's other customers include the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Its location on the Great Lakes also makes for easy delivery and trials of new vessels. It currently employs about 1,400 people.