Evers awards Marinette Marine tax credits to help hire workers and complete facility upgrades for frigate contract

Jeff Bollier
Green Bay Press-Gazette
A rendering of the Constellation class guided missile frigate Fincantieri Marinette Marine will build for the U.S. Navy.

MARINETTE - Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday announced $12 million in state tax credits to help Fincantieri Marinette Marine ramp up production of the Navy's new guided missile frigate

Evers and Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. officials visited Marinette Thursday to tour Building 34, the company's newly completed production facility on the shipbuilder's campus. The building, which took 15 months to finish, gives the company a climate-controlled building big enough for workers to build two of the 500-foot Constellation class frigates at the same time, said Fincantieri Marinette Marine CEO Mark Vandroff. 

"We are very grateful for the support provided by the state of Wisconsin," Vandroff said. “The investment made by the state and Fincantieri is enabling us to meet the needs of our Navy customer by being able to produce two Constellation class frigates per year.”

The U.S. Navy awarded the contract in April 2020 for Fincantieri Marinette Marine to design and build the first Constellation-class guided missile frigate and ordered a second frigate in May 2021. Each ship costs about $553 million. The contract included options for nine additional ships and could be worth up to $5.5 billion. 

The interior of Fincantieri Marinette Marine's new building for building  the U.S. Navy's new guided missile frigate.

In order to receive all $12 million in tax credits, the company will have to hire and train 400 new workers over the next three years and invest an additional $100 million in its Marinette and Sturgeon Bay shipyards. The company said it already has spent $300 million to prepare its northeast Wisconsin shiypards for the frigate job.  Evers said the company has invested $500 million in facilities, processes and workers since 2009. 

"We know these investments in Fincantieri and Wisconsin manufacturing will pay off," Evers told the small crowd of workers gathered in the enormous Building 34. 

Gov. Tony Evers shakes hands with a Fincantieri Marinette Marine worker on May 12. Evers announced the company would receive $12 million in tax credits as it adds workers and expands its shipyard.

The company began construction on the builidng in February 2021. The new building, the largest on the shipbuilder's campus, and other investments are needed to handle assembly of the frigates, which are taller, longer and heavier than the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) also built by Marinette Marine. The company has delivered 11 LCS ships to the U.S. Navy and most recently launched the USS Beloit last week. Five more LCS ships are under production.

Vandroff said the frigate is a 7,000-ton vessel compared to the 3,500-ton LCS.

"It’s not like twice the tonnage (requires) twice the workforce, but still it’s a much bigger ship. It  needs more people to build it," Vandroff said. 

The company has said it needs more workers in nearly every skilled trade, plus more engineers and project managers. 

It already has hired 100 new employees this year and, as LCS orders are completed, those workers will shift to building either the Constellation class frigate or the Multi-Mission Surface Combatant, a variant of the LCS that the company is building for the Royal Saudi Navy.

Vandroff said Marinette Marine is advertising its need for workers on stretches of U.S. 41, and also is searching nationally for workers to fill the jobs. 

"We just need more," Vandroff said. "This is a huge contract and, like the governor said, from where we are now, it's another 400 jobs across blue collar trades and white collar (roles) over the next year for us to be able to execute this program on schedule." 

From left, Fincantieri Marinette Marine CEO Mark Vandroff, Gov. Tony Evers joined officials from WEDC and Miron Construction on May 12 to cut the ribbon on a new building big enough to build the new Constellation class frigate for the U.S. Navy.

The company also is working closely with higher education institutions like Northeast Wisconsin Technical College to train workers, said Sam Rikkers, WEDC's chief operating officer.

This isn't the first support the state has provided since Marinette Marine received the frigate contract. Evers' 2019 biennial budget included $31 million for infrastructure improvements at the shipyard. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation in May 2021 provided a $1 million Transportation Economic Assistance Grant to support road construction adjacent to the shipyard. 

The economic impact of the frigate contract will ripple beyond the Marinette region. Production work in Marinette and Sturgeon Bay supports more than 200 northeast Wisconsin suppliers and subcontractors and 700 companies nationwide

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Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier