Manufacturing Jobs News

A fleet of U.S. offshore wind projects central to President Joe Biden's climate change agenda may not move forward unless his administration eases requirements for subsidies in the year-old Inflation Reduction Act, according to project developers.Norway's Equinor, France's Engie, Portugal's EDP Renewables, and trade groups representing other developers pursuing U.S. offshore wind projects told Reuters they are pressing officials to rewrite the requirements, and warning of lost jobs and investments otherwise."The components needed for our projects to progress simply do not exist in the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) recently announced the availability of nearly $20 million in Fiscal Year 2022 Federal funding to support funding to help modernize U.S.'s small shipyards.MARAD’s Small Shipyard Grant Program aims to strengthen the economic competitiveness of shipyards by providing grants that can be used to purchase equipment or train employees. In addition, the purchase of American-made manufacturing equipment with these, small shipyard grants support a wide range of jobs throughout our nation’s manufacturing base.

Vineyard Wind on Friday announced a deal to use union labor to help construct what will become the nation's first major offshore wind project off the Massachusetts coast near Martha's Vineyard.The labor agreement with the Southeastern Massachusetts Building Trades Council covers 500 jobs, most of which will go to local workers, the company said in a statement. It also includes hiring targets for women and people of color.The pact is the first in the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry and comes as President Joe Biden…

When U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration approved the country’s first major offshore wind farm this month, it billed the move as the start of a new clean energy industry that by the end of the decade will create over 75,000 U.S. jobs.Industry executives and analysts do not contest that claim, but they make a clarification: For the first several years at least, most of the manufacturing jobs stemming from the U.S. offshore wind industry will be in Europe.Offshore wind project developers plan to ship massive blades, towers, and other components for at least the initial wave of U.S.

President Donald Trump visited Fincantieri Marinette Marine Thursday following the Wisconsin shipyard’s recent contract award to design and build the U.S. Navy's first-in-class FFG(X) guided-missile frigate.The first U.S. president to visit the Marinette Marine shipyard, Trump toured the facilities where Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) are currently built and met with employees before delivering remarks in which he pledged support to the U.S. shipbuilding industry and congratulated the shipyard for winning the multibillion dollar frigate contract."Not long ago…

On August 16th, 2019 Eastern Shipbuilding Group, a Panama City, Florida shipyard building both government and commercial vessels, successfully delivered the tug Capt. Jim McAllister. This is the fifth vessel to be delivered by the shipyard since Hurricane Michael, a category 5 storm – which devastated the region. This delivery marks another milestone in Eastern’s accelerated return to normal operations, as well as its commitment to long term sustained recovery and economic stability for the industrial base of the Florida Panhandle.

Toronto-based naval technology company Hepburn Engineering has won a contract to provide Replenishment-at-Sea (RAS) systems for the Royal Canadian Navy’s new Joint Support Ships (JSS).The Canadian shipbuilder Seaspan Shipyards announced that it has awarded Hepburn the  contract for work on Canada’s JSS.Hepburn will provide four Replenishment Stations for the Joint Support Ships, which will allow the vessels to transfer fuel, fresh water, and solid goods to and from other vessels.These Replenishment-at-Sea (RAS) systems will be fully compatible with NATO standards, thereby allowing the JSS to resupply and refuel Canadian and allied task force ships at sea…

The ITS Alpino, a Fincantieri-built frigate sailing under the Italian flag, made landfall in Norfolk. The ITS Alpino, a FREMM-class frigate, is a model of the ship the U.S. Navy is considering for the FFG(X) future frigate program. FREMM frigates are the only ships in the competition that have been proven in combat, having helped to destroy a Syrian chemical weapons facility in April. "The ITS Alpino demonstrates the proven versatility and capability of the FREMM class frigate," said Vice Admiral Richard Hunt (Ret.), Fincantieri Marinette Marine's Chief Strategy Officer. "It is lethal, survivable, designed for sailors and in service now. It provides a superior platform for the U.S. Navy FFG(X) competition and can provide great combat capability for our Navy in the near term and beyond.

The state of Rhode Island announced it will provide $20 million in incentives to General Dynamics Electric Boat to help the submarine builder expand its facilities.The infrastructure investment announced today by Rhode Island Governor Gina M. Raimondo will allow Electric Boat to accelerate the hiring of 1,300 new employees over the next decade as the builder is slated to produce 29 Virginia Class Submarines and 12 Columbia Class submarines for the U.S. Navy.Over the next 10 years…

Bahri, Lamprell, Hyundai Heavy are partners and will build VLCC's starting in 2019. Saudi Aramco plans to build the Gulf's largest shipyard through a joint venture with three companies that it announced on Wednesday, a $5.2 billion project aimed at helping reduce the economy's reliance on oil. Low oil prices have drastically slowed Saudi Arabia's economy so it is trying to create manufacturing jobs and produce goods and services which traditionally it has imported. Its strategy is to use large amounts of government money and the procurement budgets of big state-run enterprises, such as national oil firm Aramco, to attract foreign expertise to develop strategic industries.

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) is on track with its $100m tug building contract and celebrated the ceremonial launch of the fourth of its nine new tugs being built in Durban. The tug – named OSPREY in honor of the fish eagle – will serve at the Port of Saldanha. In line with maritime tradition, the duty of officially naming the vessel was carried out by Lady Sponsor, Thandeka Mabija, who earlier this month was appointed General Manager for Human Resources at TNPA. TNPA Chief Operating Officer…

Officials from POSCO, the Ports of Indiana and community leaders gathered to break ground today on POSCO's new wire rod processing center at the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville. POSCO is a multinational company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea, and the fifth-largest steel producer in the world. The new $19 million facility is expected to begin operations in 2017 and create up to 60 high-wage jobs by 2018. POSCO is South Korea's fourth largest company, behind Samsung Electronics, SK Holdings and Hyundai Motors, and is ranked No. 162 in Fortune's Global 500. "When a global company like POSCO selects Indiana for its newest plant, it is a strong endorsement of our state's pro-business environment and talented workforce," said Governor Mike Pence.

Twelve Pacific Rim countries on Monday reached the most ambitious trade pact in a generation, aiming to liberalize commerce in 40 percent of the world's economy in a deal that faces skepticism from U.S. lawmakers. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact struck in Atlanta after marathon talks could reshape industries, change the cost of products from cheese to cancer treatments and have repercussions for drug companies and automakers. Tired negotiators worked round the clock over the weekend to settle tough issues such as monopoly rights for new biotech drugs.

The ouster of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has further weakened a Japanese bid for one of the world's most lucrative defence contracts, a A$50 billion ($36 billion) programme to build stealth submarines for Australia, sources say. Australia got its fifth prime minister in as many years on Monday after the ruling Liberal Party voted to replace Abbott with former investment banker Malcolm Turnbull, following months of infighting and crumbling voter support. Abbott and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who ended a decades-old ban on weapons exports last year, enjoyed a close relationship that saw Japan emerge as the early front runner to replace Australia's aging Collins class subs.

Japan had been seen as frontrunner for Australian submarine deal, but Australian defence firms unhappy after talks with Japan. A Japanese consortium eyeing a A$50 billion ($35.68 billion) contract to build submarines for Australia irked local suppliers by failing to share key information about its proposal or discuss specific collaboration possibilities during a visit last week, executives at Australian firms said. The apparent missteps underscore Japan's inexperience in bidding for global defence deals after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ended a decades-old ban on weapons exports last year as part of his more muscular security agenda. Japanese defence officials and executives from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries visited Adelaide…

Japanese delegation tries to make case for submarine contract. Japan's effort to charm Australian politicians and the public over its bid for a A$50 billion ($35.60 billion) submarine project appeared to stumble on Wednesday, with officials from Tokyo resisting pressure to commit to building the vessels in Australia. Japanese defence officials and executives from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries made their first major pitch to build 12 stealth submarines for Australia's navy during public briefings in Adelaide, a ship-building hub. Once seen as the frontrunner to win the contract, the Japanese bid has since come under scrutiny over whether Tokyo would build any of the submarines in Australia, where manufacturing jobs are a hot-button political issue.

South Australian defence shipbuilding company ASC has axed 101 blue collar jobs from its facility at Osborne near Port Adelaide. The submarine and shipbuilder ASC has let go 101 contractors from its facility in Adelaide in a move it says will increase productivity on its air warfare destroyer program. "This contractor management activity is normal practice for projects of this nature and has, and will, occur several times over the life of the project," it said in a statement. “On the basis of continuous improvement, ASC is making enhancements to the way it undertakes production activities, including changing the sequencing of work. Whilst the change in sequencing will lead to efficiency gains during the entire construction timeline for each chip…

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has assured South Australians there will be more submarine jobs here even if he won’t commit to having a new fleet of vessels built there,  as Liberal MPs fear voter backlash if the contract for Australia’s next-generation fleet goes to Japan. "Whatever happens, I can give an absolute, categoric guarantee there will be more sub jobs in South Australia and I think that's what South Australians understandably want," he said in response to to reports some Liberal MPs are concerned about a voter backlash if the contract for Australia's next generation fleet goes to Japan. Opposition frontbencher Brendan O’Connor claimed Abbott had already done a secret deal with Japan.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant visited Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding facility, meeting with shipyard officials on workforce development and training initiatives and touring Ingalls' Maritime Training Academy, the company announced. "Mississippi is home to the greatest shipbuilders in the world and builds the most technologically advanced warships on the planet," Bryant said. "Workforce development is critical to ensuring Mississippians are prepared for skilled manufacturing jobs like those at Ingalls.

W&O announced its opposition to the McCain Amendment (amendment #2) to S.1, which it said would cripple the U.S. shipbuilding industry by striking the U.S. build requirement provisions of the Jones Act. “The amendment Senator John McCain has put forth would devastate W&O’s business and others operating in the maritime industry. The ripple effect of this legislation would also impact companies and individuals outside our industry, significantly affecting the 480,000 jobs tied to maritime operations,” said Michael Hume, president and CEO of W&O.

American Maritime Partnership (AMP) issued a statement opposing Senator John McCain’s recent measure to eliminate the U.S. shipbuilding industry. AMP said U.S. shipbuilding is critical to supporting America’s military power and defense needs employs hundreds of thousands of Americans and pumps tens of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy. “The McCain amendment would gut the nation’s shipbuilding capacity, outsource our U.S. Naval shipbuilding to foreign builders and cost hundreds of thousands of family-wage jobs across this country," said AMP Chairman Tom Allegretti.

Australia should discuss building its next-generation fleet of submarines overseas, the Department of Defence said on Monday, a shift that could open the door to a partnership deal with Japan that carries political risk at home and abroad. Australia is looking for partners to help it build about a dozen diesel-electric submarines to replace its aging Collins Class fleet and help to extend its maritime surveillance deep into the Indian Ocean. The proposed A$40 billion fleet of submarines is at the core of the nation's maritime defence strategy over the next two decades. Successive governments have pledged to build the vessels in Australia, creating much-needed manufacturing jobs.

Marine Current Turbines, the UK tidal energy technology company, has won EnergyOcean International’s 2011 Technology Pioneer Award for successfully demonstrating and running their commercial-scale SeaGen tidal technology. The award will be received by Martin Wright, Chief Executive of Marine Current Turbines (MCT), at the EnergyOcean International 2011 Conference in Portland, Maine, USA next month (June 15th). The 1.2MW SeaGen, located in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough, is the only tidal current turbine anywhere in the world to feed power regularly into a local electricity grid on a commercial basis. It has been operating since 2008 and has the capacity to generate electricity for the equivalent of 1500 homes.