Doug Ward News

A new shipbuilding and repair training program in Alaska aims to develop an advanced manufacturing workforce comprised of state residents. Shipbuilder and repairer Vigor has teamed up with the maritime workforce development network Maritime Works for a public, private and philanthropic initiative called Advancing Alaskan Workers, which will train Alaska’s next generation of advanced manufacturing workers. The initiative strives to combat the high turnover rates seen at Vigor’s Ketchikan shipyard and elsewhere that result when non-Alaskans are recruited to fill the state’s critical skills gap.

A new maintenance company with no shipyard experience takes a struggling repair yard, converted from an old cannery, and transforms it into a success story. Alaska Ship & Drydock (ASD) is on its way to achieving its vision of becoming the maritime support center for the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans. The yard’s story is tied to the economic development in Southeast Alaska and its turning point came with the construction of the MV Susitna, the first ice strengthened twin hull ferry, commissioned by the Office of Naval Research.