By Mark Edward Nero
San Diego-based Marine Group Boat Works, a family-owned
boatbuilding and repair company with three yards in Chula Vista, National City
and Baja California, was recently awarded three Navy contracts to build five
small, powerful steel tugboats; six large steel workboats; and 16 aluminum 60-foot
dive boats, for a total of 27 new vessels with a value of over $45 million.
In a fourth separate Navy contract, Marine Group is to
dismantle and dispose of two 224-foot Avenger-class Mine Counter Measure ships
built in the mid-1980s – USS Avenger and USS Defender – in
accordance with state and federal environmental regulations, recycling parts
where possible.
The shipyard said that work will begin immediately on all
the recently awarded contracts and that the combined period of performance
takes its workload and order books well into 2020.
“Our vision was to bring custom boatbuilding back to
California where we have trained a new generation of craftsmen,” Marine Group
President Todd Roberts said.
Marine Group booked the contracts after the Navy conducted a
nationwide call for competitive bids from qualified shipyards with fewer than
500 employees for proven design concepts that would fulfill the Navy’s new
fleet missions’ requirements.
The company says its facilities and proximity to various San
Diego-area naval bases was also a factor in gaining the contracts.
“Our team has perfected our craft and has become good at
what we do. We have a long history with boats of all shapes and sizes. We
operate them; repair them; build them. We see problems with them. We see beauty
in them. That 360-degree perspective is just how we evaluate and approach our
work now,” Roberts said.
“With internal forecasts and data from our past construction
of vessels, building these boats will add about 25 jobs and pay out about $22
million to subcontractors and material suppliers,” Roberts said.
For Chula Vista, National City and the region where Marine
Group is located, these new construction contracts are expected to lead to
about 68 jobs and $58.5 million spent in the regional economy.
