JAG Ketchikan landed a $99.6 million federal contract this month that will expand operations at the local shipyard. The contract is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, to fund upgrades to the Henry B. Bigelow ship, a fisheries research vessel based in Rhode Island.
While JAG operates the shipyard, it’s owned by AIDEA, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, which is a state-owned corporation. AIDEA expects the project will bring more jobs to Ketchikan.
Since JAG Marine Group took over the shipyard last September, employment has increased from 20 to around 150 workers. JAG expects the project will lead to longer term, year-round employment rather than seasonal maintenance work for the Alaska Marine Highway System.
Ketchikan Mayor Bob Sivertsen supports the project. “The continued growth of work at the Ketchikan Shipyard means more family-supporting jobs, more opportunities for young people to enter the trades, and a stronger economic foundation for our community and Southeast Alaska,” he said in a statement.
The project comes as JAG Marine Group has been in talks with the Borough of Wrangell about building a shipyard there. Earlier this year, the city and borough signed a three-year lease agreement with JAG to begin construction of a large-scale vessel shipyard. It’s expected to be the biggest in the region and serve as an overflow of the Ketchikan shipyard. Wrangell Borough Manager Mason Villarma has said the biggest challenge in making that successful will be securing enough housing to support the new jobs. But he expects it will bring an increase in population and in the local economy, if they can pull it off.
The contract between NOAA and JAG Ketchikan is just under three years and ends in April 2029.
