St. Joe shipyard steps up recruiting
Inside the giant hulls of the three ships docked at the Eastern Shipbuilding Group’s shipyard in Port St. Joe, scores of workers plied their trade, as is typical.
What was different last week, on Sept. 18, is that dozens of applicants, from Gulf and Franklin counties and beyond, filed through the parking lot all day long, part of a CareerSource Gulf Coast Job Fair designed to recruit qualified candidates for over 50 skilled craft, long-term positions at the advanced shipbuilding facility.
There were, of course, openings for hands-on tradespeople, everything from painters, welders, pipe welders, pipefitters, millwright machinists, electricians and mechanics, but also there were openings for human resource jobs and clerical positions.
Becky Samarripa, CareerSource Gulf Coast’s communications manager, said that while applications, beginning with an Employ Florida registration, are always taken at the agency’s online site and at the Panama City location, they felt it important to bring applicants onsite to Eastern, where they could witness the imposing presence of the three enormous ships now being worked on.
In addition, managers at the shipyard could often interview applicants right on the spot, and offer a job without delay.
Marvin Serna, Jr., vice president of operations, said work is expected to be completed next year on two ultra high-spec 400 class Multi-Purpose Support Vessel (MPSV) as part of a partnership with Hornbeck Offshore Services, LLC. Also in partnership with Hornbeck is the conversion from a platform support vessel to a first-of-its-kind Service Operation Vessel (SOV), tailored to serve the emerging demand of the U.S. offshore wind market and the ongoing demand of the petro-energy flotel market. Work is slated to be completed in Port St. Joe and, scheduled for delivery in 2025.
The third ship is the 302-foot ferry Long Island, slated for delivery later this year, after the workers at Port St. Joe put the finishing touches on her.
This state-of-the-art vessel will join a fleet that includes two other Eastern-built ferries, all of which ferry passengers for the Bridgeport and Port Jefferson Steamboat Company across Long Island Sound for hundreds of thousands of passengers and cars every year.
Serna said men and women who may lack advanced vocational training can be hired into an apprenticeship program, in which they acquire the necessary skills to become an integral part of the worker team. In addition, veterans are given priority in hiring.
“They come with the desirable skills,” he said.
He said 322 people now work at the shipyard, and that following the job fair, about 18 openings remain to be filled.
Among those on hand was Cheon Beachum, a 2023 graduate of Port St. Joe High School, who had been invited by his uncle, Fred Owens, who was also applying, to come out.
“I’m trying to see if I can find a job,” said Beachum.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.