The Eastern Shipbuilding Group announces it will add about 400 jobs in the next year. The company says they are preparing to build two new sub-sea construction vessels. They will be primarily used by the offshore oil industry.
Right now they are working on five, 282-foot vessels to be put to work in Brazil's offshore industry. Federal transportation officials estimate that this current project added about 300 new workers.
Brian D'sernia, the company's founder and president says they've added 750 employees in the last year and a quarter. Harvey Gulf International is the company requesting the two- $100 million vessels.
D'sernia says this will continue to grow the offshore oil industry that was once turned stale.
"The offshore oil industry was born and raised in the Gulf of Mexico. We were the forerunners. As the shallow water discoveries petered out, the offshore industry migrated to the North Sea, off Africa and Southeast Asia, and the gulf was referred to as the Dead Sea. Well not any more. There have been some spectacular, deep-water discoveries in the Gulf, economically supportable and that's what these boats are for." D'sernia said.
In addition to the 400 jobs they are hiring, the group says they recently added eight more engineers. The company also added another 1200-foot transfer system---this will allow for them to handle more work and potentially hire more people.