Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced on Wednesday that its Ingalls Shipbuilding Division plans to hire approximately 3,000 full-time shipbuilders as part of its future growth plan. The company is adding ship fitters, electricians, pipefitters, pipe welders and structural welders. It is also seeking applicants with mechanical, hot work, or carpentry experience.
“We are steadily adding new team members to our growing workforce. Shipbuilding is a challenging, extremely rewarding and potentially life-changing career, and we are excited to offer so many full-time, stable, full-benefits opportunities to our community,” commented Kari Wilkinson, Ingalls Shipbuilding president.
HII is based in Pascagoula, Mississippi and is the country’s largest military shipbuilder, employing over 41,000 people in the U.S. and abroad. The company is recruiting 3,000 new workers across Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
During the Newport News, Virginia-based firm’s May quarterly earnings call, executives praised HII on its spending spree aimed at boosting its unmanned business, which is part of its Technical Solutions unit.
Ingalls Shipbuilding is in part expanding its workforce to execute a contract for planning yard services in support of in-service amphibious ships. This contract award was announced on June 9th and has a potential total value of $724 million.
The contract includes options over seven years. It covers fleet modernization, availability planning, engineering, design and logistics support, material procurement, program and configuration data management and on-site technical support through established homeport and planning yard offices and resources.
The contract requires Ingalls Shipbuilding’s planning yard services to support amphibious transport dock (LPD 17), assault (LHD 1 and LHA 6), command (LCC 19) and dock landing (LSD 41/49) classes of ships.
Wilkinson commented on the contract by stating, “Ingalls has a 40-year history of providing planning yard services to ships in active service. We consider this a core competency and a critical part of our mission to support the Navy in meeting fleet commitments around the world.”
