Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A. broke ground on March 11 for the expansion of its large erection building at Marinette Marine Corporation (MMC) as part of its continued investment in its United States shipyards. The ceremony marked the beginning of the second phase of Fincantieri’s five-year, $100m plan to modernize its United States shipyards and support the construction of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and other government and commercial projects.
This second phase of improvement will nearly double production square footage for MMC’s two large construction bays. For contracts such as the LCS, MMC will be able to have two complete hulls and parts for two other ships completely indoors at one time. The building enhancements allow higher levels of pre-outfitting for MMC’s proven modular construction process. They also enable larger sections of the ship to be erected, such as the pilothouse, prior to this ship’s launch. The investments allow the shipyard to construct LCS more cost effectively.
This investment follows previous investments by Fincantieri. In the first phase of the investment program, the shipyard installed higher-capacity overhead cranes and two CNC-controlled pipe bending machines, all to increase efficiency and capacity. In the third phase of improvements, the facility will strategically improve its panel line production facility and construct a new blasting and paint building.