Erie Shipbuilding LLC, Erie, Pa., just completed its first project — the conversion of a Great Lakes steamer into an articulated tug-barge — and is preparing it for inspections by the American Bureau of Shipping and the U.S. Coast Guard, and for more work.

As reported in the January 2006 issue of Welding Design & Fabrication, the shipyard, located on the shores of Lake Erie, has business that it expects will keep it busy for a few years.

However, the company needs to hire 30 to 40 welders in the next few months, and it needs welders with the appropriate credentials from the American Bureau of Shipping, says John Chapman, vice president and director of engineering of Erie Shipbuilding.

Chapman says only three or four welders out of 20 who graduate from technical schools can do the welding his company requires.

Beyond the backlog of work it has on its books, Erie Shipbuilding expects to get additional work because Port Weller Dry Docks (www.pwdd.com), in St. Catherine's, Ont., its nearest competitor on the Great Lakes, is in the first stages of bankruptcy proceedings. The parent company for Porter Weller Dry Docks, Canadian Shipbuilding Ltd., has suspended shipbuilding operations at the St. Catherine's facility, but has continued to provide ship repair services, while it restructures under Canada's Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.