BATH, Maine (AP) – Maine’s Bath Iron Works has lost out on a crucial contract to build Coast Guard Cutters.
The Coast Guard said Thursday the contract was awarded to Eastern Shipbuilding in Panama City, Florida.
Bath Iron Works hasn’t built a Coast Guard ship since the 1930s but officials warned that its future hinged on landing the contract. The shipyard’s workforce was told there would be steep cuts, as many as 1,200 jobs, if the yard failed to land the contract.
The Coast Guard has estimated the contract could be worth $10 billion or more over the next two decades.
Bath Iron Works was one of three shipyards under consideration in a design competition. A BIW spokesman confirmed the loss of the contract Thursday evening.