As the demand for nuclear-powered submarines increases, Newport News Shipbuilding said it’s working to hire 3,000 skilled trades workers this year and a total of 19,000 within the decade.
“We are making intentional investments and collaborating with community leaders to ensure we have a robust pipeline for hiring and strong partnerships to meet hiring needs,” Newport News Shipbuilding spokesperson Todd Corillo said.
Last year, the Hampton Roads Workforce Council reported the region’s maritime shipbuilding vacancies could increase to 40,000 by 2030 if measures to build capacity weren’t taken. And Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told attendees of a Dec. 14 suppliers conference in Philadelphia that the U.S. shipbuilding industry will need 150,000 new qualified workers in the next 10 years.
The Newport News shipyard is working with the Navy’s submarine industrial base office and the Hampton Roads Workforce Council to reach potential new hires, Corillo said.
Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of HII, is the state’s largest industrial employer with a workforce of 25,000. It is the sole manufacturer of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for the Navy and one of two yards that builds nuclear-powered submarines. The shipyard also works to maintain aging submarines.
In 2021, Newport News Shipbuilding began building components for the Columbia class, a new fleet of ballistic missile submarines that will replace the aging Ohio-class boats. The lead contractor on the Columbia class is General Dynamics Electric Boat of Groton, Connecticut. Newport News and Electric Boat also build Virginia-class attack submarines in a 50-50 teaming arrangement.
And in the coming years, Newport News Shipbuilding could work with Electric Boat to build three to five Virginia-class submarines as part of an Australia-United Kingdom-U.S. agreement where the U.S. could sell the ships to Australia in the 2030s as the country ramps up construction at its shipyard in Adelaide with U.S. technology and support.
Building the shipyard workforce is critical to helping the U.S. compete with China’s navy, which has tripled in size over the past 20 years and is expected to surpass 400 warships by 2030, Del Toro said during his December speech. The U.S. Navy has 292 battle force ships, according to January research prepared for Congress.
The Hampton Roads Workforce Council relied on strategy and management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to forecast vacancies and “help us understand the gap and where we needed to focus as a region to fill the workforce needs of the maritime industry,” Shawn Avery, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, said.
The workforce council, Avery said, predicts the number will increase as the shipyard and the Navy work to meet the shipbuilding demand. This demand, he said, adds to a steady stream of work at Hampton Roads ship repair and shipbuilding facilities, offshore wind efforts, a continued increase in warehouse and logistics facilities and port-related activities.
Virginia serves as the nation’s largest shipbuilding and repair industrial base, according to the Virginia Maritime Association. About 33,500 employees directly work in the private shipbuilding and repair industry with ripple effects bringing the industry’s total Virginia payroll employment impact to 79,000. The associated $6.2 billion in labor income generates $10.9 billion in gross state product.
Newport News Shipbuilding met its goal of 3,000 hires in 2023, Corillo said, and plans to match that goal again. The company is also hiring for salaried positions, including entry-level engineering positions.
To continue to build its workforce, Newport News Shipbuilding and the Hampton Roads Workforce Council began hosting monthly walk-in hiring events at locations in South Hampton Roads. The first was held in February, with the next event slated for March 28 at 861 Glenrock Road, Suite 114, in Norfolk. No appointment is necessary.
On the Peninsula, Newport News Shipbuilding hosts “Walk-in Wednesday” trade hiring events each week. Those events are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the shipyard employment office at 5200 W. Mercury Blvd., Suite 176, in Hampton. No appointment is necessary.
Caitlyn Burchett, caitlyn.burchett@virginiamedia.com
