Rhoads Industries Inc. has confirmed some details of a long-term deal to extend the work the family-owned ship repair company is doing for General Dynamics Electric Boat, which builds and upgrades Virginia- and Columbia-class nuclear submarines for the U.S. Navy.
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“Rhoads will continue providing steel fabrication, structural assembly, outfitting, and other shipbuilding support services” from its Navy Yard operations, the family-owned business said in a statement Wednesday. The contract, which Rhoads estimates is worth $2.5 million over 10 years, is expected to keep around 700 people working 40 hours a week for a year.
With the contract and other work Rhoads does at its ship-repair and testing facilities, Rhoads says it will eventually employ nearly 1,500 workers, roughly double its current headcount and five times what Rhoads employed three years ago.
Like the larger workforce at neighboring Hanwha Philly Shipyard, Rhoads shipyard workers and contractors are represented by the Philadelphia Metal Trades Council, a coalition of unions including locals of the Operating Engineers, Boilermakers, Ironworkers, Sheet Metal Workers, and other trades.
In a statement, company president Mike Rhoads said the expanded General Dynamics work would pay for “high-quality careers in skilled trades, engineering, project management, and manufacturing, further strengthening the Greater Philadelphia region as a center for advanced maritime manufacturing.”
Rhoads last year said it was building a $100 million manufacturing shed specifically for the Navy submarine work, designated Building 57A. On Tuesday, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon visited the facility and announced a $13 million loan funded by federal tax incentives to aid completion of the facility, which Rhoads said should be finished next year. JPMorgan also is funding $11 million in loans and grants to Chamber of Commerce-affiliated worker training and subcontractor assistance nonprofits.
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Rhoads added that his company has met Navy performance targets.
The Navy’s attempts to speed production and updating of the submarines have met delays, which industry observers tie to a national shortage of ship construction workers and to the Navy’s time-consuming design, approval, and change-order processes.
The Trump administration has vowed to speed production of submarines, which are considered less vulnerable than surface ships to the proliferation of drones that have extensively damaged shipping in Ukraine and Iran conflicts.
The Rhoads deal was briefly disclosed Wednesday by Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) when President Donald Trump spoke at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit in Carlisle.
General Dynamics Electric Boat builds Columbia- and Virginia-class nuclear Navy submarines at its yards in Groton, Conn., and Quonset, R.I., in partnership with Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia.
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