Ship christening celebrates workers at Sturgeon Bay's Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding

STURGEON BAY - Clusters of shipyard workers gathered in the bright sun Tuesday morning at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding. They proudly stood in the long shadows cast by the huge vessels they helped to make, minutes away from being officially christened.

From welders and machinists to painters and carpenters, the men and women posed for photos snapped to commemorate their achievement — the completion of a new articulated tug barge unit that will transport fuel in the Gulf Coast and to ports in Florida.

"It was great to do this and now to see the product, it's pretty amazing," said Jon Clark, one of the Bay Shipbuilding welders. "These are very unique and impressive."

The articulated tug barge unit, known as an ATB, is a cargo vessel integrated with a powerful tug at its stern. There is a notch in the stern where the tug and the barge are linked together, creating a nimble and cost-efficient ship for transportation.

Many of the workers at Bay Shipbuilding also are members of social media sites focused on ships and shipbuilding, and they often see vessels they worked to complete on videos shared around the world.

"It's the coolest thing when we see something we built on a Facebook video, like a ship going by the new Trade Center in New York and it was something I had worked on," said Andy Martyn, a painter at Bay Shipbuilding. "This is definitely a big day."

The work of the men and women transcends building ships — their work also is part of the economic engine of the shipbuilding industry and the nation, said Fidel Silva, a carpenter at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding.

"This is a proud moment," Silva said. "From start to finish there is a sense of pride in knowing you are building a future for this company and you are building a future for the U.S."

Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding was contracted by Wawa Inc., a company based on the East Coast with a growing fuel business in Florida, to build the barge, christened 1964, and the tug, christened Millville. Wawa sells about two percent of the gasoline sold in the nation.

While there are multiple shipbuilding facilities along the East or Gulf coasts, Wawa chose Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding for its reputation and expertise at skillfully crafting ships, said Brian Schaller, WaWa senior vice president, before the christening event Tuesday.

"This shipyard’s distinguished history of building articulated tug and barges, the investment the shipyard has made in its facilities over the past decade and the quality of the entire staff at the yard were meaningful factors in our decision to work with Bay Shipbuilding on this project," Schaller said.

Wawa will use the new tug and barge to supply its growing network of retail locations in Florida which will total 140 by the end of 2017, he said.

Prior to officially christening the barge with a bottle of champagne, George Wood said, "On behalf of the 30,000 employees of Wawa to the Bay Shipbuilding employees, thank you for these two beautiful vessels." Wood's family founded Wawa and he is a member of the Wawa Board of Directors.

The reputation of Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding is built on the excellence of it's workers, said Todd Thayse, vice president and general manager of Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding.

"There are a lot of partners (in the process of building a ship), but you guys and girls who come to work every day, strap on the boots and hard hat and go out and do what has to be done, I appreciate that." Thayse said. "Never minimize what you folks do for this industry and this organization. Thank you to the men and women of Bay Shipbuilding."