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It’s never been simple to get repairs and expansions done on Maine’s coastal properties. Owners must work with a handful of firms that specialize in marine construction to get their projects designed, permitted and built.
But those projects got even harder this year, after a handful of storms last winter did widespread damage across the state. Some of the heaviest destruction was along the coast, where two storms in January tore out many docks and wharves while severely eroding parts of the shoreline.
That created a big backlog for companies like Prock Marine of Rockland. While it previously took the firm 10 to 14 months to complete projects such as dock rebuilds and shoreline stabilization, the timeline roughly doubled — to between 18 months and two years — as repairs from last winter’s storms came in, according to project manager Sean Kelly.
The company could eventually shorten that timeline by expanding its staff of 35 to 40 people. But construction firms such as Prock have had a hard time filling positions even as its more experienced staff approach retirement.
“We’d love to put together another crew, another barge crew, but it’s hard to maintain what we’ve got,” Kelly said.
By now, it’s well understood that Maine needs more workers to replace those who are aging out of vital industries such as construction and other trades. But state officials recently singled out marine construction as one that’s most in need of new workers if Maine’s lucrative working waterfronts are to be ready for storms that are growing more severe with climate change.
“Increased contractor capacity, particularly in marine construction and the engineering, planning, and permitting components of these projects, will be critical,” according to the new four-year climate action plan released this month by the administration of Gov. Janet Mills
The report calls for studying the recent storms and working with industries, organizations and community colleges to expand the number of builders who can do coastal construction. More broadly, it calls for creating opportunities for 7,000 new registered apprentices to serve as the state’s “climate-ready workforce” by 2030 and increasing the number of women working in construction, among other steps.
As it stands, there are few firms that coastal property owners can look to when they are trying to rebuild from storms, according to Linda Nelson, economic and community development director in the fishing port of Stonington, where the busy local lobster co-op suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage in January.
“There is Prock Marine and there is Prock Marine, pretty much, and if you can get Prock Marine, if you have a job that’s big enough and lucrative to get on their schedule, great,” said Nelson, who also is co-chair of a state commission that’s studying how to make Maine’s infrastructure more resilient against similar storms.
But, Nelson went on, Maine will need more “human and financial resources” to quickly repair roads, docks, bridges and other infrastructure that are essential to Maine’s peninsula and island communities in the wake of severe storms. There’s also the broader challenge of rebuilding that infrastructure so that it’s higher and more protected from future damage.
There are several things that make marine construction more laborious than traditional land-based projects, including additional permitting requirements, the need to work off barges, and the difficulty of ensuring that structures will sit level on the ocean floor while withstanding tides, corrosion and other forces.
At Prock Marine, Kelly said there is no “silver bullet” to bringing in more workers, but he welcomes the efforts of the state and private organizations to create more of a pipeline for young Mainers to join the trades. He is now working with the state Labor Department to start the company’s own apprenticeship program.
He’s hopeful that more students coming up through the state’s schools will see the value of receiving vocational training and entering the trades, particularly at an established company where they can receive ongoing training and mentorship as well as a full set of benefits.
“Now the trick is to get the people who are interested to walk through the door to fill out an application,” he said.
