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It has been many years since excitement has hit the city of Wickliffe like it has in recent months. In an unsure economy and the number of career opportunities few and far between, it is easy to understand the excitement of James Marine’s move into the community.
Offering dry-dock, top-side repairs to motor vessels traveling the area rivers, James Marine Wickliffe has been busy since it’s first repair of the Ingram vessel Operl on June 12, 2008.
With a $15 million investment, and two dry docks in operation, Jeff James says that there is more to come. “We hope to add two, if not three, more dry docks in the next couple of years. With each dry dock running about $5 million, I think we can pretty well say we are committed to the Wickliffe location and look forward to watching it grow.” There are currently thirty six employees at the Wickliffe location and James says he expects that number to grow to around 100 people in the next twelve to eighteen months. “Once we have 3-4 docks, the number of employees should grow to about one hundred twenty-five,” according to James.
The Wickliffe location of James Marine will allow customers who travel the Mississippi River only to dock in Wickliffe for repairs and avoid the trip to Paducah along the Ohio River. Many of these vessels travel the Mississippi River only.
JMI Wickliffe will run two shifts – day shift of 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and evening shift of 2:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Occasionally vessels will request round the clock repairs to expedite their down time and JMI will adjust the work schedules in those instances to twelve hour shifts.
By September of 2008, JMI hopes to grow their dock by another 300 feet to improve their production and turnaround at Wickliffe.
To oversee the Wickliffe location, JMI brought in Tom Rogers who had formerly worked for the company. Rogers brings his knowledge of the river and vessel repairs to Wickliffe, along with Mike Long who has over thirty years of experience in the marine industry.
According to Jeff James, the plan is to hire locally for the jobs in Wickliffe. “We want to increase our work force with people from this area. These aren’t just jobs but a potential for careers for many of these men and women. We will be paying from $15 to $16 per hour in wages with overtime available. We expect to be here a long, long time. There is a tremendous demand on skilled labor right now. We are looking for employees with a knowhow of the river industry and not just repair knowledge. Someone coming into JMI Wickliffe can plan on a career in Wickliffe if they apply themselves and work hard. We have a lot of applicants and we are continuing to take applications so we can fill the positions with the best qualified candidates.”
And it is not just the addition of James Marine that brings hope for Ballard County. With the dry dock operation in Wickliffe, vendors will also be coming in to the community to purchase gasoline, diesel and food. These vendors, such as AirGas, Peter Supply, Fastenal and Granger, will have employees and vehicles traveling into the county. With additional jobs, more people will be traveling into the county to work, purchase snacks, lunch and grocery items. As the work increases, along with the job force, the opportunity for real estate sales and rentals increase, as well as a population increase as workers attempt to move closer to work.
The City of Wickliffe and Ballard County welcomes James Marine Inc. Wickliffe to the community and we look forward to a long association with this great company.
Anyone wanting more information on James Marine can go to their website, www.jamesmarine.com, where applications for employment are available.
“History of James Marine from their website”
Founded in 1986 by C. Ronald James, the family owned company has a proud history of extraordinary service and growth to the inland waterways and to the Paducah area.
C. Ronald James gained full ownership in 1988 when he purchased his partner's share of the company. The operation was relatively small and approximately 25 people were employed. Not to be limited by its size, the business quickly expanded and additional services were offered. A dry-dock, top-side water repairs, fueling, and machine shop work were added, which more than doubled employment. The business continued to expand and in July 1994, James Marine purchased the assets of Walker Towing Corporation, a company that can trace its history back to 1945. JMI merged the two businesses and kept the name of James Marine, Inc. This gave the company increased capacity, almost tripling the size of the company in equipment and employment. In 1995, James Marine completed the purchase of Paducah River Fuel Services which added midstream fueling and grocery capabilities to the company. At that point, with over 300 employees, JMI offered tug service, barge fleeting, diesel engine repairs and parts, wheel shop, machine shop, fabrication shop, electric shop, and barge and boat repairs.
In 2000, Paducah River Painting was added to the lineup of James companies. Paducah River Painting gave JMI a state of the art barge painting and transfer facility that is unmatched on the Inland Waterways. In 2004, JMI purchased Walker Boat Yard from the Ingram Barge Company. The purchase of Walker Boat Yard was significant, in that, it doubled the company’s capacity for shipyard boat and barge repair.
Continuing to expand to serve their customers needs, JMI acquired the assets of Tennessee Valley Towing (TVT) in 2006. The TVT acquisition gave the company eight towboats and over 25 years of efficient barge delivery to all points on the Tennessee River system. In 2007, the company launched Jamesbuilt Specialty Vessel Construction which will focus on new construction of deck and tank barges, towboats, and dry docks for the inland river industry. Jamesbuilt is located at Mile 9 on the Tennessee River adjacent to the Paducah River Painting facility. In 2008, the company will open its third shipyard, James Wickliffe, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. James Wickliffe will give JMI increased shipyard capacity and will offer greater resources for customers towing along the upper and lower Mississippi River.
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