Hartford Business Journal

8 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | NOVEMBER 7, 2022 Birdon America President Robert Scott stands in front of a U.S. Coast Guard motor lifeboat being overhauled at his company's new Portland facility. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Anchor Tenant Australian-based defense contractor takes root by CT River in Portland By Michael Puffer mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com D riving down Riverview Street in Portland, Connecticut, there is little hint one is heading into the grounds of an international defense contractor. The narrow road passes modest homes and lines of trees and brush before opening into broad parking lots occupied by trailer-anchored pleasure boats of various sizes. Beyond those are marina buildings on the 31 acres Birdon America acquired along the Connecticut River this spring. The company is the U.S. arm of Australian-based Birdon Group. It paid roughly $5.2 million for the Riverside Marina, Yankee Boat Yard and Marina and smaller adjacent properties. Birdon bought the marinas for the East Coast portion of its 10-year contract to refurbish most of the U.S. Coast Guard's fleet of 47-foot-long rescue boats. The contract is worth up to $203 million. Birdon has invested another $2 million in sundry building repairs and equipment upgrades, said Birdon America President Robert Scott. Among other things, that includes purchase of a new travel lift, due to arrive in February, that will allow the company to pluck boats — up to 85 feet in length and 120,000 pounds — out of the river. That will help the company fulfill its Coast Guard contract. It will also allow it to expand into a broader section of the private market. Birdon plans to spend up to $5.5 million constructing a 25,000-square- foot production building within the next two years. That's crucial to meeting deadlines on its Coast Guard contract and sets the company up for addi- tional future contracts. "Ultimately, we wanted to find a place where we could invest and it would be a long-term play for us in terms of investing and being part of a community," Scott said. Repairing America's rescue boats Birdon began negotiating for the Portland properties following a three- month search that began last Novem- ber. The company's target area ranged along the coast from Maine to Virginia. It needed water access deep enough to receive the Coast Guard's 47-foot-long motor lifeboats. The tidal waters of the Connecticut River through Portland — about 24 nautical miles from the river's entry into Long Island Sound — fill that need. The company is scheduled to overhaul 65 Coast Guard lifeboats in Portland by the close of 2030, along with another 50 in leased facilities in Bellingham, Washington. So far, the only giveaway that Birdon's Portland facility is anything more than a marina is a decommis- sioned Coast Guard rescue boat resting on stands in front of a large, blue, metal-sided industrial building. Birdon paid $250,000 for the boat, buying it off the private market when it was preparing to bid for the Coast Guard contract. The company spent about $750,000 more tinkering and testing the boat to see what it would take to overhaul. Before Birdon's purchase, the blue building behind its test boat was used to store boats. Now, it has been con- verted into a workspace for rehabbing Coast Guard vessels. Each boat will be stripped and supplied with new engines. Worn-out parts will be replaced. The first rescue boat was delivered in July. Little squares of tape on the hull mark where corroded aluminum will be cut away and new sections welded in. It would cost the Coast Guard three or four times as much to design and build a new fleet of rescue boats, Scott said. The hulls are a tried-and-tested model, able to handle rough seas and even rollovers. Scott said the Coast Guard will deliver a second boat before the end of this year. Birdon is scheduled to receive six more next year. It is scheduled to refurbish a dozen more in each of the following four years — through 2027 — then trail off toward the end of the contract. Location, location, location A few factors played into Birdon's selection of Portland. Importantly, the marinas offered enough space in the right conditions at the right time. The Connecticut River also offers enough depth for the smaller to medium-sized ships typically handled by Birdon. Scott said the company is contemplating dredging around the area where it hauls boats in and out of the river. Birdon was also enamored with Connecticut's pool of manufactur-

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