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V O L . X X I N O. X I J U N E 1 , 2 0 1 5 26 In recent months, the fi rm has been splashing the fi rst boats completed at its new site in Eastport, with more popping out of the molds and others in the pro- cess of being laid up. e launch season began in early March, with a Millennium hull just under 50 feet long destined for Ilwaco, Wash., to fi sh for Dungeness crab, capable of packing nearly 20,000 pounds in the fi sh holds. Others launched this spring are headed to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Virginia, the West Coast, St. omas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and elsewhere in Maine. A surge in orders is expected to keep the boat builder busy into 2016. Owner Cory Guimond expects to expand the staff from 30 to about 50. "We're in demand. We need many more skilled workers," says Guimond, who provides on-the-job training. Workers skilled in fi berglass boatbuilding are hard to come by in Eastport, he says. " e city council and I couldn't be happier to have Millennium Marine here, putting people to work in the maritime industry, which is very impor- tant to Eastport's past and to its future," says City Manager Elaine Abbott. "It's exciting for people here to be trained on the job for a viable skill that they can use along any coastline. Many people have to string together multiple jobs, so it's also great to have year-round jobs with Millennium Marine." Millennium got its start in the 1940s, when Guimond's grandfather, Philias Cory Guimond, a third-generation boat builder and the owner of Millennium Marine, has seen dramatic sales growth since moving operations from Canada to Eastport. P H O T O / L E S L I E BOW M A N A boon for boat builder Millennium Marine grows jobs in Eastport B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r F O C U S » C O N T I N U E D F R O M C O V E R

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