By Peter Biello
Wilmington, NC – Governor Mike Easley was in the area yesterday announcing the arrival of the biggest boat manufacturer in the world: Brunswick Corporation.
Easley says the company will bring 858 manufacturing jobs. He says the jobs will pay on average 31-thousand dollars per year with benefits. The company will invest $51.2 million over the next five years. Despite rising gas prices and a nationwide slump in boat sales, Easley says he's optimistic the company will thrive.
The baby boomers all the markets are showing, they've paid for their kids educations, they've got the houses paid off, and one of the first places they want to go is boats, and we're going to have them ready for them in Brunswick County.
Easley says training for the first batch of employees has already started. The plant will build three different brands of boat: Bayliner and Maxim cruisers and Meridian Yachts.