BELLINGHAM- Matt Mullett has found himself in a position that many CEOs dream about: He is managing the growth of a company in an industry that has been going strong and is expected to boom in the next few years.
“I often tell people these days that if you’re not doing well in the boat building business, it’s time to get into a new market,” said Mullett. “It is incredibly dynamic right now. It is as good as I’ve ever seen it.”
In the past four years, All American Marine has grown annually at a 30 percent clip. These days Mullett has the enviable position of choosing what projects the company should go after. His only limitation is having enough qualified workers to do the job.
“My philosophy is that I want to grow this business strategically,” Mullett said. “There is a temptation to chase the short-term projects that would involve hiring a bunch of people, then laying them off when the project is completed. I would rather have consistent work where I never have to lay people off.”
The reason Mullett is so bullish right now is the increased demand in a wide variety of niches in the boat building sector.
Of particular interest to All American Marine is the growth of the ferry market, trending toward foot-passenger boats that have less impact on the environment than the car-passenger ferries.
Currently the company focuses on building research boats for government agencies and tour boats. There also has been demand for smaller, more maneuverable boats in the military and for oil companies on the Gulf Coast.
“The future of ferry boats is very promising,” Mullett said. “As car traffic congestion increases in metro areas such as San Francisco and Seattle, they are looking at other transportation options, and foot passenger ferries are drawing quite a bit of interest.”
The company is one of several boat building and repair companies that in the past five years have emerged in Bellingham. The growth of Aluminum Chambered Boats, Fairhaven Shipyard and Seaview North has had positive and negative impacts on All American Marine.
On the plus side, the growth of the boat building and boat repair industry has attracted good ancillary businesses.
“Because there is so much happening in this industry locally, we’re able to find valuable services,” Mullett said.
The downside of having a vibrant industry is the competition for employees. Mullett said finding qualified welders and machinists is a national problem, but it is more acute here, where other local companies are in a growth mode. He wants to increase his work force by 25 percent but has been unable to find the employees he wants, despite the company having its own welding and fabrication program and working with Bellingham Technical College and Skagit Valley College to further develop welding programs.
“Our limiting factor right now to further growth is finding qualified employees,” Mullett said.
The industry is doing so well locally that it has attracted the interest of local government agencies that want to develop it further.
Recently the Washington state Department of Community Trade and Economic Development awarded a $72,000 grant for this region to develop an industry cluster strategy for this sector.
“The presence of marine industries is pretty strong in this area, and there seems to be potential for some significant job growth,” said Dodd Snodgrass, an economic development specialist for the Port of Bellingham, when the grant award was announced last month.
With 80 percent of All American Marine’s capacity already committed for 2007, Mullett feels comfortable with the coming year. Having most of the contracts in place allows Mullett the opportunity to look at future development.
His company has been involved in the development of a test ferry that minimizes soil erosion created by a boat’s wake. If successful, it could lead to a very profitable niche, building boats that can get into environmentally sensitive areas such as Rich Passage in the Kitsap area.
“The competitive advantage we have is our technology, which allows us to look into these ferry boat opportunities,” Mullett said. “We feel very well-positioned as a company to do well in this current business climate.”
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