Alaska Ship and Drydock will be hosting a job fair at the Ketchikan Shipyard Saturday, October 6.

ASD operates the state-owned shipyard, which has a newly-complete 25,000 square foot Ship Assembly and Production Hall and construction is expected to begin soon on a steel fabrication ship. Doug Ward is ASD’s Director of Shipyard Development.

“We’ll have some of our recruiters and people here from the shipyard talking about what kind of careers folks can expect. We’ll have the University of Alaska and the Southern Southeast Technical Education Center here as well as Department of Labor’s job center will be here to help people with employment applications, job searches, even tuition assistance,” he said.

The fair also will feature a virtual welding machine as well as a virtual paint booth. Ward said the recent expansion translates into several job openings and the company is on the hunt for Southeast Alaskans looking for shipyard careers.

“We’re still kind of getting organized here and different things. It may be that folks conceivably would move to Ketchikan. We’re talking about creating some type of shift work where folks could come in for some extended period and then get back home for some period,” he said.

The job fair will be held at the Ketchikan shipyard. It will be open from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Ward said anyone who is unable to attend the fair, but is interested in applying for open positions can use their website. He said people also can call the shipyard directly at 225-7199.