St. Johns Ship Building has announced the assignment of Justin Smith to the position of vice president of new construction. He will be leading the production and project management teams who are tasked with building various types of vessels in both steel and aluminum, including multiple series of CTVs for the offshore wind industry.
Smith has more than 40 years of experience in the maritime industry and has been an invaluable addition to the St. Johns team since his arrival in July of 2022.
“Justin comes to us with over four decades of industry experience and will head our diversified portfolio of newbuild projects including barge, passenger, cargo, and wind farm support vessels,” Jeff Bukoski, St. Johns’ president, said in a statement announcing the new hire. “This assignment will allow us to utilize his industry knowledge and expertise to ensure success of our growing new construction program.”
St. Johns Ship Building is based in Palatka, Fla., near Jacksonville. St. Johns leads in the new construction and repair of a wide variety of steel and aluminum vessels, including ferries, tugs, deck and tank barges, landing crafts, and general cargo vessels. Significantly, it’s also one of the few U.S. shipyards that is currently building vessels that support and service offshore wind farms.
St. Johns’ holding company, Americraft Marine, a maritime subsidiary of the U.S.-headquartered privately-owned business group Libra Group, was launched to support and strengthen the U.S. shipbuilding industry and infrastructure with the goal to build St. Johns Ship Building as a center of excellence in Jones Act ship building.
