By David MacDonald
david@peicanada.com

More than half of the space in the Pooles Corner building occupied by Opacmare remains empty although the Italian yacht manufacturer took over the building in 2008 with a promise to hire up to 100 employees by 2010 to cater to a world-wide market.
Only six people currently work for the eastern PEI company which received a $2.7 million repayable, interest-bearing loan to help finance the cost of its equipment along with a $300,000 grant for training and recruitment support from the provincial government. Active Communities Inc purchased the former Storemark building from APM with $2.3 million from ACOA and a $1 million loan from the province, with Active Communities leasing the building to Opacmare.
Opacmare general manager Marc de Jong said, "We’d like to have 100 employees but if there are no orders on the book it doesn’t justify hiring the people".
He said the slump in the global economy cut orders by half, but European orders are starting to fill up again and the company is getting more inquiries from the North American market.
At the original announcement in March 2008 launching the company’s operations in PEI, Opacmare projected it would employ 32 people by the end of 2008, 50 by 2009, and 100 by 2010. The announcement was made with great fanfare and included Premier Robert Ghiz and several cabinet ministers, as well as other provincial and federal representatives.
Mr de Jong said Opacmare plans to hire two more people including a welding student from Holland College, and an experienced machinist who would be involved in purchasing and other duties.
Mr de Jong admitted the business is moving at "a snail’s pace" but the company intends to move forward and will hire more employees once the global economy improves, and there are "no plans whatsoever" for Opacmare to close up shop in eastern PEI.
Currently, the Pooles Corner location is capable of manufacturing the internal components of the cranes which fit on to a yacht, and are shipped to Italy for final assembly. The plant is not set up for other portions of the manufacturing process such as electrical or hydraulic components.
Mr de Jong said the hope in the future would be that all of that work would be done on PEI. He said he is meeting with financial executives from the Italian head office to revamp the company’s business plan.