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Industries with large work forces in New Bern include Weyerhaeuser, Hatteras Yachts, BSH Home Appliances Corporation, Moen, and Maola Milk and Ice Cream. Weyerhaeuser grows and harvests timber and processes it in a huge pulp mill just outside New Bern. The company employs up to 499 people and owns more than 500,000 acres in eastern North Carolina. Hatteras Yachts builds luxury watercraft in its New Bern plant and employs about 1,300 people. BSH Home Appliances has more than 1,000 workers in New Bern, manufacturing dishwashers, washers and dryers, cooktops, free-standing ranges and built-in ranges. A producer of plumbing fixtures, Moen has about 1,000 employees. Maola Milk and Ice Cream has about 249 workers. Large non-industry employers in New Bern include New Bern-Craven County Schools, Craven County government, Craven Regional Medical Center and the City of New Bern. Several groups are organized to encourage new businesses to locate in New Bern and to facilitate economic growth in the area. The New Bern Area Chamber of Commerce, 316 S. Front Street, (252) 637-3111, represents the interests of the local business community in the regional, state and national government arenas. It also offers networking and professional opportunities, as well as numerous programs and events designed to promote the businesses of its members. Swiss Bear Downtown Revitalization Corp., 316 S. Front Street, (252) 638-5781, is a private, nonprofit group organized in 1979 to spearhead and coordinate the revitalization and redevelopment of downtown New Bern and its waterfront. An aggressive effort based in building public-private partnerships and developing creative fund-raising strategies and long-range plans has led to the investment of more than $70 million for the rehabilitation and construction of new commercial buildings and major public improvements, plus the creation of hundreds of jobs. As a result, tourism is now a major industry in New Bern. The Craven County Economic Development Commission is responsible for encouraging manufacturing and development, especially to the county-owned, 519-acre Craven County Industrial Park that straddles U.S. Highway 70 about 5 miles west of New Bern. The park features an incubator facility that offers office and manufacturing space to new manufacturers. Industrial sites vary in acreage. The Economic Development Commission is always looking for existing businesses to expand or new businesses to move into the industrial park or into the county. Contact the Craven County Economic Development Commission, 100 Industrial Drive, New Bern, NC 28562, (252) 633-5300. The Small Business Center at Craven Community College offers workshops, seminars and group study sessions addressing the needs of small business owners. Also provided is one-on-one counseling and specialized employee training. Resource centers are available at both the New Bern and Havelock campuses and feature free computer and Internet access, specialized software, multimedia tools, books, magazines and other business-related materials. For more information, contact the Small Business Center Director, Craven Community College, 800 College Court, New Bern, NC 28562, (252) 638-7353. Volunteers with the Service Corps of
Retired Executives (SCORE) Down East Chapter 577 are available by
calling (252) 633-6688. SCORE provides free counseling and low-cost
workshops to promote the formation, growth and success of small businesses
in Craven, Beaufort, Lenoir, Jones, Pamlico, Pitt and Greene counties.
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Commerce
and industry in New Bern are broad-based
and receive strong support from the presence of Marine Corps Air
Station (MCAS) Cherry Point and the Fleet Readiness
Center (FRC) East in Havelock. FRC East, located aboard MCAS
Cherry Point, is one of six aeronautical maintenance, engineering and
logistics support facilities in the Navy and is one of the largest
civilian employers in eastern North Carolina. Managed by Marine officers,
the facility has a work force of about 3,700 employees, most of whom are
civilian. FRC East refurbishes a variety of military aircraft and provides
emergency repair and field modification teams to do repair work on
aircraft unable to return to the center. For more information about FRC
East, see our
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