The Journal Gazette, 600 W. Main St., Fort Wayne IN

Brunswick Corp. is closing a boat-building plant in Little Falls, Minn., and moving some production to a plant in Fort Wayne, the company announced Tuesday.

At least in the short run, the move won’t mean more jobs for the plant at 2801 W. State Blvd., but it could mean the plant’s future is secure.

Brunswick is ramping up production after a slump that saw it cut the number of boat plants from 28 to 14.

“This is the worst market the marine industry has seen in 40 years,” Brunswick spokesman Dan Kubera said Tuesday. “The good thing for Brunswick is we saw this coming.”

In 2007, about 330,000 boats were sold in the U.S., but in 2009, sales were about 150,000. Brunswick expects another drop in retail sales in 2010, but inventories of its boats are so low that the company likely will make 40 percent to 50 percent more boats in 2010 than it did in 2009, Kubera said.

It’s unclear whether that will mean more people making pontoon boats and runabouts at Brunswick’s Fort Wayne plant.

As of Tuesday, the plant had 105 employees. That’s about half the 200 reported to be working at the plant in October 2008, but Kubera said he didn’t know whether layoffs occurred.

Brunswick is trying to transfer most of the 90 workers at the Little Falls plant to one in New York Mills, Minn., 68 miles away, Kubera said. Some of the production at Little Falls also is being moved to a plant in Lebanon, Mo.

Lake Forest, Ill.-based Brunswick makes boats and marine motors and exercise, bowling and billiard equipment. It lost $124 million, or $1.40 a share, in 2009, according to financial statements. The company expects losses to decrease in 2010, Chairman and CEO Dustan E. McCoy said in a statement.

Brunswick shares rose 71 cents to $11.61 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

mschladen@jg.net