FREELAND — Nichols Brothers Boat Builders is on the verge of a $25 million barge-building contract that would provide jobs for as many as 75 new employees in the next two to three months, Len York, chief executive officer, said Thursday.

That’s if the company can borrow the money.

It’s yet another indication that the global economic seizure is reaching all the way to Whidbey Island.

“We have an agreement to build them,” York said. “But right now it’s a 50-50 chance we’ll be able to finance it in this economy.”

“This is a capital-intense business,” he added. “It takes a lot of cash to finance these things.”

The contract would be to supply five large steel barges to the Panama Canal Authority, which is in the midst of a dredging project. The canal, built by the United States and opened in 1914, links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and is now owned by the government of Panama.

The hopper-style barges, pushed by tugboats, are about 215 feet long, 50 feet wide and 15 feet deep, and weigh more than 700 tons. Each costs about $5 million, York said.

He said the contract would run for about 18 months, and would increase the Nichols Brothers workforce from 160 to as many as 235. These would include welders, fitters and other workers.

“They wouldn’t necessarily all be highly-skilled jobs, but they would all be good-paying jobs,” York said.

He said most of the 30 employees who were laid off last November would probably be called back first if the contract is secured. The layoff came after a California transportation district decided to buy two used ferries from Washington state, rather than one new ferry from Nichols Brothers.

York said the company is pursuing financing for the barge project through the U.S. Import-Export Bank.

For the past 70 years, the bank has been the country’s official export credit agency. Its mission is to finance the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets. It has supported more than $400 billion in U.S. exports.

York said Nichols Brothers should know in three to four weeks if money will be available from the bank.

“It would be a very nice project for us and for the community,” York said, adding that it would also create opportunities for local contractors to assist Nichols Brothers with design changes.

“It’s not a slam dunk with the way things are going in the financing community,” he continued. “Things are a lot more difficult than they were this time last year.”

Meanwhile, the company continues to pursue other projects.

York said Nichols Brothers just landed a $3.5 million job to build an eight-car ferry for a state agency in Sacramento, Calif.

“We have quite a few projects already, and several on the drawing board that I really can’t talk about,” he said.

But the company is keeping busy as it waits for new contracts.

The second of four twin-hulled passenger ferries being built for the San Francisco Bay Area’s Water Emergency Transit Authority is undergoing sea trials at the Langley marina.

The $8.8 million, 116-foot catamaran, built in partnership with Kivchak Marine Industries of Everett, is expected to be delivered in two or three weeks.

Two more of the vessels are on order, and are expected to be delivered late next year. A deal for two additional catamarans is being discussed, York said.

Nichols Brothers also is continuing design and pre-construction work on a new high-speed ferry recently ordered by the state Department of Transportation for the Keystone-Port Townsend run.

The company will build the upper portion of the vessel in conjunction with Todd Pacific Shipyards of Seattle, which will construct the hull.

The state requires that all its vessels be built in Washington. Todd and Nichols Brothers submitted the only bid, $65.5 million for one ferry and $124.4 million for two. State officials have yet to say if they’ll order a second vessel.

Meanwhile, the company is continuing with contracts to build five large tugboats. The $10-million tractor vessels are 100 feet long and weigh 85 tons.

The third and latest tug was delivered recently to the Minette Bay Co., of Prince Rupert, B.C. The remaining two tugs will be built for BayDelta Marine in the Bay Area.

The Bay Area firm may order two additional tugs. Despite the pinched credit market, all the financing for the current contracts is in place, York said.

“Most of the dollars we receive stay in the community,” York said, adding that nearly all its employees live within a 40-mile radius of

the company.

“We’re trying to be a good corporate citizen,” he said. “We hope to weather this economy and do well in it.”