Appleton Marine Inc.

Appleton Marine Inc., a small-business manufacturer of specialized marine deck machinery, delivers cranes with integrated computer control systems, winches, windlasses, capstans, and repair parts to federal maritime agencies as a prime contractor on both indefinite-delivery contracts and discrete purchase orders. The company is a Subchapter S Corporation headquartered in Little Chute, Wisconsin, competing predominantly under total small business set-asides on its primary Coast Guard vehicle and full-and-open across discrete procurements and subcontractor work.

Appleton Marine's capability footprint centers on original equipment manufacturer crane systems and hydraulic components for Coast Guard, Navy, and Military Sealift Command vessels. Representative work includes a $2.591 million definitive contract awarded December 2024 by the Coast Guard for mission-critical depot spare aft folding boom cranes for National Security Cutter class vessels; a $1.112 million delivery order from the Coast Guard (September 2025) for design, manufacture, and installation of an aids-to-navigation crane system on the CGC Abbie Burgess with completion targeted November 2027; a $567 thousand delivery order from Naval Sea Systems Command (May 2025) for SLAD material to support DDG modernization; a $815 thousand small-business set-aside purchase order from NOAA (September 2024) for a new telescoping crane to replace the knuckleboom crane on NOAA Ship Pisces; and recurring supply orders for crane parts, hydraulic cylinders, valves, winches, gearboxes, and load cells from Coast Guard logistics centers and shipyard repair programs. The company manufactures under NAICS 333923 (Overhead Traveling Crane, Hoist, and Monorail System Manufacturing) and PSC 3810 (Cranes and Crane-Shovels).

Customer concentration is extreme. The Department of Homeland Security Coast Guard dominates the footprint at 883 awards representing $147.9 million (54% of combined potential value); the top five customers account for 92% of total dollars. Naval Sea Systems Command ranks second at 83 awards, $63.2 million; Military Sealift Command places third at 331 awards, $25.7 million; and Army Corps of Engineers ranks fourth at 16 awards, $9.4 million. The remaining 21 agencies represent minimal exposure. Within Coast Guard work, the two rankings align closely — high-volume smaller orders and high-value delivery orders both flow through Coast Guard logistics.

Appleton Marine holds a single-award indefinite-delivery contract with the Coast Guard valued at $18.843 million (total small business set-aside, awarded December 29, 2022, completion December 28, 2032) covering design, manufacture, installation, and technical representative services for integrated crane systems. This is the vendor's anchor vehicle. Beyond that, the source identifies five other parent vehicles with active task order activity: IDC 70Z08020D21279B00 (31 task orders, $5.6 million), HSCG4016D60021 (26 task orders, $15.1 million), HSCG4015D60366 (19 task orders, $2.6 million), 70Z04021D60885B00 (14 task orders, $1.4 million), and N6554014D0021 (12 task orders, $11.7 million). Activity across these vehicles is steady but modest in average order size, reflecting consumables and repair parts ordering patterns.

Activity has been flat to slight decline. The vendor received 113 awards in 2022, 112 in 2023, 116 in 2024, 81 in 2025, and 34 in 2026 year-to-date. Twenty awards with ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $5.7 million—modest recompete exposure tied primarily to consumables and routine repair parts ordering.

As a subcontractor, Appleton Marine supplies marine deck machinery components to major shipbuilders. Named primes include Huntington Ingalls Incorporated (multiple DDG 51 destroyer construction awards in 2024–2025), Marinette Marine Corporation (FFG(X) frigate construction, December 2024), National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (Expeditionary Sea Base construction, May 2025), Vigor Marine LLC (USNS Matthew Perry overhaul services, March 2025), East Coast Repair & Fabrication (USNS Hershel Williams repair availability, October 2025), and CACI Inc. (Navy research and development support, January 2025). The sub footprint reflects integration into major naval construction and modernization programs rather than discrete supply contracts.

Appleton Marine competes almost exclusively as a small business on full-and-open and set-aside purchases. Across the prime portfolio, 98% of awards are prime positions; the 2% subcontract footprint is concentrated on new construction and modernization rather than sustainment. The vendor's federal revenue is tied directly to Coast Guard vessel maintenance cycles, Navy repair availabilities, and shipyard new-construction schedules—demand drivers that are predictable at agency level but subject to budget pressures and acquisition timing changes at the program level. The company's OEM status for specific crane models and proprietary design data rights on crane systems provide sole-source justification on many orders, insulating Appleton Marine from competition on replacement parts and technical services but creating customer lock-in risk if design standards change or competing systems are introduced.

Manufacturer of Marine Cranes, Winches, Windlasses, and Captans