Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, La., says the U.S. Coast Guard has selected the company to design and build up to 34 patrol boats.

The Coast Guard says the deal announced today could be worth up to $1.5 billion over six to eight years, if all 34 cutters are built.

Maine's Bath Iron Works was among the finalists in the bidding process. BIW said the cutters represented an important opportunity as the Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer program winds down and the next-generation Zumwalt program ramps up.

The new "Fast Response Cutters" are designed to replace a class of Coast Guard patrol boats that Bollinger built nearly 25 years ago.

Bollinger says it expects to deliver the first new cutter in two years. The company also says the contract will employ roughly 500 people.