SOUTHWEST HARBOR – The Hinckley Co. announced Friday it will consolidate its boat-building operations at its facility in Trenton.

The company will maintain a facility in Southwest Harbor, but it will be used to focus on the company’s growing service operations.

Sandy Spaulding, president of the company’s Hinckley Yachts Division, said the consolidation should not result in the loss of any jobs at the two facilities, which between them employ about 300 of the company’s 500 employees in Maine.

“We hope not,” Spaulding said. “But we’re not immune from the world economy. It’s all contingent on selling boats.”

There are two primary reasons for the decision, Spaulding said Friday. The first was a desire to have all the company’s manufacturing located in one modern facility, he said. Hinckley built the 68,000-square-foot facility in the Trenton Industrial Park in 2001 to house production of its popular line of jet boats.

Second, Spaulding said, the company’s service business is growing. “With today’s economy, we need to streamline and make more efficient our production capabilities in more modern facilities with better access to the area’s labor pool,” he said.

The company stores about 260 boats, both sail and power, in Southwest Harbor and provides a full-service yard for both Hinckley and non-Hinckley boats, Spaulding said. The consolidation will provide an additional 30,000 square feet of space for the service business, he said.

“This is a big expansion for them,” he said.

This is the second consolidation for the company during the past year. In October, the company closed its production facility in Portsmouth, R.I., and transferred the work to the boatyard in Southwest Harbor. At the time, company representatives said the Southwest Harbor facility had room to expand, while the Rhode Island facility needed more space for boat maintenance and repairs.

Boat-building operations in Southwest Harbor include construction of the company’s line of sailboats as well as the line of Whisper Jets, which was moved up from the Rhode Island boatyard. Those operations will move to Trenton as part of the consolidation, although work on the boats already under construction will continue in Southwest Harbor throughout the summer, Spaulding said.

About 100 employees currently work at the boat-building operations in Southwest Harbor and another 200 work in Trenton. Many of the Southwest Harbor production employees will be offered employment in the Trenton facility. About 125 employees will continue to work at the Southwest Harbor yard.

The consolidation will not affect any of the company’s boat lines, Spaulding said.