WILTON – Gil Reed of Nichols Trailers only got the news Thursday night, that his company had been awarded a Department of Defense contract, and by Friday they had an order for 216 trailers worth $3.1 million.

“We’re Reedy to go,” Reed said Friday, taking a moment from the Pine Tree State Sportsman & Gun Show being held at the Bob Nichols Expo Center on Weld Street.

The contract is for two years, Reed said, and could involve more than 1,000 trailers, which would mean more than than $13 million to the 45-year-old trailer fabricator.

Reed said he expects to hire 10 to 12 new workers, “more welders and laborers than fabricators,” he said.

This was Nichols’ second government contract.

The first one, Reed said, was very small, but he credits it with getting the company’s foot in the door and thinks it probably had something to do with this company being chosen for the much larger order.

The trailers are about 5 feet wide, 9 feet long and include a tank mounted on two axles and four wheels. They will be sent to security forces in Iraq, where they are made to be towed behind a pickup truck, Reed said.

“We’ll be looking for more” contracts Reed said, “anything we can do.”

“This contract is wonderful news for the company and community,” said Gov. John Baldacci.

The Finance Authority of Maine and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development have been working with Nichols Trailers for years, poised for the expansion, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

– Heather McCarthy/Staff Editor