The City of Fort Pierce recently completed a $30 million waterfront project, which included the construction of 13 barrier islands and the addition of 137 wet slips to the City’s marina.

Fort Pierce, Florida – June 23, 2015 – The City of Fort Pierce held a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on Saturday, June 13th in celebration of the completion of the City’s waterfront redevelopment project and National Marina Day.

The restoration and hazard mitigation project included the construction of thirteen islands and a new marina and floating wave attenuator in the City’s outer basin. The Islands provide critical storm protection for the new slips in the outer basin and public waterfront. The bulk of the funding for the nearly $31 million project was provided through FEMA and the City’s insurance proceeds from the Hurricanes. The State provided $3 million in disaster funds.

The City estimates that 800 -1,000 people showed up to give their support and to participate in the day’s festivities which included marina and island eco tours, educational booths, a lion fish round up tournament for charity, youth fishing rod giveaways, a farmers’ market, paddleboard and sailing demonstrations, and more.

In attendance were Mayor Linda Hudson and former Mayor Bob Benton; Commissioners Reginald Sessions and Thomas Perona; Kim Johnson, Vice Chairman District 5 St. Lucie County, April Price, President of the Marine Industries Association; Dean Kubitschek, Marina Manager; and Ed Seissiger, Engineering Project Manager for the City of Fort Pierce.

“A special thanks to all the firms and individuals involved – Tetratech, Moffatt & Nichol, Bellingham Marine, and Hal Jones; we were blessed to have some of the industry’s greatest visionaries and best talent working on our project,” said Ed Seissiger. “It was a long, and at times, challenging journey to get to where we are today; but we are extremely proud of what the team has accomplished and all that has been created for the City as a result of our efforts.”

In 2004, Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne destroyed the slips in the City’s outer basin and damaged many of the slips in the inner basin. What followed was a ten year process. Funding could not be accessed to rebuild the outer basin until a plan to protect them was approved and permitted. The City explored a number of options and decided upon an island concept.

“Others in Florida have done rubble islands as a form of storm surge protection, so we knew the concept was viable, but we wanted to create lagoon habitat as well as provide habitat for shore birds on the islands; we wanted something that would not only protect the marina and the City’s waterfront but enhance marine life,” said Seissiger.

In December 2010, the City received the final approval needed from the Army Corps of Engineers to start construction of the Islands. The islands sit about 700 feet off shore; the largest of the thirteen islands is approximately 14 acres and the smallest 1/10th of an acre. The islands will provide juvenile fish sanctuary; mangroves and oyster shells were planted to attract birds, oyster larvae, fish and other marine life.

Construction of the docks in the outer basin was started in 2014 and bears the stamp of Bellingham Marine. Bellingham Marine was hired as the design/build General Contractor to design and manufacture the City’s new concrete floating docks, floating wave attenuator, and gangway systems. “This was a complete turnkey project,” said Kevin Thompson, General Manager of Bellingham’s Southeast Division. “We self-performed everything from the top of the gangways down, including all utility work; the only work we did not do was the pile driving. It was a pleasure to be able to partner with the City of Fort Pierce on this extraordinary project.”

Situated on the Indian River near the Fort Pierce Inlet on Florida’s east coast, the City’s marina is located at 1 Avenue A and is easily accessible by both land and sea.

As the world’s leading marina design-build construction company, Bellingham Marine specializes in floating dock, floating platform and floating wave attenuation systems for marinas worldwide. The company also produces dry storage systems for the upland storage of boats.

Bellingham, Washington – June 22, 2015 – Bellingham Marine, world renowned marina builder and pontoon manufacturer, announced today that the International Intellectual Property Office has issued “patent pending” status for its new FRP thru-rod and nut system.  Bellingham Marine has filed for design protection on the system’s unique bolt thread, nut shapes and overall look and patent protection for the concept and performance characteristics of the innovative rod system.

The new FRP thru-rod offers a longer life-span than stainless steel rods at a far more economical price.  The composite rod consists of a completely corrosion resistant ECR-glass fiber and a modified epoxy resin matrix.  The specially formulated composite material offers high strength, complete corrosion resistance, durability, and unparalleled creep and fatigue resistance.

The new FRP thru-rod system was developed by Bellingham Marine in partnership with Pultron Composites, a global industrial technology company that specializes in the development and manufacture of high performance composite fiber-reinforced pultrusions. 

“The Bellingham Pultron FRP thru-rod is the result of Pultron’s 30 plus years of experience in the composite industry and Bellingham’s nearly 60 years’ of experience designing and manufacturing floating dock systems,” said Pete Renshaw, Business Development Manager for Pultron Composites.  The two companies have been working together over the past seven years to develop a rod system that would surpass both galvanized and stainless steel rods in strength, maintenance, longevity, and overall performance.

“Our first test site was in the Middle East; we wanted to test the product’s performance in a high salinity, high temperature environment – three years into the testing program and we are thrilled with the results,” said Everett Babbitt, President and CEO of Bellingham Marine. “We have another test site in New Zealand in an exposed location where we have been monitoring the rod’s fatigue resistance.” 

“This breakthrough in materials technology is one the of industry’s greatest innovations is the past twenty-five years.  The key to the product’s success if rooted in Pultron’s extensive quality control processes, selection of raw materials, and proprietary thread design,” said Babbitt.

Customers will be able to purchase the new FRP rods directly through Bellingham Marine or its sister company Marina Accessories.

Pultron Composites manufactures high-performance pultruded products for technically demanding applications. The company’s focus is on maximizing the strength and durability of pultrusions.   

As the world’s leading marina design-build construction company, Bellingham Marine specializes in floating dock, floating platform and floating wave attenuation systems for marinas worldwide. The company also produces dry storage systems for the upland storage of boats.

Senior Project Manager, Rob Rasmussen and Operations Manager, Jim Engen were appointed to the positions of General Manager and Manager of Project Development, respectively, for Bellingham Marine’s Northwest Division.

Bellingham, WA – May 11, 2015 – Bellingham Marine, leading dock designer and marina builder, is pleased to announce the appointment of Rob Rasmussen as General Manager of Bellingham Marine’s Northwest Division, located in Washington State. Mr. Rasmussen will oversee the day to day operations of the Division including manufacturing and general contracting activities.

Mr. Rasmussen was hired by Bellingham Marine as a Project Manager. “Rob has quickly proven to be a tremendous asset to our Northwest team,” said Everett Babbitt, President and CEO of Bellingham Marine. “His strong leadership skills and engineering and project management experience are well suited for ensuring the company’s high standards for product quality, customer satisfaction, and project delivery are met.”

Prior to joining Bellingham Marine, Rob worked for one of the U.S.’s top construction companies, Granite Construction for eight years, after spending ten years with a highly regarded local contractor, Strider Construction.

Following the appointment of Mr. Rasmussen, Jim Engen, 20-year employee of Bellingham Marine was promoted to the position of Manager of Project Development. Mr. Engen has held numerous leadership positions within the company including, most recently, Operations Manager and Senior Estimator.

“We are extremely excited to have Jim in this key position,” said Jesse Ellenz, Vice President of Special Projects and former General Manager of Bellingham’s Northwest Division. “Jim’s level of technical knowledge, dedication, and customer service will strengthen the Company’s ability to provide technical assistance to meet each of our client’s needs.”

In his new role, Mr. Engen will be responsible for sales of marina and other precast products, marina assessment, contract development, engineering management and project coordination.

“The dynamics of this new, multi-talented leadership team will have a tremendous impact on the overall growth and sustainability of the Northwest Division and the Bellingham Marine company as a whole,” said Babbitt. “I am highly confident that these new appointments will allow us to continue to serve our customers with the high quality service and technical expertise that the company is known worldwide for.”

As the world’s leading marina design-build construction company, Bellingham Marine specializes in floating dock, floating platform and floating wave attenuation systems for marinas worldwide. The company also produces other specialized precast concrete products and dry storage systems for the upland storage of boats.

The Yorkeys Knob Boat Club recently completed a $2.2m upgrade to provide improved accommodations and infrastructure for visiting cruise ships.

Yorkeys Knob, Queensland, Australia – 2 March 2015 – Sixteen miles of pristine beaches, tropical rainforests, sunny skies and proximity to the Great Barrier Reef as well as Australia’s hottest vacation destination, Cairns, make Yorkeys Knob a popular port of call for the cruise industry.

However, until recently cruise infrastructure in Yorkeys Knob, a tender port for ships too big to berth at Cairns, was inadequate for the high volume traffic associated with the visiting ships. According to Stuart Vella, Club Manager at Yorkeys Knob Boat Club, in the past it had been a major operation to disembark and embark passengers from cruise ship moorings off Yorkeys. A great deal of time was spent waiting at the old small jetty to board the tenders ferrying them back to their ships. Vella added, “Lack of adequate infrastructure took away from the passengers’ overall experience and time ashore.”

After two years of planning and petitioning political support, Yorkeys Knob Boat Club received approval to move forward with plans to construct a properly designed tender wharf for Yorkeys Knob. The new tender wharf at the Boat Club allows several ships’ tenders to embark/disembark passengers at the same time. In addition, a number of shoreside improvements were made to streamline the transfer of passengers.

Bellingham Marine was hired to design and build the pontoon system for the Club’s tender wharf. “Considering cruise ship tenders carry up to 300 passengers at a time, it was important the floating terminal be able to handle high volume foot traffic comfortably and safely – Bellingham’s heavy duty concrete pontoon system was perfect for the application,” said Tom Meehan, Business Development Manager for Bellingham Marine Australia. “The pontoon system has an extremely high load capacity and is as stable as walking on dry land.”

Long Beach, California – Jan. 28, 2015 – Eagle Rock Aggregates, U.S. subsidiary of Polaris Materials Corporation, recently announced the completion of a new aggregate import facility at the Port of Long Beach.  The new facility features an innovative docking structure which will be used for mooring mid-sized cargo ships.

“The existing berth structures at the site were designed for barges,” said Herb Wilson, President and CEO of Polaris Materials.  “We removed them and replaced them with an advanced berthing system designed specifically for the docking of our Panamax- class, self-discharging bulk carriers. 

The new berthing system includes two stiff leg, dual purpose moorings.  The legs are not only used to position the carriers for unloading but provide the infrastructure needed to discharge the vessel’s aggregate material to an upland hopper.   Located between the two stiff legs, is an equipment float used for accessing the ship by personnel.

“The benefits of an entirely floating berthing system are huge when it comes to cost of construction and environmental impact,” said Wilson.

Bellingham Marine, regarded worldwide for their expertise in floating concrete structures, was hired to determine if a concrete float option could be utilized to support the stiff leg moorings in lieu of the originally specified steel buoyancy tanks.  

The Bellingham team provided a value engineered solution capable of handling the extreme load requirements placed on the berthing structure by the cargo vessels.  Additional benefits associated with the concrete float system included less maintenance and longer service life.

“A decision was made to utilize Bellingham Marine’s concrete float option,” said Wilson.  “The concrete buoyancy float design proved to provide far greater value in the system’s design than the steel tanks.”

The floating concrete platforms, which serve as the foundation for the stiff legs, are approximately 60 feet in length, weigh over 180,000 pounds and provide over three feet of freeboard.  Each platform is constructed from three, match-cast, post tensioned, heavily reinforced modules.

The 8-acre parcel at the Port of Long Beach was leased by Eagle Rock Aggregates in 2010 to support the company’s aggregate import operations. Located at Berth D44, the new terminal will receive, stockpile and distribute sand, gravel and crushed rock aggregate for construction projects in the southern California region.

As the world’s leading marina design-build construction company, Bellingham Marine specializes in floating dock, floating platform and floating wave attenuation systems for marinas worldwide. The company also produces dry storage systems for the upland storage of boats.