John D. Colonel, who worked for many years in the marina industry, passed away January 10th, in his home in York, Pennsylvania. He was 62.
Born in 1949, John retired from the U.S. Navy as a Master Chief Petty Officer after 23 years of service, and in 1993, went to work for the Southeast Division of Bellingham Marine, world-wide marina builder.
With Bellingham’s purchase of Concrete Flotation Systems in 1998, John was appointed to the position of Operations Manager for the company’s Northeast Division, and in 2001, was promoted to General Manager.
John was extremely dedicated to the marina industry and to providing exceptional service and expertise to his customers. “John was the type of man that led by example,” said Everett Babbitt, President of Bellingham Marine. “He was a true gentleman and a consummate professional. He was well respected by colleagues and customers alike – John will be greatly missed.”
Anyone that had the pleasure of knowing John knew he was a man of virtue. He was warm, loving, and hardworking. There was no question that John had high expectations for himself and worked hard to be the best he could be in his professional as well as his personal life.
John’s work and contributions to the marina industry will always be remembered by those that worked with him. John participated in the design and construction of well over 300 marinas during his time at Bellingham Marine. His works can be found up and down the Eastern Seaboard and in numerous U.S Coast Guard and Navy facilities. A few of John’s most notable projects include E.R. Strait Marina, Norfolk Yacht Club, Port Covington, Bachelor’s Point, Philadelphia Marine Center and most recently Glen Cove Ferry Terminal.
Services for John were held on January 12th and 13th in York, PA and the on the 16th in Jacksonville, FL, where he was laid to rest.
Contact: Bellingham Marine, P.O. Box 8, Bellingham, WA 98227; www.bellingham-marine.com.
Unifloat, Unideck and Unistack are registered trademarks of Bellingham Marine # # # #
The design and construction of a marina at St. Paul Island, located in the Bering Sea on one of the Pribilof Islands, posed a demanding set of design challenges in a remote location subject to extreme environmental conditions.
Marina floating dock systems feature unique engineering characteristics. Unlike buildings and bridges, which for the most part are designed to remain stationary, such floating systems are almost always in motion and are therefore far more susceptible to fatigue. And while most buildings will never actually be tested under the full force of the maximum wind or seismic load for which they were designed, floating marinas often experience their maximum design loads at some point in their service life. They are regularly threatened by these design limit forces and, even more, by wind, wave, and storm surges. And floating marinas, like any other structures on water, are subject to corrosion from the saltwater environment. Despite these harsh conditions, modern floating dock marinas can remain in service for more than 50 years.
MAGAZINE: Civil Engineering
ISSUE: November 2011
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Bellingham Marine, leading marina builder, and leading Korean marina company, CK Marine recently announced that they have formed an agreement that will combine Bellingham Marine’s Korean operations (BMK) with CK Marine’s marina division. The alliance is a strategic move by two of the market’s strongest players to take a commanding lead in the Korean market.
Bellingham Marine formed BMK a year ago to extend the company’s expertise to the growing Korean marina industry and establish a local presence.
“After being in the market for a year, it’s clear that to be most effective we need to partner with a local company,” said Everett Babbitt, President of Bellingham Marine. “The arrangement we’ve formed with CK better positions us to serve the Korean marina industry by maximizing our synergies.”
Babbitt added, “The partnership was carefully crafted to ensure maximum control over product quality as well as ensure the financial health of the new entity.”
Under the arrangement Bellingham Marine will provide all technical expertise to CK for manufacturing the company’s products including its flagship Unifloat concrete dock system. Bellingham will also provide engineering and design support through its worldwide network of engineers and consultants.
The joint venture will utilize CK marine’s existing plant and office space in Seoul, Korea.
Bellingham Marine’s presence in Asia has grown significantly over the past several years. The company’s operations include a licensee agreement in Japan and now Korea as well as offices in Malaysia, Singapore and China.
As the world’s leading marina design-build construction company, Bellingham Marine produces Unifloat® concrete floating dock systems, Unideck® metal frame floating dock systems and Unistack® dry stack systems for marinas worldwide.
Unifloat, Unideck and Unistack are registered trademarks of Bellingham Marine.
Residents of Santa Cruz are celebrating the rebuild of the area’s only harbor. On August 26th, the Santa Cruz Harbor hosted a grand reopening celebration. Port officials, government partners and numerous tenants of the marina were present.
When the Tsunami that was triggered by Japan’s massive earthquake in March slammed into the west coast of the United States, Santa Cruz Harbor was particularly hard hit. Large waves pounded the marina leaving a mess of destruction. It was reported that at least 20 boats were sunk and more than 100 were damaged. Damage to the harbor itself was estimated at more than $22 million.
Over a third of the marina’s docks were destroyed resulting in a number of displaced boaters and lost revenue for the Port. Eager to clean up the mess and get the marina back in working order, Santa Cruz quickly issued an RFP for the replacement of “U” dock, which sustained the greatest amount of damage.
By the first week in May, the Port District had awarded a contract for the replacement of “U” dock. Bellingham Marine was selected for the job.
A key requirement of the RFP was turnaround time. As the successful bidder, Bellingham Marine proved to the Port that they could turn the completed project around in just three months’ time. The average turnaround time for a project of this size is typically 6 months.
Set on meeting the Port District’s schedule, Bellingham Marine came up with a number of innovative strategies to shorten the typical turnaround time on the project including pre-installing some of the dock’s utility components prior to installation of the dock system in the water.
The project’s scope of work included the complete replacement of U dock totaling more than 6,300 square feet of walkway and fingers. Existing piling and gangways were reused but all utilities; including power, water and fire, as well as the floating docks were replaced from the top of the gangway down.
Designed by Ashton Engineering, the new docks at Santa Cruz feature an HDPE plastic lumber system supported by floats similar to a traditional timber dock system. Given the level of damage sustained by the marina, the Santa Cruz Port District engineers called for a two foot wave design for the new dock system.
The new berths at Santa Cruz’s “U” dock are extra strong. The dock includes 53 double berth slips for boats 30 feet in length with full utilities. “We couldn’t be happier with the look and feel of our new dock system,” said Lisa Ekers, Port Director for the Santa Cruz Harbor “Bellingham Marine said they could deliver, and they did. Our tenants are thrilled.”
Installation of the new docks was started the last week of July and completed August 16th.
As the world’s leading marina design-build construction company, Bellingham Marine produces Unifloat® concrete floating dock systems as well as timber and metal frame systems. The company also produces Unistack® dry stack systems for marinas worldwide.
Contact: Bellingham Marine, P.O. Box 8, Bellingham, WA 98227; www.bellingham-marine.com.
Unifloat, Unideck and Unistack are registered trademarks of Bellingham Marine
Located within the rich tropical grounds of the exclusive Ocean Reef Club on Key Largo Island in the Florida Keys, Harbour House is a unique condominium arrangement that provides owners with access to all the amenities the club has to offer including convenient boat moorage.
Harbour House’s private marina includes 50 slips for boats up to 40 feet LOA. In 2011, the condo association made the decision to upgrade their marina to offer slip holders an upscale experience; Bellingham Marine was hired as the design/build contractor.
The condo’s original marina was supplied by Bellingham Marine in the 70’s and had gone through a number of hurricanes. Although it had fared well through the storms, after 40 years of use members wanted to update it to include some modern conveniences.
The option for the association was to either take on an extensive renovation or do a complete replacement. They voted in favor of a replacement. “One of the major reasons we decided to go the direction we did, was that we wanted to do a comprehensive upgrade of the entire facility,” remarked Tom Rementeria, LCAM & Sr. Manager for CSI Management Services, Inc.
The single biggest upgrade was the design criteria for the new docks. “We wanted a high load capacity to withstand hurricane force loads and high freeboard to accommodate easy loading and off-loading,” said Tom. Additional upgrades at Harbour House include larger power and access to other utilities on the docks.
Following a growing trend among high end marinas, Harbour House also decided to include underwater lighting. “The lights add to the beauty of the facility at night and are becoming an economical option for marina’s looking to add something extra to their facility,” said Steve Ryder, Manager of Project Development for Bellingham Marine.
The Ocean Reef Club’s Key Largo location is an all-inclusive club located on two thousand acres, bordered on three sides by water. With extensive real estate options, 54 holes of golf, a salon and spa, more than a dozen restaurants, a 175-slip marina, a private airport, and so much more, Ocean Reef Club is in league of its own.
As the world’s leading marina design-build construction company, Bellingham Marine produces Unifloat® concrete floating dock systems as well as timber and metal frame systems. The company also produces Unistack® dry stack systems for marinas worldwide.