Bellingham Marine General Manager Jesse Ellenz has been appointed to the position of Vice President of Special Projects, effective May 15. Jesse will remain in his position as General Manager of the company’s Northwest Division until a suitable replacement can be found. In addition to his current duties, Jesse will also assume day to day oversight of the company’s efforts to expand its reach into projects beyond the typical marina market.
“Jesse has a strong construction background and an incredible amount of experience working on unique, one-off projects; we are excited to have him in this position,” said Everett Babbitt, President of Bellingham Marine. “He has an exceptional understanding of the challenges that often plague these types of projects and how to approach the design as well as the constructability to ensure their success.”
According to Babbitt, the company has taken on a number of unique projects over the past thirty years that are outside the traditional scope of a marina builder and dock manufacturer. “We’ve always been attracted to challenging projects that require a high level of technical expertise – the floating golf green at The Coeur d’Alene was one of the company’s first iconic special projects; there have since been a number of others including a 90’ by 150’ platform that was made to float 20’ below the surface of the water to support an overwater structure at Round Butte Dam.”
“Aside from the company’s expertise in floating docks and other floating structures, the Bellingham Marine team has a tremendous amount of experience in the precast /prestressed concrete industry,” said Ellenz. “Bellingham’s focus on innovation, leading engineering practices and willingness to think outside the box puts the company in a rare position to help individuals who are looking for unique solutions and one-of-a-kind products.”
“This is an exciting opportunity that I am extremely thankful to be granted. I am looking forward to working with the various divisions throughout the company to expand our offerings worldwide. I am extremely honored to work with the great people that we have here at Bellingham Marine and I thank them for their all of their support.”
Jesse joined Bellingham Marine in 2006 as a project Manager. Shortly after, he was promoted to the position of General Manager of the NW Division. He has over 15 years’ experience in the construction industry and holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Construction Management from Central Washington University. Prior to joining Bellingham Marine, Jesse worked in the commercial and heavy civil segments of the construction industry.
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.
Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, best known for hosting the annual Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, recently constructed a new hardstand area and installed new staging pontoons, adjacent to their crane, for vessels waiting to be loaded in and out of the Bay.
The Club hired world marina builder, Bellingham Marine to design and construct the new pontoons. The company has a long history with the club. “The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has enjoyed a wonderful working relationship with Bellingham Marine for over 20 years, beginning with the design, replacement and installation of our 214 berth floating marina in 1999, and more recently with the extension and reconfiguration of the marina as part of stage one and two of a six stage redevelopment master plan”, said Mark Woolf, Chief Executive Officer of the CYCA.
The new pontoons skirt the existing wharf structure and follow along the new hardstand providing the club with over 99 meters of new moorage space in the club’s “pond”. The Pond is an open area at the front of the club which is used to accommodate short term berthing requirements for members and visitors. The new pontoons can accommodate up to 10 Etchells sailing boats with capacity to moor yachts up to 10 meters in length.
Composite I-beams were used to connect the pontoons to the hardstand area. Steel components would typically be used for this type of application; however, the Club wanted to use a material that would have a longer service life. “The composite beams were lightweight, durable and easy to work with,” remarked Gary Charlwood, Manager of Project Development for Bellingham Marine Australia. “They proved to be a success.”
The entire project was under a tight timeline, as the club’s was very anxious to have the project completed and have all material, personnel, and equipment off site at least one week before the 26th of December – the opening day of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. “Everything was completed on time and the Club is very happy with the new facility,” said Charlwood.
Bellingham Marine also manufactured and supplied six heavy duty stainless steel ladders, which were fitted to the new hardstand.
About Bellingham Marine
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, 22 Sinnamon Rd., 17 Mile Rocks, QLD 4073, Australia
Phone: 011-61-7-3376-6955 | bmi@bellingham-marine.com | www.bellingham-marine.com.au
A new boathouse has made its home on the Willamette River, in downtown Portland, OR, under the Hawthorne Bridge. The structure houses two emergency response watercraft for Portland Fire and Rescue.
Bellingham Marine supplied the floating docks for the project from their plant in Ferndale, WA and supervised the installation. The floating structure is comprised of two main sections. The section that supports the 4,200 square foot fully enclosed boathouse is a post-tensioned unit that provides two 60’ berths with a 5’ wide walkway around the boats inside the building. There is also a 15‘wide platform at the back of the building for staging of equipment.
Outside the boathouse is a triangular shaped “deflector” float. “The primary purpose of the deflector float is to keep floating debris from getting lodged under the boathouse floats,” said Bellingham Marine Project Manager, Derrick Ames. “That’s why the float is shaped the way it is and has such a low freeboard. “
The post-tensioned platform and finger piers that serve as the base for the boathouse were assembled in the water at Advanced American’s yard on the Willamette River and then towed to the site. A unique underwater truss system was added to provide rigidity to the floating foundation and tie the three finger piers together. “The truss system helps stabilize the floats and create a solid foundation for the building,” said Ames. The center finger is not post-tensioned, so the truss helps tie the middle finger pier into the post-tensioned floats.”
Portland Fire and Rescue Chief Erin Janssens said, “This boathouse is a critical part of a dual land-marine based modern fire and rescue station designed to withstand an earthquake and provide a quick response to both land and ever-increasing marine emergencies.”
Portland Fire and Rescue responds to emergency incidents along 149 miles of navigable waterways of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.
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.
Auckland Waterfront has awarded Bellingham Marine New Zealand a design/build contract for the construction of X and Y Piers at Westhaven Marina, located in Auckland, New Zealand.
The project consists of over 1,710 square meters of new concrete pontoons. The pontoons will be manufactured out of Bellingham’s plant in Otahuhu, Auckland, with production starting in April and delivery expected to commence in Mid-May.
The design /build contract requires Bellingham Marine to provide the pile and pontoon design and perform all installation work including all utilities and accessories from the security gates to the new pump out system. Having completed product testing in the Middle East and in New Zealand, Bellingham Marine is pleased to announce it will be using Fibre Reinforced Polymer through rods with glass filled nylon nuts offering a longer life span and reduced maintenance over time.
The new pontoon will become the bookend of the southern side of Westhaven, so a number of upgrades and features were included in the overall design. Upgrades include sewage outlets to individual berths and underwater lighting to the entire city side of the new pier.
Waterfront Auckland’s General Manager of Marinas; Tom Warren confirms that “The new Y Pier is the first major project to be delivered from the recently released Westhaven Plan. The pier completes Westhaven to the east, and allows Waterfront Auckland to deliver a project that not just expands the marina, but includes a significant fuel facility along the edge of the new berths”
Once complete, the two piers will add a total of 64 berths to the Marina facility, which already boasts 1,860 existing vessels within the expansive boat harbor. The new berths will help meet an existing demand for a variety of vessel lengths from 14m to 20m, including a number of multi-hull berths.
“We are very pleased to have been selected for this project after a robust procurement process completed by Waterfront Auckland,” said Bruce Birtwistle, General Manager of Bellingham Marine’s operations in New Zealand. “BMNZ has enjoyed a long association with Westhaven Marina and is looking forward to serving the Waterfront Auckland /Westhaven team as the design/build contractor on the project.”
Tom Warren confirmed that “Bellingham Marine’s capability to deliver pontoons and complete the installation only four months after the contract is awarded met with Waterfront Auckland’s desire to have the berths and fuel facility completed and operational well before the start of the busy summer boating season.”
Established in the 1940’s in downtown Auckland, Westhaven Marina is one of the largest marinas in the southern hemisphere – a boaties paradise nestled beside the Hauraki Gulf Islands, with shopping and dining only minutes away. Surrounded by a comprehensive marine service industry, Westhaven offers world-class facilities for vessels up to 30 meters.
As the world’s leading marina design-build marina construction company, Bellingham Marine produces Unifloat® concrete floating dock systems, Unideck® metal frame floating dock systems and Unistack® dry stack systems for marinas worldwide.
Public Relations Contact: Bellingham Marine New Zealand, 130 Portage Road, Otahuhu, PO BOX 51053 Pakuranga, Auckland, New Zealand; ph. 64-9-273-5311 fax. 64-9-273-5312; bmnz@bellingham-marine.co.nz; www.bellingham-marine.com
Unifloat, Unideck and Unistack are registered trademarks of Bellingham Marine.
On February 2nd Bellingham Marine, worldwide marina builder, and the Melbourne boating community celebrated the opening of the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron’s (RMYS) new marina. Bellingham Marine was contracted by the club in February 2013 to build a new state of the art 250-berth floating marina facility to replace the club’s existing dilapidated timber marina, which will subsequently be removed by RMYS. Concurrently, the club engaged Fitzgerald Constructions to extend the northern groin and southern rock breakwater.
For over ten years, the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron worked with various state and local government agencies on the development of a safer boating harbour and new marina facilities. In January 2014, the club’s persistence and hard work paid off when Bellingham Marine announced the completion of the project.
The club’s new facilities, located at St. Kilda Harbour, includes 250-berths connected by over 1km of floating walkways all protected by an upgraded breakwater and new 140m long floating wave attenuator. Also installed by Bellingham Marine, as part of a separate contract, were 30m of gangway and a dedicated landing pontoon for shared public access.
The marina is accessed via one of nine security controlled access gates and gangways and has capacity for boats from 10 meters to 23 meters in length. All berths are fitted with their own power and water supply via Marine Technologies’ Sterling and Platinum model pedestals. A full marine sanitation and pumpout system manufactured by Keco and supplied by Marine Technologies was also installed.
Situated at the center of the St. Kilda’s foreshore precinct, the St. Kilda pier, kiosk pavilion and rock breakwater have been an iconic destination for Melburnians since the 1950’s when the harbour was first formed as the headquarters for the sailing events during the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games.
The grand opening of the RMYS new marina included a party with live music, an aerobatics display and widespread praise for the quality and functionality of the new facility. “Bellingham has been a delight to work with,” said Club Commodore, Linda Goldsmith, “They were able to work collaboratively with other contractors within the confines of the St Kilda Harbour and were informative and responsive to the Squadron’s requests. Issues that arose were dealt with calmly and responsibly. We are very pleased with the quality outcome and we have received from our members overwhelming praise regarding the new marina.”
About Bellingham Marine
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, 22 Sinnamon Rd., 17 Mile Rocks, QLD 4073, Australia
Phone: 011-61-7-3376-6955 | bmi@bellingham-marine.com | www.bellingham-marine.com.au