Tag Archives: port of bremerton

SAFE Boats delivers icebreaker support vessel

Bremerton’s SAFE Boats International has produced a new Coast Guard support vessel specifically designed for use in arctic conditions.

The new CB-OTH-IV POLAR was recently delivered to the 420-foot icebreaker USCG Cutter Healy, according to a company news release. The support vessel is a modified version of the 26-foot Cutter Boat-Over The Horizon-IV that SAFE Boats is producing for the Coast Guard on a long-term contract.

The POLAR version features a reinforced hull, SAFE Boat’s collar floatation system, communications equipment, and launch and recovery hardware. The boat is powered by a 480-horsepower engine and water jet drive.

According to the release, the vessel will “support cutter missions in open water and operates as a critical support craft with a mission scope of law enforcement, security, search and rescue, and environmental protection of natural resources.”

“We are very pleased to continue our long history of partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard in providing them a new platform that will allow the women and men serving on forward deployed ice breakers to better accomplish their mission,“ SAFE Boats CEO Dennis Morris said in the release.

The Seattle-based Healy is primarily an arctic research vessel. It carries a 4,200-square-foot laboratory and accommodations for up to 50 scientists. The Healy can break through 4.5 feet of ice at a speed of three knots, according to its official page.

Marina fees, marijuana on port agenda

Tad Sooter

Moorage increases

Guest moorage fees at the Bremerton and Port Orchard marinas may be headed up for the first time in three years.

Port of Bremerton commissioners will vote Tuesday on 2014 marina tariff schedules that would increase guest moorage rates at both marinas.

The current rate for guest finger slips and side ties is $30 per night, plus 75 cents for every foot of boat length over 40 feet. The new rate would be $36 per night, plus 90 cents for every foot of boat length over 40 feet.

The staff proposal would also increase the monthly liveaboard fee at Port Orchard Marina to $75 and allow five more liveaboard tenants, bringing the total to 25. There is a waiting list for liveaboard slips.

No increases to permanent moorage rates are proposed. A detailed breakdown of all the proposed changes is included in the meeting agenda.

Taken together, the rate increases and new tenants would buoy the 2014 budget by an estimated $33,000. An update from the port’s marina marketing consultant is also on the Tuesday agenda.

Pot prohibition

Many cities and counties in Washington will allow legalized marijuana businesses to set up shop in industrial parks.

One Kitsap business park likely to be out of bounds for pot enterprises is the Olympic View Industrial Park, owned by the Port of Bremerton. Port commissioners will vote Tuesday on a resolution affirming its prohibition on marijuana on port properties. Continue reading →

Report highlights Kitsap maritime industry

Tad Sooter

Puget Sound employs three times more people in maritime trades than the national average.

That’s one headline from a maritime industry impact report recently released by the Puget Sound Regional Council. The concentration of marine jobs is no surprise for our watery corner of the world, particularly in Kitsap, where a naval base and shipyard rank as top employers.

But while the importance of the industry may be well known, the supporting data used in the 83-page report is enlightening.

The study examines the regional economic impact of the industry, the performance of various sectors over time, and the potential for growth. Here are some highlights:

The maritime industry employed 57,700 people in Washington in 2012. Another 90,000 people were indirectly employed in related fields.
Maritime businesses grossed $25.2 billion in 2012, and paid $4.1 billion in wages.
Maritime jobs are concentrated in central Puget Sound, with 41 percent in King County and 24 percent in Kitsap.
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility employed 11,288 civilians in September 2013, accounting for the vast majority of maritime employment in Kitsap.
PSNS awards about $200 million annually in contracts for work completed in Washington. (It just awarded Vigor Shipyards a $33 million contract for upgrades to a destroyer)
Bremerton’s SAFE Boats International (pictured at top) employs 350 floor workers and about 30 in engineering.
Maritime jobs are good paying jobs, averaging about $70,000 a year (before benefits), and closer to $80,000 for federal employees.

The report didn’t embed well, but you can give it a read or download it here. Continue reading →

Port to hold special meeting Monday for bid award

Tad Sooter

Port of Bremerton commissioners will meet at 11 a.m. Monday to consider awarding a bid for an heating and air conditioning project.

Two bids were received for the project to upgrade HVAC at building No. 4 in the Olympic View Industrial Park. Sullivan Heating entered the apparent low bid at $55,467.45. A bid from Miller Sheet Metal came in at $86,620.44. The engineer’s estimate was $69,901.

The HVAC upgrade was a condition of a lease agreement recently signed with new tenant Triton Marine.

Triton Marine to lease Port of Bremerton property

Tad Sooter

Chico-based Triton Marine Construction is securing new digs at the Port of Bremerton.

The port is expected to approve a lease agreement with the company Tuesday on a 12,000-square-foot building and 1.3-acre yard in the Olympic View Industrial Park. Rent is $6,246 per month, according to the draft agreement included in the agenda packet for the Tuesday port commission meeting.

The five-year lease is set to begin Jan. 1.

The port will complete a $50,000 HVAC installation at the building. Triton plans to add more office space, and grade a portion of the yard. The company will employ 15-20 people at the site, according to the agenda summary.

Triton Marine relocated from Houston to Kitsap in 1999, according to its website. It employs up to 150 full-time personnel. The company specializes in government marine construction projects, and recently landed a $35.5 million Navy contract.