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THAT WAS THEN. THE BUILDING IS FINISHED NOW - Mavrik’s Marine new boat manufacturing building started as a steel frame in November, insert. By mid-January it was on its way to being enclosed, as seen above. Now a 130-foot long, 36-foot wide, 30-foot tall ferry is being built in it. Come out 12 p.m. May 27 for the ribbon cutting ceremony. – Photo by Ken Stern
Mavrik Marine’s new building on Pearle Jensen Way is complete. Already the aluminum boat manufacturer is making big progress on new, large-scale projects.
The building itself is large scale. About 60 feet tall, the white metal building dominates its Port of Skagit site east of the La Conner Marina. Taller than the old Moore Clark building, it puts an exclamation point on the town’s decades-long shift from seafood processing to high-tech marine industries.
A 12 p.m. May 27 ribbon-cutting ceremony will convene the many groups that made the 60-foot tall, 17,226 square-foot behemoth possible.
The Port of Skagit, which owns and operates the La Conner Marina and two government agencies contributed to the multi-million-dollar expansion project. Port of Skagit staff helped line up a 20-year, 2%, $2.25 million loan and $750,000 grant from the Washington State Community Economic Revitalization Board. U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell was instrumental in securing $564,850 from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Small Shipyards Grant program to purchase a U.S.-built bridge crane, welding systems and a compressor. Mavrik invested more than a million of its own funds.
Carletti Architects of Mount Vernon designed the building and Axthelm managed its construction which began in November.
New business from the San Francisco Bay area Water Emergency Transportation Authority was the impetus for the expansion.
In 2018 and 2019, WETA, operators of the ferry service on San Francisco Bay, awarded Mavrik a base contract and option for a total of $27.8 million to build two shallow-draft ferries. When complete, the MV Dorado and the MV Delphinius will carry 320 passengers each. At 36 knots, or 41 miles per hour, they will be the fastest vessels in the WETA ferry fleet.
In October 2020, WETA added a $30 million order for two more high-speed, 320-passenger ferries, with an option for a third.
But the 130-foot long, 36-foot wide, 30-foot tall ferries could not be built in Mavrik’s existing building. On his daily bicycle ride, Brad Bradford, former commodore of the Shelter Bay Yacht Club, has kept track of that work taking place outside their facility, the long, twin-hull catamaran sticking out of the building.
He watched workers putting hardware and lights into the cabin and deck of the first ferry as it sat between Mavrik’s two buildings. He was on hand when it was moved into the new one.
“First, they put the cabin and deck unit into the new building and raised it with the new cranes,” Bradford reported. “Then they dragged the hull out of the old building, did a lot of fussing around and turning and steering and were just barely able to get the thing into the new building.
“Then they backed the hull in and closed the doors and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of anything since.”
No more rubber necking. Inside the new manufacturing facility, which accommodates vessels up to 150 feet long and 45 feet wide, 20-ton overhead cranes on a crane-rail system are assembling the superstructure and the hull.
The ferries will be launched at the La Conner Marina, but on barges. The Port of Skagit is looking into the feasibility of an industrial launch facility to accommodate larger vessels, to attract additional maritime manufacturers to the community and to add valuable public infrastructure at the La Conner Marina.
According to recent minutes from WETA board meetings, COVID-19 restrictions have impacted the ferry build schedule. To facilitate physical distancing, Mavrik has scheduled morning and evening work shifts.
WETA says that launch, sea trials and final delivery for the MV Dorado are scheduled for mid-2021. Construction of the MV Delphinius is underway and will be completed by first quarter 2022.
As more contracts are signed, Mavrik will construct a second building with the same specs on the Port-owned parking lot to the south of the new building.
A Port of Skagit tenant since 2012, Mavrik builds aluminum passenger ferries and commercial fishing vessels, plus sight-seeing ships and research boats. President and CEO Zachery Battle says the company has work scheduled out to 2024. It has a 20-year lease with two ten-year options on the property, with the base lease expiring in 2040.
According to Linda Tyler of The Port of Skagit, the new building means about 35 new jobs, bringing Mavrik’s payroll to nearly 110 employees.
“The mission of The Port of Skagit is ‘Good jobs for the Skagit Valley’ and Mavrik Marine is one of our partners who help deliver that mission to our community,” Tyler said.
“The public-private partnership the Port has built with Mavrik Marine over the past nine years has been very successful and very beneficial to the community. We are excited to watch Mavrik Marine grow and continue to make a significant impact on the maritime industry in our region and beyond.”
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