Tag Archives: Port of Port Townsend

Port of Port Townsend: Marine trades plan for reopening in Phase 2

When the governor first announced his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, boat builders in Port Townsend put down their sanders, chisels and saws and headed home. But as the fishing season drew closer, and Alaskan towns began to institute two-week quarantines for incoming boats, crews scrambled to get their fishing vessels ready. On March 30, Gov. Jay Inslee said marine trades businesses could continue to work on commercial fishing vessels in addition to government and transportation vessels. “I don’t think there’s any debate that the marine trades have been essential workers throughout the closure,” said Eron Berg, director of the Port of Port Townsend. While the port scaled down haulouts, marine trades businesses scaled down to just working on commercial fishing vessels. ACI Boats, a boat construction company at the port’s boat yard, launched a newly built commercial fishing vessel that will head to Bristol Bay amid the pandemic. >click to read< 17:39

As historic Jensen boatyard shuts down, former employees keep boatcraft alive in Seattle

When word got out last fall that the Jensen Motor Boat Company on north Lake Union would be shutting down, other boatyards wasted little time in trying to hire the company’s skilled shipwrights, carpenters and other craftspeople. There were offers from outfits in Seattle and in Anacortes. The Port of Port Townsend was ready to supply shop space for the entire crew at Jensen, which had built and repaired wooden boats at its Boat Street for nearly a century. “We were all offered jobs pretty much all up and down the coast,” says Peter Proctor, general manager at Jensen until it formally shut down this month . But Proctor and many of his former colleagues politely declined. >click to read<  17:56

Port Townsend: Port commission votes to evict tenant

The Port of Port Townsend commissioners voted unanimously Dec. 13 to evict a commercial salmon and tuna fisherman from the port’s Boat Haven moorage facility. The tenant is Joel Kawahara, 62, of Quilcene. Both the commissioners and Kawahara declined to offer details about the eviction. When asked why Kawahara is being evicted, Commissioner Peter Hanke said, “It’s a legal matter. Call our attorney.” click here to read the story 08:51

Lift cable snaps, boat slips at Port Townsend marina

A cable snapped on a Port of Port Townsend boat lift while it was lowering a boat into the Boat Haven Marina, causing minor property damage and a small fuel spill in the marina.The cable broke just after 9 a.m. Monday morning. The Port of Port Townsend’s smaller boat lift was being used to lower a 56-foot fishing vessel, Bernice, back into the marina waters, according to Rodger Slade of Towboat U.S., formerly Vessel Assist of Port Hadlock. “It didn’t drop the boat but it was kind of at an awkward angle,” said Abigail Berg, the port’s finance director, speaking on behalf of Greg Englin, port operations manager. Read the story here 16:11