Tag Archives: Dakota Creek Industries
Dakota Creek Industries co-founder Dick Nelson dead at 78
Dick Nelson, who co-founded Dakota Creek Industries, died Thursday, the Anacortes shipyard announced. He was 78. Nelson’s passing was announced in a company statement read by Port of Anacortes Executive Director Dan Worra at the port’s commission meeting on Thursday evening. Dakota Creek Industries was founded in 1975 in Blaine and initially focused on repair and conversion work before relocating in 1977 to Anacortes, where it began building new vessels, including fishing vessels, tug boats, commercial and government vessels, according to the company’s website. >click to read< 10:13
Larsen sees results of legislation at Dakota Creek
It was a little over a year ago that Dakota Creek Industries received a long-awaited congressional waiver to a provision in a federal law that grounded a $75 million Dakota Creek-built factory trawler, America’s Finest, and forced the company to cut its workforce in half to 175.,,, Construction of another large trawler was nearing completion,, Ship construction is booming at the Anacortes shipyard, which also does repair and maintenance of vessels. >click to read< 13:20
Trump signs Coast Guard bill into law, includes Jones Act waiver for America’s Finest
When Dakota Creek Industries took America’s Finest out for its first sea trial on Tuesday 4 December, it looked like the 264-foot vessel was taking a victory lap. The Anacortes, Washington-based shipbuilder held an event that day to celebrate the Jones Act waiver elected officials were able to get for the processor-trawler. Later in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Coast Guard Authorization Act, which contained the labor provision, into law. The process itself is not quite finished. The Coast Guard will get 30 days to review information >click to read<12:56
America’s Finest – Waiver for fishing vessel makes it through Congress
A waiver for the $75 million ship America’s Finest is headed to the president for a signature following approval from both chambers of Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a waiver Tuesday that will allow the fishing vessel to be used in U.S. waters when it approved the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen’s office. The ship was built by Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes. >click to read<10:49
Senate passes bill with Jones Act waiver for Fishermen’s Finest vessel
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday, 14 November, overwhelmingly passed a bill that included language giving Fishermen’s Finest a waiver it needs to use its USD 75 million (EUR 66.4 million) fishing vessel in American waters. Senate leaders added the Jones Act waiver for America’s Finest, a 264-foot catcher-processor trawler, in its Coast Guard reauthorization bill. That bill, approved by a 94-6 margin, now goes back to the House of Representatives for its approval of the Senate’s changes. That is expected to happen after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. >click to read<11:48
America’s Finest vessel gets 2nd House waiver
The U.S. House, for a second time, has passed a waiver for the fishing vessel America’s Finest, but a path through the U.S. Senate still remains uncertain. A waiver for the $75 million trawler, which is necessary to allow the ship to work in U.S. waters, was included in the National Defense Authorization Act that cleared the House on Thursday morning. “It passed the House, but that and two bucks will get us a cup of coffee,” Dakota Creek Industries Vice President Mike Nelson told the American Thursday.,, But efforts to push a waiver through the Senate have failed so far. >click to read<10:42
Fight over America’s Finest vessel part of bigger processor battle
The mothershippers are fighting with the groundfish shoreplants in a politicized Bering Sea commercial fishing tussle reaching all the way to Washington, D.C. The battle over Pacific cod pits the factory trawlers of the Amendment 80 fleet against Alaska shoreplants and local governments. And in February, it pitted two local governments against each other. A delegation of municipal and business leaders from Anacortes, Wash., traveled to the Aleutian Islands to ask the Unalaska City Council to reverse itself but didn’t change anybody’s mind. The brand spanking new factory trawler America’s Finest remains stranded in an Anacortes, Wash., shipyard, unable to fish in the United States because it hasn’t received a waiver from the Jones Act. >click to read<15:54
Effort to let Anacortes-built trawler fish in U.S. waters runs aground
Federal legislation to authorize a $75 million Anacortes-built factory trawler to work in U. S waters has foundered — for the second time this spring — in the turbulent political seas of Congress. The measure was included in a Coast Guard reauthorization bill that failed, in a procedural vote, to get the support of 60 senators and move on to a final vote. A provision to allow the 264-foot vessel to net and process fish off Alaska failed to make it into the spending bill passed by Congress in March. >click to read<10:19
Anacortes delegation travels to Unalaska
Visitors from Anacortes, Wash., traveled to the Aleutian Islands last week to urge the Unalaska City Council to stop asking the U.S. Congress to restrict a stranded factory trawler from buying cod at sea. Earlier, Unalaska Mayor Frank Kelty sent the state’s congressional delegation a letter urging “sideboard” restrictions on any Jones Act waiver granted to the new factory trawler America’s Finest. The vessel ran afoul of federal domestic content law when it was discovered it had excess foreign steel in its hull. Now, the state-of-the-art $74 million flatfish factory trawler can’t fish in the U.S., unless Congress grants a waiver. >click to read< 12:531
Puget Sound fishing firms tussle in Congress over new ship that ran afoul of federal law
By now, the $75 million America’s Finest should be deep into its first winter harvest season, catching and processing yellowfin sole and other fish in the Bering Sea. Instead, the 264-foot vessel — the largest trawler built in the Pacific Northwest in recent decades — is still unfinished. It sits moored at a dock at Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes, and the shipyard has laid off more than 130 employees. Fishermen’s Finest wants the Washington and Alaska congressional delegations to back a straightforward waiver to the century-old Jones Act, which requires vessels transporting cargo and people between U.S. ports to have a hull largely made of American materials. >click to read< 13:46 
Mayors go to D.C. to lobby for Anacortes shipbuilder
The mayors of Anacortes and Mount Vernon traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to urge legislators to forgive a local shipbuilder’s mistake. In speaking to the state’s Congressional delegation, Anacortes Mayor Laurie Gere lobbied for a waiver that would allow a ship built in the city to be used in U.S. waters, thus protecting the jobs of those who work for the shipbuilder. America’s Finest, the vessel in question, was built by Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes for the Kirkland-based company Fisherman’s Finest for use in the Bering Sea. click here to read the story 13:50
Dakota Creek Industries trying to make things right in eyes of Congress
Dakota Creek Industries owner Mike Nelson and his staff have been looking for ways to appease federal lawmakers following the mistake the company made in building the $75 million fishing vessel America’s Finest. The mistake — using too much foreign-formed steel in the vessel’s hull — requires a waiver from the U.S. Congress in order for the ship to fish domestically. The waiver would be for the Jones Act, which requires domestic fishing vessels be built in the U.S. These days, Nelson glances frequently at his cell phone hoping for good news concerning his company’s lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C. click here to read the story 12:12
New Anacortes-built trawler could be grounded by old law, endangering two local firms
The largest, most modern American-made trawler built in nearly three decades may be barred from fishing in U.S. waters, with financial repercussions to its local builder and buyer “so draconian that neither company may survive.” That’s the scenario painted by the law firm that Anacortes shipyard Dakota Creek Industries has hired to seek a rare waiver from a century-old law called the Jones Act, which they acknowledge wasn’t properly followed when the shipyard began building the state-of-the art, $75 million vessel Americas Finest. The shipyards mistake using too much foreign steel that was modified before coming into the U.S. could mean the advanced ship must be sold abroad at a big loss. click here to read the story 08:40
Dakota Creek Industries working on state-of-the-art fishing vessel
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen met Thursday morning at Dakota Creek Industries with shipbuilders and commercial fishermen eager to show off a new, fuel-efficient fishing vessel. The ship, America’s Finest, is bigger, safer, more efficient and pollutes less than existing vessels, according to Fishermen’s Finest, the ship’s owner and operator. The company says the ship will have the smallest carbon footprint per ton of fish of any fishing vessel in the Bering Sea. The 262-foot-long ship is like a floating city, with its own fish processing factory, power plant and sewage treatment facility, said Kristian Uri, Fishermen’s Finest general manager. click here to view additional photo’s and read the story 11:01
New Dakota Creek fishing ship will be first in U.S. since 1989
Commissioning a new ship costs a bundle. Ask Helena Park, CEO and founder of Fisherman’s Finest in Kirkland. She has hired Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes to build a ship unlike one built in the United States in more than 30 years. Ms. Park, as everyone calls her, came to the U.S. from South Korea as a high school exchange student in 1973. She began working in commercial fishing in 1982. Three and a half decades later, at age 60, she’s looking at an $80 million bill for the building of America’s Finest, which will replace both ships in her fleet. Read the story here 16:48
Blue North Fisheries debuts state-of-the-art commercial fishing vessel
The F/V Blue North is a 191 foot freezer longliner owned by Seattle based Blue North Fisheries. The vessel was designed in Norway and built by Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes. “I’m kind of pinching myself – we are finally here – we’ve got it,” said Patrick Burns who is the co-founder of Blue North. “It’s a state of the art vessel.” The $36 million fishing boat has been under construction for several years. It was delivered last week and has been receiving some final touches at Seattle’s Pier 91 as it prepares to make fishing history in Alaska’s Bering Sea. “This vessel is a game changer – it’s the greenest, most sustainable and highest tech commercial fishing vessel that’s ever been built in the United State and possibly the world,” said Kenny Down, President and CEO of Blue North Fisheries. Video, Read the story here 01:11
Revisited: Americas Finest – Follow the construction of this Bering Sea Fishing Trawler from start to finish
We posted this on and a lot of water has gone over the dam, or better yet, a whole lotta steel has flown into position. Steel fabrication can be considered an art form, and the images posted will confirm, this is art being created by craftsmen at Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes, Washington. There are hundreds of images showing Americas Finest under construction. Start with the July 2015 post for the beginning of construction. The ship is named, “Americas Finest” she is designed for catching and producing frozen at sea white fish products, ground fish and pelagic fish species. Operations will be the North Pacific, Gulf of Alaska, Chukchi Sea and Bering Sea inside the US EEZ. Construction was begun in June 2015 estimated completion date estimated for December 2017. Click here to view the Floating Steel website. 17:39
Fishermen’s Finest to build Skipsteknisk AS Designed 268 foot Catcher/Processer Vessel at Dakota Creek Industries in Anacortes WA
This trawler becomes the most environmental friendly- and complete vessel ever built for the US deep sea fisheries.This US flagged Amendment 80 stern trawler to be built for producing frozen at sea, white fish products, groundfish including yellow- and rock sole species. Read the rest here 15:24
Cantwell sees jobs, progress at Dakota Creek Industries – Building $36 million F/V Blue North
ANACORTES — U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell visited Thursday afternoon for a tour of boat manufacturer Dakota Creek Industries and to watch construction on a vessel that could change the fishing industry. [email protected] 13:53
