Bellingham Marine New Zealand was contracted in the late part of 2020 to extend the north face of the Waikawa Marina in the stunning Marlborough sounds, providing 251 brand new berths. With 227 piles to be installed with the addition of manufacturing and installation of 401 pontoons, this was an exciting challenge.
The decision was made to pre-pile the marina while the outer fixed breakwater was being built simultaneously, a challenging moment for the team that was exposed to the wave climate and ferry wakes. Instead of the traditional method of piling through the pontoon rings, the team instead used state of the art GPS surveying equipment which enabled the team to accurately able to set out the piling without a breakwater.
According to Dave Lamont, operations manager at Waikawa Marina, “The pre-piling methodology using our own GPS set out equipment has been a great success, resulting in a complete installation of pontoons without any modifications to pile guides or layouts required.”
While piling continued, developed pontoons began to be floated into the waters nearby for assembly. Bellingham’s Unifloat® pontoons were designed with aluminum connections, eliminating all necessary needs for galvanized steel components, while featuring fiberglass rebar internally, removing the metal components fabricated from traditional steel rebar.
The final pontoon was delivered late January 2023 and the official opening held in April 2023. Unifloat pontoons have been a key part of Bellingham Marine’s development. Among the first Unifloat projects was the Port of Seattle’s Shilshole Marina, built in the late 1950’s. The Unifloat docks served Shilshole well right up until their replacement in 2007, and many of the marina’s original docks were sold to nearby facilities.
The company’s product line and services have also grown over the years, from its flagship Unifloat concrete dock system to a portfolio of products and services spanning the entire spectrum of nearshore development.
For more information on the company and its products, visit https://www.bellingham-marine.com. This article previously appeared on the website of the New Zealand Marina Operators Association. For more information on the NZMOA, visit https://www.nzmoa.com.
Reprinted from Marine Construction Magazine, Issue II, 2024.
