NEAH BAY — A flotilla of boats will tie up for the first time at a new $13.8 million dock during a blessing and ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. today.
The dock will be open for business Monday.
Fishing boats and oil response vessels — the boats that will use the dock — will tie up at the industrial hoist, said Debbie Ross-Preston, coastal information officer for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.
“It’s going to be a huge plus to have all the catch come in at one dock,” said Michael Lawrence, Makah dock manager.
The boats of fishermen and Makah dancers and singers will perform; a tribal council member will speak; and Norm Down, who has worked for the tribe for 41 years, will tell the history of the dock project, Ross-Preston said.
Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace, and Patty Murray, D-Seattle, have been invited, along with U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, a Gig Harbor Democrat who represents the North Olympic Peninsula as part of the 6th Congressional District.
The state-of-the-art commercial dock replaces a decrepit pier in use for nearly 70 years that had been deemed unsafe.
The 120-foot-long, two-lane dock has a state-of-the-art ice machine capable of holding 110 tons of ice and has five off-loading terminals, up from two on the old dock, the tribe said.
It also meets new tsunami standards for docks, including withstanding a magnitude-9 earthquake and 15-foot tsunami waves, the tribe added.
The new dock will allow for sorting, packing and shipping directly from the dock on semi-trucks that could not safely navigate the fragile old pier.
The tribe awarded a $10.4 million construction contract to Manson Construction of Seattle, which deployed local subcontractors.
Two-part project
It is the first phase of a two-part project that includes an additional $6 million in moorage improvements to support an expanded role for oil spill response vessels, which already dock in Neah Bay.
It is estimated that more than 50 percent of the Makah community relies on the income from fishing in some way, the tribe said in a news release.
The dock construction “meant not only some jobs during construction but a lasting improvement to the community that will pay for itself rapidly,” according to the statement.
The tribe contributed $10.5 million toward the project, including a tribal loan with grants rounding out the budget.
Recently, the tribe got the news that a $1.1 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant will assist with the second phase of the construction — the oil spill prevention and response dock that will extend beyond the current structure.
Having a specific structure for the oil spill response vessels, including a tugboat that tows ships without power to safety, will allow all the response vessels to be located in one place and expedite their deployment.
A crane on the completed dock is already allocated for industrial lifting to assist in oil spill equipment deployment.
“The crane can lift 10 tons, and it was mostly with oil spill response in mind,” Lawrence said.
