Port report: BAE dry dock job at Pier 70, dredging and shore power advance waterfront activity

Elaine Forbes, sitting in for Executive Director Monique Moyer, told the Port Commission that a U.S. Military Sealift Command ship will enter the port’s large dry dock at BAE Systems on Pier 70 for regular maintenance. Forbes said the repair job will last approximately 55 days, employ more than 200 shipyard workers and generate an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 labor hours. “With options, the contract value for repair will be nearly $14,500,000 and that will generate additional rents to the port of about $470,000 annual in this year,” she said.

Forbes credited recent dredging of the Central Basin — which BAE helped finance with a $1.2 million contribution — for making the dry dock accessible and said plans for shore power at Pier 70 would further improve competitiveness for similar future bids. She said the port’s dry dock and a comparable facility in San Diego are the only West Coast dry docks large enough for vessels of this class.

Forbes also announced cultural and program items: the port will mark its 150th anniversary and Muni its 100th, including promotional campaigns and a small celebration after the April 24 meeting; a Heritage Shoreline event on April 14 will celebrate the Western Merchandise Mart (now Market Square) with Mayor Lee as honorary chair. On capital projects, she updated the commission on the cruise terminal work at Pier 29 1/2 (demolition and shore-power transformer storage, structural steel slated to begin mid-April) and said demolition at Pier 36 for the Brandon Street Wharf project is underway with hazardous abatement complete and pier-building demolition expected to finish by mid-April.

Forbes summarized these items as positive economic developments for jobs and rents at the Port. “So it’s all good news all around,” she said.