By Michael Coughlin Jr.
The Jeffries Point Neighborhood Association (JPNA) hosted representatives from the Boston Harbor Shipyard & Marina (BHSM) at the group’s Planning and Zoning meeting last week to provide updates on a new dry dock and to present plans for the construction of two new piers that will support a new 80 metric-ton travel lift.
Notably, the shipyard received a new 60-by-120-foot floating dry dock in March, which is being used to haul public ferries and for general service work on numerous types of vessels at Pier Three.
“It’s really been a great asset for the harbor and been quite busy really since we started operations,” said Marshall Greenland, BHSM’s general manager.
“This has been very popular and needed in the harbor. Really, what it does is it eliminates downtime for the vessel operators that are based in Boston,” he added.
Additionally, BHSM recently purchased an 80 metric-ton travel lift, which was shipped and assembled approximately a month ago, according to Greenland.
Now, the shipyard is looking to build piers on which the lift will operate. During the meeting, Greenland indicated that BHSM would submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) to the Conservation Commission for the construction of the piers shortly and that abutters would be notified upon submission.
The new lift is designed to service small commercial vessels, including fishing boats, smaller ferries, police boats, and smaller fireboats, according to Greenland.
BHSM’s current lift is 50 U.S. tons and is old. “While we do a lot of work with it, boats have gotten a lot bigger since the 80s, and commercial boats generally can’t be serviced by that travel lift,” said Greenland.
The proposed piers are slated to be 120 feet long, and there will be about 26.5 feet between them, which is almost 10 feet wider than the old piers.
Photos of the existing piers and travel lift were shown, and Greenland noted that the new iteration would be similar to them. Further, he showed pictures of the current conditions where the new setup will be located, which is near the headwall between Piers Three and Four.
As part of the project, a staging dock will be erected next to the piers, which Greenland said is a typical practice. There are also plans to demolish “the condemned” Pier Four, conduct other cleanup work, and install a 100-foot wash basin to collect washed water and remove it off-site.
Following the presentation, the floor was opened up to questions from those in attendance. One resident wondered if the new travel lift was different from the one that was slated as part of BHSM’s investment plan. Greenland indicated that they are still planning for another larger travel lift.
The same resident also inquired about the timeframe for Buildings Two and Four of the investment plan. Greenland said they would have a better idea of Building Two’s timeline in September, and he hopes that permitting will begin in the next year, with Building Four following “a year or two beyond that.”
JPNA Board Member Tyler Lane also had some questions. He wondered if there would be some excavation.
In response, Greenland said, “The only excavation would be just a little bit below grade, so that when we install the piers on top of the piles, those piers are two feet from the pile to the top of the pier.” He also noted that a similar strategy would be used to install the aforementioned wash basin.
“It’s not what we would consider to be any significant amount of excavation or stockpiling of equipment or anything. It will all be kind of contained in that area.”
Lane also wondered if BHSM projected an increase in jobs due to the installation of a larger lift. Greenland said absolutely and later added, “As we expand the size of the boats, that’s just additional work.”
Finally, there was a question about whether the shipyard would share updated design concepts for Building Two before filing for permitting, to which Greenland said yes.