Page 22. MAINE COASTAL NEWS June 2015 Portland Yacht Services New Site has been a Challenge


that was going to be our street access, it was right up on Commercial Street, and it had an incredible retail opportunity.” A bigger problem was that this was


Continued from Page 5. An inside view of Portland Yacht Services new second building, which will be work space.


to sell the property and tell my employees have a nice day. I wanted to have something that was for the next generation and do something that would be really helpful to the city. It wasn’t about me, it was about a bigger picture.”


Back to Eimskip, David Fink and Phin- eas went to Iceland, where Phineas agreed to make the move further west opening up the land that Eimskip needed for their buildings. He said, “They never negotiated with me. They went to the State and the State took 18 of my 22 acres by imminent domain. That was where I was going to put my travelift,


Passed Over the Bar Continued from Page 6.


Joseph DeSimone of Rocky Hill, CT, and Kathia Ward of Warren; his customers and co-workers at Wayfarer, and hundreds of friends in the global boating community. Ben was preceded in death by his ma- ternal grandparents, Marjorie and Russell Ward; and his uncle, Edward Ward. A celebration of Ben’s life will he


held Saturday, June 6 at 3 p.m. at Wayfarer Marine in Camden. The Rev. Capt. Jeffrey


C. Lewis will offi ciate. Refl ecting Ben’s personality, a dock party will follow with friends, customers and family at Wayfarer. The Benjamin Ward Cashen Memorial Scholarship has been established at Maine Maritime Academy. Donations should refer- ence the Benjamin Ward Cashen Memorial Scholarship, and be addressed to the Ben- jamin Ward Cashen Memorial Scholarship, Maine Maritime Academy, Development Offi ce, Pleasant Street, Castine, ME 04420.


where the fi rst building was to be erected. He had to go back to the planning board and get another permit to build a 19,000 square foot tension-fabric structure in a new location. There needed to be a new site plan devel- oped and the building had to be redesigned. Once this building was completed they had to go back to the planning board and begin the process for construction of their second building. The second building is 28,000 square feet and is where the majority of work will take place. It has got fi ve overhead door bays on the Commercial Street side, which is the mechanical shop. On the western end of the building there are huge overhead doors that a travelift could fi t in. In the corner is home of their engine parts department. While the hurdles were being navigat- ed, one that needed to be addressed was how to deal with boats that needed to be hauled. Phineas answered this problem with pur- chasing Gowen Marine at 400 Commercial Street. He said, “I didn’t buy the land, just the business and all the equipment. As for the property I am leasing that. We got a 150-ton travelift, storage space, a paint and fi berglass bay, and a welding and machine shop.” They did not get their permits for the second building until October 5th


and they


started immediately. Despite the very cold and snowy winter they moved into the build- ing around mid-February.


The delays caused them to be out of the Portland Company site two months late. Colortex, which is a powder coating opera- tion, is still there and they are managing the marina.


The third building will be a marine retail complex, which Phineas hopes will include a chandler, sailmaker and a fi shing business. Then he plans to add more stor- age buildings. He said, “I have been pretty happy with the fabric building. The issue is cost and life-span. What I have seen so far I am pretty happy with. One of the neat things about the building is that it is a double lined so it doesn’t sweat. The other thing is it is translucent so its electrical effi ciency is incredible. The building has a crushed rock fl oor and is perfect for wooden boats. Now plans are being made for the third building, which will be up on Commercial Street. First they need to complete the pur- chase of the next parcel of land, 12 acres, from the railroad, which should be done soon. They will then go back to the planning board, and they are not asking for any vari- ances, which should get the plan approved quickly. Phineas said that even then he did not expect to have the permits in place until October and that means they will be putting up another building in the dead of winter. Despite the hurdles the real bottom line is that Portland Yacht Services now has a state-of-the-art facility and with their future plans it just means they will be even better.


Rose Marine of Gloucester Continued from Page 4


today,” said Frank Rose. “We have talented guys working here for 20 plus years and we know each other well. We have seen our families grow up. I like these people and it has been a pleasure to know them all. I have four brothers, and we depend on each other here.”


Despite the great success and reputa-


tion of Rose’s Marine, the decline of the Gloucester fi shing industry is the elephant in the room for many here and its impact cannot be ignored.


“Gloucester had long been the epi-cen- ter of the ground fi sh industry and 20 years ago, 50 percent of our business was selling fuel to foreign fi sheries,” said Frank Rose. “Gloucester had the largest foreign fi shing fl eet and we would go with our fuel barge from Portland to Everett – wherever our


DISCOUNT POWER TOOLS CORDED POWER TOOLS CORDLESS POWER TOOLS FUELED POWER TOOLS PNEUMATIC POWER TOOLS FASTENERS HAND TOOLS


MATERIAL HANDLING


POWER TOOL ACCESSORIES SAFETY SUPPLIES WELDING SUPPLIES


Continued from Page 11. Minutes - DELA Meeting


sending funding letters at this time to help with expenses.


Theresa Chipman and Nick Lemieux also suggested contacting the guidance counselors at the schools and informing them about the D.E.L.A. Scholarship Fund. It would be good to have our Association participating with graduation ceremonies and make our presence a little better known in the communities. With these suggestions, Sheila will work on a letter and bring it back to the next meeting for approval or suggestions if there are any changes. Our time was limited for this meeting due to having a one hour and a half time slot for the Monhegan Room. We set the date and location for the next meeting at Jasper’s Restaurant in Ellsworth on Thursday, May 14th


.


The meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sheila H. Dassatt, Executive Director


customers needed us to be. This part of our business is essentially over. We had then directed our fuel and dry dock services to the trawlers and gill netters and our domestic fi sheries.” The domestic fi sheries are more of the heart and soul of Gloucester – compared to the foreign ships, but that industry is also nearly gone in this city. One of the most ardent supporters of the Gloucester fi sheries has been Mass. State Senator Bruce Tarr – whose pleas – along with the fi shermen - to ease up on restrictive Federal regulations seem to fall on deaf ears.


“Every gill netter in Gloucester used to own two boats and catch 400 fi sh a day. They were a great group to sell fuel to. They have essentially been put out of business at a time when the fi sh are coming back, but the regulations favor the big guy,” Rose said. This is tough on a marine services econ- omy and Frank Rose is, frankly, diversifying away from selling fuel but it is a juggling act. As a Gloucester native, Frank Rose says he does not want to ever be anywhere else. He added that there is a bridge to get in and out of this town but many of who have worked in the marine industry never needed to cross the bridge for work.


“I see Gloucester harbor poorly utilized today and my hope is it won’t stay that way forever. I keep thinking that the fi shing in- dustry will come back,” Rose said. “What we have had is a way of life and this city is not like other places. In the future I feel we are going to be here, but we are going to be different.”


Despite the diffi culties, Rose’s Marine is a treasure with both experienced marine personnel and a talented team who offer a diversity of services. In a sense they have witnessed all of the changes in the fi shing industry, weathered the storm and like so many in Gloucester, have hope for the fi sh- ing industry and the Gloucester fi shermen in future.


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