Marine Group Boat Works, located in the Chula Vista Bayfront is making a multi-million-dollar modernization project at its 15-acre shipbuilding and repair facility. The center of the project is the addition of a new state-of-the art mobile boat lift, which will be the only sideways-crawling travelift on the West Coast and the largest in the United States.
MGBW has contracted with Cimolai Technology based in Veneto, Italy, to custom-build a new 820-Ton Mobile Telescopic Boat Hoist that will combine two critical benefits, mega-capacity and flexibility. The giant lift will be able to haul a superyacht out of the water and transport it forward, backward and even sideways on wheels that can turn 90 degrees. Another key feature of the machine is its variable-width, which will allow the crane to expand up to 18.5 feet or collapse for vessels with smaller beams. The incredibly powerful machine will also include a Tier 4 low-emission power source.
The new versatility provided by the lift will allow MGBW to make more efficient use of its one-million-square-foot facility by optimizing the space between vessels when blocked on shore. The build-out is expected to take 12 months, with delivery in Fall 2024.
This is the second major investment in expandable lift equipment MGBW has made in 2023. In April, the firm announced it had purchased a 75-Ton Marine Travelift to increase capacity at its yacht repair and dry-dock facility in Los Cabos, Mexico.
MGBW President Todd Roberts said business has continued to grow and is strong, and with the facility modernization it will dredge the basin back down to its original depth of 13 feet because it began experiencing silting, which is a natural occurrence.
“The exciting news is that we are going to reorientated all of our docks to be more suitable for the size of the vessels that we bring in now,” he said. “The facility was originally built for smaller boats, but now we are doing much bigger boats. So, we are going to replace our old docks, reorientate them to the right angle so we can get the larger boats in.”
Roberts said the most exciting part of the project is the new 820-ton boatlift.
“What is really interesting about this machine is that when it comes out on our piers to pick up the boats, it is 57-feet wide, and many times we are picking up boats much narrower. When we come ashore, we can telescopically make the machine narrower. That allows us to have a higher level of safety factor when maneuvering the boats on land, and more importantly, allows us keep boats closer together on land so we do not waste a lot of space in the yard and makes us more efficient overall,” he said.
Roberts said at the end of the day it means that MGBW is maintaining a state-of-the-art facility on the bayfront.
“And continuing to employ the 200 plus men and women and families that we do, who are all local,” he said. “These are terrific jobs from the community standpoint. These are great paying jobs, and they are plentiful. We are always looking for more. It gives people the opportunity to work where they live, because we are in their community. And they are not driving 35 minutes to get to work.”
Roberts said to continue to do this, they must make sure the facility continues to modernize so that they do not stop attracting large yachts from all over the world. If you do not build it, they are not going to come, and then there is no work,” he said. “That is something we had to do to attract these large yachts,”
Roberts said from a Chula Vista standpoint these large yachts are so valuable, not just in keeping them going and their employees, but also all the subcontractors and vendors.
“For every dollar spent, there is $7 in the community,” he said. “So, these boats all have crews on them, and they are going to Third Avenue, hitting up those micro-brews and all these new restaurants that we have. They rent cars. They are renting houses, condominiums, and apartments from time to time, Airbnb’s, Vrbos. They are dining out, they are grocery shopping, they are doing everything in this community. It is different than a resort or hotel where people come in and stay a night or two, go out. We have people who are here for months and have a huge economic for the community.”
Roberts said with the building of the Chula Vista Bayfront, he has heard talk about reconfiguring the marinas to make them larger to accommodate more of the current market.
“The bayfront is terrific,” he said. “We are a huge supporter of it. It matches our business model. We work here to have a first-class neighborhood around us. That was one of the biggest original complaints we got from our visiting yachts.”
Roberts said they loved the work, loved coming down to the bayfront, but their crews felt like they were on an island without access to anything nice. He said even getting to Third Avenue was tough if you did not have a car.
“This will be great for the neighborhood, and we are excited about it,” he said.
Roberts said the new travelift is like the one they have now, which is a huge crane that drives out into the water, picks the boat up, and drives it back to the shore. He said MGBW does not work over the water, which is important from a pollution and contamination standpoint, unlike drydocks.
Roberts said the other thing interesting about the travelift, is that it is powered with the newest power technology Tier-4 Plus diesel engines.
“The machine is being built in Europe and they have higher emissions standards than we do in the U.S. So, we chose to go to two smaller engines, one on each side, and they are a little bit beyond the Tier 4 technology, so they are incredibly clean and emission friendly. We looked at electrifications. We know they are extremely popular these days, but unfortunately when you get to a piece of equipment of this magnitude, it is not quite yet feasible.”
Roberts said this modernization cost is more than $14 million investment and MGBW is a huge supporter of a balanced waterfront.
“We like the work balance,” he said. “Everybody sees hotels and restaurants and we hear how great those things are. And we do not disagree. They are terrific. But having a place where Chula Vistans can work in their community, we know, has tremendous value. We have seen many, many families succeed. In some cases, we have two generations working here. We are a vibrant part of the bayfront. For kids that are coming out of high school and college, and want to work with their hands, we encourage them to come see us, and we encourage them to consider our trade as a career. Investing is what we do. We are a family-owned business. We are not a big corporation. This is becoming a novelty item here on the waterfront. Everything is big box now. We are big fans of investing in our people and our community. We are dedicated to maintaining that.”
