Marine Group Boat Works to continue impounds for port district
June 18, 2020
Port of San Diego green lights a five-year contract – worth $3,550,000 – for boating company to process impounded vessels.
SAN DIEGO—A shorthanded board approved a new agreement, May 19, to authorize Marine Group Boat Works to process abandoned or impounded vessels through June 2025. The five-year, $3.55 million contract was part of the Port of San Diego’s Board of Port Commissioners’ consent calendar; the six commissioners present at the May 19 teleconference meeting unanimously approved the agreement.
The port district does have an agreement with Marine Group Boat Works to perform abandoned and impounded vessel services, but the current relationship expires on June 30. The newly approved agreement would begin on July 1 and continue through June 30, 2025.
Marine Group Boat Works was the only responsive bid for the contract – even though port district staff solicited bids from 671 potential service providers.
“[Port district] staff believes that one bidder is acceptable, as this is a specialized service that requires waterside storage sufficient to store up to 25 vessels, the ability to accept vessels anytime, vessel lifts, heavy equipment, knowledge of the California Harbors & Navigation Code and the Department of Motor Vehicle impounded vessel procedures, and a thorough understanding of the environmental regulations to support proper storage and disposal of vessels,” a port district staff report to commissioners stated.
A port district-owned lot where abandoned or impounded vessels are stored also happens to be adjacent to Marine Group Boat Works’s National City location, making it easy to remove a boat from the water and into land storage without having to use public roadways.
The National City storage facility has a capacity of 40 vessels, according to port district staff.
Port district staff added about four vessels per month are processed under its “Impounded Vessel agreement,” on average, through lien sale or demolition.
“The total cost of in-water storage, transportation to the district lot, and demolition and disposal ranges from $11,700 to $19,000 per vessel, depending on its size,” port district staff said in its report to commissioners. “This agreement allows for the receipt, storage, haul-out, transportation, and demolition of 55 vessels per year at an average cost over the life of the agreement at $12,425 each. This is an as-needed agreement with no minimum expenditure per term.”
A California Department of Boating and Waterways grant allows the port district to be reimbursed for vessel demolition costs – up to $200,000. The grant expires on Sept. 30, 2021.
There are six line-item costs associated with vessel demolition: vessel acceptance and storage; inventory; haul-out; transportation from port district lot; lay down; and, demolition and disposal.
Marine Boat Works Group would receive $668,573.70 in the first year of the contract; the amount would increase by about $20,000 each year until the fifth year of the deal. The final year of the contract is worth $752,937.02.
