Twenty years ago, Bay Ship & Yacht was primarily in the business of wooden shipbuilding. Bill and his crew developed a specialty in the construction and repair of wooden ships. They traveled around the country setting up shop wherever there was a wooden ship to be built or repaired. The company quickly became recognized as one of the foremost wooden ship specialists in the world. In 1988, Bay Ship, with Melbourne Smith, constructed the 120’ Niagara, a replica of Commodore Perry’s flagship from the War of 1812, the largest wooden square-rigger built in this country during the last half-century.
Today, Bay Ship & Yacht is a full service ship repair company, committed to providing the finest crew of experienced craftsmen in the ship repair business; specialists in modern ship repair of cargo vessels, tankers, tugs, barges, ferries and fishing vessels. Bay Ship’s Alameda shipyard has evolved into a state of the art facility. People continue to be its most valuable asset; currently, 250 skilled craftsmen with a broad range of expertise are employed from within the local community.
Bay Ship operates a Drydock and Syncrolift, with dry berths, at the Alameda shipyard, as well as industrial fabrication, machine, paint and propeller shops. Most of the commercial operators on the Bay drydock their vessels at Bay Ship for regular overhauls and emergency repairs. In addition to the SF Bay fleet, numerous tugs, yachts and cruise ships transiting the coast stop at Bay Ship for annual drydocking, attracted by Bay Ship’s reputation for quality and on time delivery. Many of Bay Ship’s customers are government agencies, including the US Coast Guard, US Army and US Navy, as well as the National Park Services’s fleet of historic ships from the San Francisco National Maritime Museum.
A facility is operated at Alameda Point for the regular maintenance and repair of the fleet of Ready Reserve Ships owned by the Maritime Administration. The group that operates this facility is known as the Fleet Service Division; they also service tankers, bulk carriers and container ships that call at Bay ports.
Bay Marine Boatworks, located in Richmond, is a boatyard specializing in the haul-out and repair of boats and yachts. This also services small Coast Guard cutters, sailboats, power boats and many workboats.
Bay Machine & Fabrication, Bay Ship's industrial division, provides steel fabrication, machining and painting services to industrial and commercial customers.
New construction is an important area of growth for the company; several new vessels have been built in recent years. Bay Ship provides design, engineering & lofting services, as well as fabrication, assembly, painting and outfitting to completion. The expansion of the Bay Ferry Fleet is a significant growth area on the horizon; proposals are now being developed for new ferries on two Bay Area routes. Current planning for the addition of 70 to 120 new ferries over the next 10 years indicates the potential growth of this market.
Bay Ship has captured a significant share of the SF Bay commercial drydocking business, and is following a high growth strategy in targeted sectors of the maritime and industrial industries. The long term future for these industries looks very good; with a dominant position in the San Francisco Bay maritime industry, Bay Ship is uniquely situated to serve the future growth of these markets.
