Tucked away deep within the Port of Los Angeles lies the Wilmington Waterfront. Previously inaccessible to the public, this very industrial area serving the Port’s activities was underutilized. As part of the Port of Los Angeles’ $71 million project to develop the historic Wilmington waterfront, Bellingham Marine supplied the new transient dock, a prominent feature linking the water to the land. Bellingham designed and manufactured a durable, state-of-the-art 120-foot long concrete floating dock, and acted as a consultant on-site during installation.

This project is creating more public access space to connect residents and visitors to the 1,300 linear feet of waterfront being developed. Historically, the waterfront has been inaccessible, and this industrial space had little to offer beyond the busy port’s activities. In conjunction with the San Pedro Waterfront revitalization, The Port of LA is creating access to an amenity that has never been offered to residents who lived in such close proximity to the waterfront. Creating a destination that exists just steps away sounds simple, but it’s a project decades in the making. The brand new 15’ wide floating concrete dock from Bellingham Marine physically creates the public connection between land and water, something this community has long been lacking.

Bellingham Marine’s match-cast post-tensioned concrete Unifloat® dock consists of twelve 10’ match-cast float sections, which lock together during installation and are designed for exceptional stability in heavy wave environments, such as the busiest container port in North America. This dock will last for decades to come, welcoming transient boaters the land, and welcoming residents to the water, for the first time directly from their own community.

The Wilmington waterfront promenade project broke ground in November 2020, and with construction about halfway complete, is expected to be completed in early 2023.