BRADENTON BEACH – On Monday, July 23, Technomarine Chief Operating Officer Ryan Miller emailed city officials a draft version of a “bill of lading” for the shipment of the premanufactured floating dock sections to be installed alongside the Bridge Street Pier.
Miller’s email was sent to pier team facilitator and Police Chief Sam Speciale, City Treasurer Shayne Thompson and Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) member John Horne.
“Attached you will find the bill of lading for the Trans-Atlantic shipping of the city docks. We anticipate 4 weeks travel time to Florida and will update you if anything happens to change. Please provide payment in accordance with the CRA’s document and let me know when the check will either be mailed to our offices or can be picked up at city hall,” Miller’s email said.
The bill of lading from the Worldwide Container Line is supposed to serve as proof that the dock sections have been shipped by cargo ship from the manufacturer in Spain, but in red letters, the word “draft” appears on the document sent by Miller. The date of issue listed on the bill of lading is July 28 and the “shipped on board” date is also listed as July 28.
This appears to indicate the dock sections are scheduled to be shipped but had not yet been shipped.
This prompted an email from Thompson to Miller that said, “Is this ‘bill of lading’ a preview of the one coming? If not the concerns with this one are:
- It is marked as DRAFT;
- It is dated for a time in the future, July 28, 2018;
- It is NOT signed.”
Within minutes, Thompson received a response from Technomarine representative Anna Bennett that said, “The original bill of ladings get mailed to us international express at the office once they have completed loading/shipped. I always get a copy marked draft until shipment has been completed. This shows the ship, container numbers etc.”
When contacted, Thompson said he still needed input and authorization from the CRA members before he could issue a check to Technomarine. Thompson said he forwarded the draft bill of lading and the email exchanges with Technomarine representatives to CRA chair Ralph Cole.
On June 28, Miller sent city officials an email that said, “The ship will leave Spain on July 7th, I expect to receive the bill of lading by the 12th.”
Ryan had been previously informed that the CRA would not make the requested $29,691 installment payment to Technomarine until a bill of lading was received as proof that the pre-manufactured dock sections were en route to Bradenton Beach.
The CRA entered into the $119,980 contact with Technomarine in early 2017 and the project once anticipated for a possible September 2017 completion has encountered several delays.
Manatee County is reimbursing the CRA for 50 percent of the project costs.
Dated May 25, the most recent project schedule received from Technomarine said the dock shipment would occur between July 16 and Aug. 10; worksite mobilization and delivery of the dock would take place Aug. 13 to Aug 22; installation of the dock sections and support pilings would take place from Aug. 27 to Sept. 7 and project completion and final inspection would occur by Sept. 12.
If the dock sections take four weeks to ship, as stated by Miller, they would arrive in Bradenton Beach on or around Aug. 25 and it is not yet known if the projected timelines can still be met.
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