NSIA Member Spotlights - Page 1
Ballard Industrial
For nearly 70 years, Ballard Industrial has supplied marine, manufacturing and industrial customers with the inventory, expertise and personal service to keep their operations running smoothly.
With its 45,000-square foot warehouse and 18,000-square foot pipe and steel yard, their dedicated staff of product experts, Ballard Industrial provides an accessible, reliable resource for a comprehensive range of supplies, services and solutions.
“We believe in value over volume. The Ballard team is a dedicated partner who is always ready to help when it counts. Ballard Industrial doesn't just supply essential equipment and products; we supply solutions that create an advantage for our customers and their operations.”
Learn more here.
Ballard Oil
The Ballard Oil Company is a petroleum retailer located on the Lake Washington Ship Canal just east of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks.
Founded in 1937, the Ballard Oil Company is a woman owned, small family business, now managed by the third generation.
The main focus of their business is servicing the Pacific Northwest and Alaska fishing fleets with diesel fuel, lubricants, hydraulic oils, filters and many other related supplies. They also have a full-service heating oil delivery department covering the greater Seattle area.
Ballard Oil Company is a federally regulated marine fueling facility. The facility has strict security guidelines mandated by the federal government and enforced by the United States Coast Guard.
Learn more here.
Pacific Fishermen
Pacific Fishermen Shipyard was founded in 1946 by 400 Norwegian heritage fishermen as a co‐op style shipyard on the site of the 1890’s Ballard Marine Railway Co., where Seattle founding father Joshua Green built his sternwheeler Bailey Gatzert. The shipyard was known for the world’s largest diesel tug the 120′ Mahoe, built in 1925, wooden halibut schooners and minesweepers later converted to the Calypso by Jacques Cousteau and the Wild Goose by John Wayne.
Today the shipyard specializes in repair and consists of three haul out facilities and docks on the freshwater side of the ship canal locks. A 100’ x 200 ton marine railway, 160′ x 600 ton marine railway and the original Rowe 145′ x 600 ton screw lift dock with 140’ covered end track rails provide for extended out of the water repairs on dry land.
Learn more here.
GM Nameplate
Founded in 1954, GM Nameplate has grown from a few employees in a small facility in Seattle to more than 1,000 employees spanning six plants: Seattle (corporate headquarters is in Interbay), San Jose, CA, Monroe, NC, Beaverton, OR, Singapore, and China.
The company was founded as a nameplate manufacturer in Seattle by Lester Greene and Beal McCullough, whose last names contributed the G and M in GM Nameplate. In 1962, Don Root became the company’s 13th employee when he was hired as an account manager. Today he is the company’s majority shareholder and Chairman of the Board and the Root family is actively involved on the executive team.
In an effort to better serve their clients, GM Nameplate has evolved from creating nameplates to providing a wide variety of custom solutions from small components to completely assembled devices. Today, the company serves the aerospace, appliance, automotive, cosmetic, electronics and medical industries.
The company has been recognized with supplier awards from some of the world’s top companies including John Deere, Mitsubishi and The Boeing Company. In 2018, GM Nameplate was named Manufacturer of the Year by the Center for Advanced Manufacturing Puget Sound.
For more information, click here.
Coastal Transportation
For more than 30 years, Coastal Transportation has been the premier shipping company connecting Western Alaska to the world. During the past thirty years, Coastal Transportation’s ships have served Western Alaska with more than 1,200 roundtrip voyages.
Located just east of the Ballard Bridge, family-owned Coastal Transportation is a U.S. flag marine transportation company and operates five vessels with scheduled year-round sailings between Seattle and ports throughout Western Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Its cargo vessels average 260 feet in length, with hold capacities averaging 100,000 cubic feet. All vessels are self-sustaining and 100 percent palletized, enabling a level of speed and flexibility unique to the region.
Coastal Transportation was founded by Peter and Leslie Strong, who had tendered salmon in Alaska since the early 1970s. In 1983, the Strongs purchased the 180-foot freighter Theresa Lee from the bankrupt New England Fish Co. On June 3, 1984, the Coastal Trader departed on the company’s first voyage. She returned a month later, her holds full of frozen crab.
For more info, click here.
Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel
Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel has been in operation for over 110 years at its original location on Shilshole Ave NW, in Ballard. The company is a fourth generation, family owned business.
When Samuel Nerdrum travelled from Norway to the PNW, the Ballard area of Seattle was still the City of Ballard. Cedar trees and three-masted schooners dotted the skyline. It was a good time to start a business in the prosperous Scandinavian logging and fishing community located on the shores of Salmon Bay.
Today, in addition to supplying sand, gravel and concrete Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel Co. has evolved into one of the Northwest’s largest suppliers of construction materials. The company specializes in plaster, stucco, EIFS systems, waterproofing, restoration products, sealants, grouts and many other construction products. SBSG is also known throughout the region for its assortment of tools and accessories used in trowel related trades.
Salmon Bay serves customers all over Pacific Northwest, Alaska and have special projects that reach the far corners of the world. Whether it is a Craftsman-style home in Ballard, or the U.S. Embassy in Prague, Salmon Bay is proud to be a part of a variety of projects, big or small.
For more info click here.
Covich Williams
For over 30 years, the Pacific Northwest marine industry has relied on family owned and operated Covich Williams as a trusted provider of high-quality petroleum fuel, lubricants and filters.
Located along the Ship Canal, the company serves vessels ranging from Bering Sea factory trawlers to recreational yachts. Besides the marine market, Covich Williams serves auto dealership and auto service customers, along with industrial customers with trucking, construction equipment, school bus and other fleets.
Covich Williams products include Chevron Lubricants, Baldwin Filters, Parker-Racor fuel/water separators and many other product lines such as oil sorbents and booms, EAL fluids, cleaners, degreasers, fuel additives, kerosene, cooling system additives, among others. Their services include a fueling facility on the Ship Canal as well as a fleet of bulk lube and fuel trucks. They offer free local daily delivery service for package goods and weekly delivery as far north as Bellingham and as far south as Tacoma.
For more info, click here.
Rudd Company
For more than 100 years, family owned, Ballard-based Rudd Company has provided quality products and innovative solutions to meet the ongoing technical needs of the professional coatings user and the finished results desired by today’s discriminating consumer. All of their products are manufactured in their 150,000 sq. ft. facility in Ballard.
Rudd Company can trace its roots to 1912 when Donald M. Cummings, great-uncle of the Company’s current Chairman, first started producing paint in the Seattle area.
Mr. Cummings’ nephew, Alan M. Park, Sr. acquired a majority stock interest in the corporation and took over as President and CEO in the mid-1950’s. During the next decade, the company pioneered chlorinated rubber, epoxy and gel coat finish products and held a strong Pacific Northwest presence in wood preservatives and marine coatings.
Alan M. Park, Jr. joined the Company full time in 1969 and by the late 1970’s had reinvented the Company’s market niche with a focus on wood finishes and aerosol packaging.
Rudd Company relocated all of their operations in 1995 to their present five-acre manufacturing facility.
For more info, click here.
Western Towboat
Western Towboat started with one small tug the N D TOBEY along Ballard’s waterfront in 1948. In the early days, Bob Sr. functioned as business agent, captain, engineer. He brought an intense work ethic to all of these tasks and held himself accountable to the highest standards. Western's tugs then, as now, are maintained more like yachts than work boats. The smart looking tugs with the blue stacks and the yellow and white house are a clear reflection of Bob Sr's personal pride and dedication.
Western Towboat has grown to a fleet of 22 tugs and 7 barges since then, but its tradition of hands-on commitment continues. Bob Sr. passed his work ethic and sense of pride on to his two sons, Bob Jr. and Ric, and to all of his employees.
As Western approaches 70 years of service she is still a family business owned and operated by Bob Jr. and his sons Russell, Ross, and daughter Kristin all working together daily. Modern equipment, all custom designed and built in Western’s own yard.
Today, Western operates from Puget Sound to the Aleutian Islands, from Arctic Alaska to the Hawaiian Islands and to the Panama Canal. Western Towboat offers ocean towing, harbor towing, ship assist, container and transportation services.
For more info, click here.
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