2022 May June Marina world

MARINA UPDATE
St Michaels is a popular boutique marina
on Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, USA.
Future proofing
St Michaels Marina
Almost a decade ago, Michael Morgan introduced Marina World to St Michaels
Marina – a 52-berth boutique gem he owned and managed in Maryland’s
Chesapeake Bay. The marina has since seen many changes, including battles
against flooding, a fuel system overhaul and a recent property sale to a Miamibased
marina investment group.
Q: How has the marina changed over
the years?
A: I’d like to highlight two main changes.
In 2017, we completely repurposed our
dock house from a standard marine
store to an overwhelmingly popular,
high-end apparel/accessories
shop called ‘The Exclusive Shop’.
It carries many first-class resortwear
lines including Peter Millar,
Lululemon and KJUS. I’m very proud
of the store and our customers
really love it. Of course, we still carry
necessity boating items, such as fuel
additives, head cleaner, hoses, etc,
which can be found in our ‘Marine
Locker’ attached to the dock house.
Then, in 2020, we put in a
completely new fuel system including
electric and high-speed dispensers,
tanks and pumps. We had to do this
because our old tanks had “aged
out” and become uninsurable. We
chose to shoulder the expense of the
renovation – the tanks alone costing
around $25,000 each – not only to
Flooding has been a problem, and
addressing sea level rise is an important
challenge.
protect our own revenue stream from
the fuel business, but also because
we’re the only source of fuel in the
harbour and other businesses would
have suffered had we not gone ahead.
Q: Were there any particular challenges
with the fuel project?
A: There was a considerable amount
of red tape involved. The two ageing,
10,000-gallon fuel tanks were installed
in 1986 and served five pumps at the
marina – three diesel and two gas
[petrol]. After 30 years it’s very hard to
get insurance on them, so we realised
we needed to upgrade them. We also
wanted to move them to higher ground,
as the area around the marina suffers
from excessively high tides.
We chose jacketed, double-walled,
steel interior and fibreglass exterior
Titans from the company Highland
Tanks. They have the same fuel
capacity and serve the same five
pumps.
The work required lots of planning
and many permits but, in the end, the
town was very cooperative because
they did not want to become a town
without fuel. Without this, the local
tourist industry would have seen a
drastic – if not permanent – reduction in
customer traffic.
Q: What are your short- and long-term
plans?
A: Our primary short-term concern in
the immediate future is the amount of
new competition ramping up locally
and regionally. Most of our competitors
on the Chesapeake Bay are planning
expansions and devising aggressive
new marketing strategies to which
we must respond if we’re to keep
pace and preserve our current lofty
position in the market.
But the real concern that needs to
be addressed in both the short- and
long-term is the impact of sea level
rise on our business. I truly believe
that the most important problem that
we and, by extension, all private
marina owners and harbour-based
businesses around the world must
prepare for are the consequences
of sea level rise. It seems inevitable
that our docks will be underwater in
the future.
As I see it, there are only two
viable options for dealing with it at
St Michaels Marina. We can either
install floating docks to keep dock
space above water or undertake
a massive construction project to
raise our docks sufficiently to stay
ahead of sea level rise. Both of these
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www.marinaworld.com – May/June 2022