Wolfe Island Marine Services – Always moving forward

Jan 22, 2020

You might think that a company that builds docks and boathouses, and does shoreline restoration up and down the St.Lawerence seaway and Lake Ontario (and grows hops in the summer as well) would be taking it easy in early January. But late last Friday afternoon, as the ice was forming on the bay and a cold snap was setting in, company owner Jason Lacelle was at headquarters and fabrication shop for Wolfe Island Marine. He was supervising work on some of the products that his crew builds in the winter time, for installation in the warmer weather. “We work 5 days per week year around. In the first few years it slowed down a bit for us in the winters, but we have developed a good mix of clientele and there is always something happening for use. We like to utilize the shop as much as possible in the winter,” he said. A couple of years ago, Wolfe Island Marine purchased a large barge and that has opened up opportunities for the company. “Not only can we transport equipment, section of docks and other structures to properties on the seaway and Lake Ontario so much more easily, it really helps with our shoreline restoration business. We can get in close to shore and do the jobs from the water. We can bring in equipment, materials, and aggregate, whatever we need, and not have to get to the shoreline over land. No matter how gentle you try to be, there is always damage to clean up when you cross over land with heavy equipment.” The shoreline restoration part of the business has been very strong, partly as the result of the flood seasons in 2017 and 2019 along the lakes and rivers. “We’ve been really busy helping customers to repair their shorelines, and to protect against flooding in the future. There has been a lot of damage everywhere in recent years.” Wolfe Island Marine is an offshoot of its parent company, Lacelle’s Corporate Group, which was the name that Jason Lacelle gave to the welding and fabricating business that he started in Marysville back in 2011. He opened the shop when the only commercial welder on Wolfe Island was retiring. The company grew exponentially after Jason and his wife Christie bought a farm property on the island and Jason began to hire more people and acquire larger pieces of equipment. Establishing Wolfe Island Marine in 2018 was a natural progression in order to reflect the company’s expansion into shoreline development, boat house construction and restoration, dock fabrication, and dock repair. Aside from a loan from the Frontenac CFDC several years ago, Wolfe Island Marine has been able to absorb the cost of equipment purchases by waiting for the right piece to come on the market at the right price, and to leverage their expanding business at the same time. “The CFDC is always helping us with information about grants that are available, and with other kinds of business information. I was just speaking to them last week with regards to training because we are having employees trained for AZ/DZ licensing so we can be more versatile by moving our own heavy equipment, and they helped us with information on that. It’s nice to have someone to call who understands what we are trying to do. Looking forward, Wolfe Island Marine Services’ next purchase might be of interest to waterfront property owners in mainland Frontenac County. They are looking to acquire some sectional barges that can be lifted up and trucked to job site locations. They plan to use them for projects on in-land lakes, to bring their services to waterfront residents throughout the region, even on remote lakes and water access properties. The range of services offered by the company can be found at their website, wolfeislandmarine.com