Mat-Su assembly approves $5.77 million in federal funds for Port MacKenzie improvements

Matanuska-Susitna Borough assembly members approved the use of $5.77 million in federal funds for further improvements at Port MacKenzie, the borough’s cargo port on Knik Arm in upper Cook Inlet.

The action was taken at the assembly’s Tuesday, Oct. 3 regular meeting.

About $1 million will be used in a project now underway to repair piling at the port damaged by corrosion while $4.77 million is intended for a new “roll-on, roll-off” ramp for heavy cargoes and for barge operators to pull barges out of the water for maintenance or storage.

There’s an immediate market for the ramp, port and borough officials say: Barge operators who now operate in upper Cook Inlet and would like an alternate to Homer and Seward as a place to get their equipment out of the water for storage and repairs. Port MacKenzie will provide that.

Another ready market arewith boat builders in Mat-Su who want to launch vessels without having to move them to Anchorage. Currently there is no place on the west side of the Inlet to put large boats into the water, said Dave Griffin, the borough’s port director.

Port MacKenzie has a deep-draft dock designed to load and unload bulk commodities such as cement and, this year, salt for use for winter highway maintenance. Large ships can call at the port to unload these cargoes and the ample land available for storage is an advantage as compared with the port of Alaska in Anchorage or smaller ports in Homer and Seward where adjacent “upland” is at a premium.

The roll-on, roll-off dock will essentially be a gravel ramp near the existing dock. Design and engineering will be underway and a final cost estimate will be made until that is done but the $4.77 million in federal grant funds should cover all or most of it.

Barges to be brought out of the water will be moved into position on the lower part of the ramp at high tide and will be positioned above special “marine air bags” that are inflated. When the tide goes out the barge will rest on the air bags, which can be rolled, like huge, inflated hot dogs, Griffin said.

That will allow the barge to be pulled out of the water. The process is reversed when the barge goes back in.

The port has seen an uptick in activity this summer, Griffin told the assembly. Most of it is related to a large bulk carrier that unloaded 36,000 tons of salt this summer for winter highway use. A conveyor system at the port originally designed to load timber was adapted to unload the salt, which is now stored at the port. Salt is now is being trucked and transhipped by barge to various points for use this winter.

Eight barges have been loaded with the salt in the last month for shipment, Griffin said. Seven were to locations in Southcentral Alaska with one barge going to Southeast Alaska.

The salt and cement shipments demonstrate the port’s potential for bulk unloading and storage, Griffin said. Another shipper is now investigating the possibility of using Port MacKenzie for storage and transhipment of materials to be used in hydraulic fracturing on oil wells on the North Slope.

Most new producing wells on the slope are horizontal wells extending considerable distances laterally from the surface location of drill rigs, and are “fractured” by a high-pressure injection of water and solids to produce oil.

In other port-related developments, borough manager Mike Brown told the assembly that a final payment on debt for the port is being made this year. “The port is now debt-free,” which will improve its economics, he said.

There was a question during the assembly meeting about the condition of the road to Port MacKenzie and whether some of the recent federal money could be used to repair it.

“The trucking time (from the port) is a concern and we now have work underway from Mile 0 to Mile 7 on the road, as well as the construction underway on the Knik Goose Bay road,” Brown said.

However, improving access to the from the port is, “one of main reasons why we think a converting the railroad embankment to a road is a good thing. It would be built for larger loads and would be a more direct route to the Parks Highway,” he said.

Eighteen miles of embankment have been built, and additional right-of-way cleared, for a proposed extension of Alaska Railroad tracks from its existing mainline at Houston to Port MacKenzie.

Brown also said the Alaska Railroad Corp. is giving the borough an updated cost estimate of converting the completed 18 miles of rail embankment to a road, and that would be brought to the assembly at its Nov. 21 meeting.

Meanwhile, the borough is continuing to look for possible federal funds to complete the rail extension. About $200 million could be needed but the railroad corporation will provide a refined estimate in November.