Port MacKenzie tariff changes to attract business

April 7, 2006

DARRELL L. BREESE

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Tired of waiting for the ships to come in, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly approved a change to the tariff for the Port MacKenzie terminal Tuesday.

In an effort to encourage businesses to utilize the port for value-added processing and transshipping cargo, the Port administration requested reducing the total cost of wharf use for transshipments.

The reduction only will apply to products that are shipped into the port and then combined with other products that also were shipped into the port.

&#8220This change will allow us to charge incoming vessels a full wharfage fee on inbound cargo, and then charge them one-half the wharfage fee for outbound cargo which stems from value-added or transshipped products.” Port Director Marc Van Dongen said. &#8220Ideally it should encourage an increase in the use of the port and development of new businesses in the area.”

&#8220The economic potential of the port is great,” said David Hanson, Borough Economic Director. &#8220But due to the port's infancy, it is important that we take action to encourage new business. The adjusted tariffs are part of reaching that goal.”

According to VanDongen, they are not lowering the fee for using the port, but merely offering a discount to those who choose to do business in the port district.

The change brings the port in line with most of the major ports on the West Coast of the United States, which charge a similar single-wharfage charge for inbound and transshipped cargo. Among them are the ports of San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco and Portland.

Port tariffs are established for a marine terminal operator and are enforceable by an implied contract.

Shippers and other port customers who use port facilities will be bound by the provisions of the port tariff, including rates, rules and regulations.

Alutiq Manufacturing, which constructs Department of Housing and Urban Development modular homes that are destined for rural communities, serves as an example of a value-added use of the port. Since 2001, the company has constructed and shipped 68 homes from Port MacKenzie to rural communities in Alaska.

&#8220If they were to ship in the steel and lumber needed to construct the modular homes, do the work at the port and then ship them back out, it would be considered a value added product,” VanDongen explained. &#8220Not only does this increase the use of the port, but it also creates jobs for people in the port district.”

According to Van Dongen, there have been 18 vessels that have docked at the port since it opened, 12 barges and six bulk commodity ships hauling wood chips for NPI Inc. bound for Korea.

&#8220Even without the change in tariffs, I expect the number of large vessels and barges using the dock to increase each year,” VanDongen said. &#8220The change will make the port that much more inviting to new users to the 14 square miles adjacent to the port dedicated solely for commercial/industrial development.”

The adjustment in the tariffs is just a small step in developing the port.

&#8220We're talking about a relatively new port,” Van Dongen explained. &#8220There is still a lot of work to be done before we realize the full potential of the facility. The ferry terminal is being constructed, but the road to the port needs to have paving completed and there are two steep grades on the road that also need to be reduced to make it accessible.”

&#8220The tariff change is a move in the right direction,” Hanson said. &#8220We still have several other steps to take.”

Contact Darrell L. Breese at 352-2267 or at darrell.breese@ frontiersman.com.