Anchorage's port cargo surcharge nearly triples to fund a rebuild

Corrected on September 17, 2026 at 11:51 am: This article was revised to distinguish the $180 million port settlement from the city's $191.3 million total legal recovery, which includes an earlier $11.3 million award. We also corrected the estimated surcharge on a gallon of milk.

The surcharge on cargo crossing the Don Young Port of Alaska will nearly triple on Jan. 1, to $22.76 a ton from $8.05, the first step in paying for a rebuild that has become one of the largest public works projects in state history.

The Anchorage Assembly approved the increase in April, and it climbs again to $24.63 a ton in 2028. Because the port handles goods for about 90 percent of Alaskans, the charge reaches nearly everyone. Municipal estimates put the added cost on a 5,000-pound pickup at $56.90 next year, up from about $20, with the surcharge component on a gallon of milk rising by about 6.3 cents to roughly 9.8 cents total and a bundle of shingles rising by about 80 cents, assuming carriers pass the full charge down the line to customers.

The money pays off bonds for two new cargo terminals, now estimated at about $2 billion, more than double the roughly $947 million the city projected in 2020, when it expected grants to cover much of the cost. Construction on the first terminal began in March.

Two windfalls this year eased the climb. A $180 million legal settlement brought the city's total legal recovery to $191.3 million when combined with an earlier $11.3 million award. That money and $25 million in state funding will not lower the bills already pledged to existing bonds, but they let the city cancel a bond sale planned for 2027, which keeps the 2028 rate at $24.63 instead of about $31.53. "Securing these funds for the Port of Alaska means we are able to reduce the costs of goods for all Alaskans," Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said.

The way the surcharge is structured has drawn objections. It's a uniform rate, and a municipal consultant warned that charging it at TOTE's terminal for work that benefits Matson's could distort competition between the two carriers. Matson told port commissioners that uneven rates would shift business and cut into the revenue the surcharge is supposed to raise.

And the rate is not done climbing. If no more state or federal money arrives, the city's own plan projects the cargo surcharge reaching $70.43 a ton by 2033.