Mat-Su port panel weighs tariff that would freeze 2027 dock rates and add new fees

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Port Commission took up a resolution Monday recommending the Assembly approve a new Port MacKenzie price list that would freeze dock rates in 2027 and add charges for late arrivals, exclusive use and armed guards.

Tariff No. 4 would set what barge lines, tankers and terminal operators pay at the borough-owned port for six years, from Jan. 1, 2027, through 2032. Tariff No. 3 expires Dec. 31.

Tariff No. 3 raised dockage, the daily per-foot charge a vessel pays at the dock, each year from 2022 to 2026, from $2.25 to $2.52 for vessels under 199 feet. Under the new tariff, 2027 dockage would match 2026 in every length class, then rise in 2028, 2030 and 2032, reaching $2.64 for the smallest vessels. Wharfage, the charge on cargo crossing the dock, follows the same pattern. Fuel would go from a penny a gallon to 2 cents by 2030.

Vessels already must confirm arrival at least 12 hours ahead. The new tariff would let the port charge $150 per tide cycle when they miss that time. Exclusive use of the port would cost $3,000 for 12 hours or $5,000 for 24, not counting dockage, wharfage or compensation to displaced nearby owners.

At a Sept. 1 special meeting, Port Director David Griffin cited a statewide barge and tug shortage and said the Army will need exclusive use for explosive ordnance for short periods, according to the clerk's draft minutes. Chairman Dane Crowley said LNG might also need it.

Unarmed guards would rise from $40 to $50 an hour, and armed guards would be a new $75 rate. Staffer Sandy Luckett said security rates reflect what the port actually pays and that commissioners did not want a big increase in dockage and wharfage. Commissioner Fred Elvsaas said the port has "a problem with no traffic" and should stay "less expensive and easy to do business with."

Griffin said staff hope to introduce the new ordinance in November or December.