Ketchikan's Cruise Dock Plans Make Progress

The Ketchikan, AK, city council has approved more negotiations to have a private company design and build a new cruise ship dock just north of the city's downtown tunnel. Plans are afoot for a definitive agreement to be completed by March 1. The private firm, Survey Point Holdings, and yet-unnamed cruise industry partners apparently will form a new company, Ketchikan Dock Co., to design and build the new dock and make related improvements. The city would lease the dock for 30 years, paying with revenues from the city's Port Enterprise Fund, which would include the per-passenger dockage fees paid by cruise ships that visit the southeastern Alaska town. The city also is working to expand an existing cruise berth so that three 1,000-foot ships can be accommodated downtown at the same time. That project includes a waterfront promenade and ground transportation area.