The ferry Malaspina near downtown Sitka in 2010. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska)

One of the first Alaska Marine Highway vessels could be reborn nearly 60 years later as a museum for the history of the state ferry system. State transportation authorities announced Monday that they’d entered negotiations to sell the ferry Malaspina to the owners of a private cruise ship dock in Ketchikan’s Ward Cove.

Ward Cove Dock Group President John Binkley says the company plans to convert the vessel to showcase the Marine Highway’s past.

“We really believe that there needs to be a place to gather a lot of the memorabilia and history of the Alaska Marine Highway System. It’s so important to all of Alaska, really, it’s an important chapter in our lives, particularly those in Southeast,” Binkley told KRBD by phone Monday. “There needs to be some focal point for that, and we believe it should be the Malaspina.”

In a pitch letter to the state last week, Binkley says the Ward Cove Dock Group’s subsidiary M/V Malaspina, LLC plans to keep the Malaspina more or less where it is: moored near the private Ketchikan cruise ship terminal.

The company told state officials in its letter that the vessel could also serve as a training facility for the maritime program at Ketchikan’s University of Alaska Southeast campus, but Binkley said he had not yet run the idea by university officials.

Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a Sitka Democrat and ferry system booster, said he was glad the Malaspina would not meet the same fate as its sister ship. The Taku was sold for scrap in 2018.

“But I think getting rid of the Malaspina from the fleet highlights that we need to plan for the next 50 years of the ferry system and new vessels to take her place,” Kreiss-Tomkins said by phone.

The terms of the deal have not been finalized.

In a statement, the chair of the Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board, Shirley Marquardt, said she had hoped the vessel would remain in Alaska. She said the decision to sell the vessel had not been controversial among the oversight board.

“AMHOB has not discussed this sale because it clearly needs to happen and after two years of being tied up, she should be sold.  The Mal would not be part of the AMHS fleet at almost 60 years old under any kind of responsible operating plan in the future,” she said by email.

The Dunleavy administration decided in late 2019 to take the vessel out of service rather than spend the more than $16 million it would need to keep sailing. State authorities had been paying more than $75,000 a month in moorage fees and insurance costs to keep it tied up at the Ward Cove facility.

Three other companies floated proposals for the Malaspina, including pitches to turn it into a hotel or restaurant.

While Alaska’s first state-owned ferry was the Chilkat, which initially shuttled passengers and vehicles between Haines, Skagway and Juneau, a 1963 Associated Press story notes that the Malaspina was the first ferry to sail for the newly-established Alaska Marine Highway System.

This story has been updated with additional information.

The post State negotiating with Ketchikan dock owners to turn Malaspina ferry into museum appeared first on KRBD.

The state ferry Malaspina sits in layup in Ward Cove near Ketchikan on May 10, 2020. (Eric Stone/KRBD)

The Department of Transportation said Tuesday that four parties have expressed interest in the Malaspina, a mainline ferry that’s been a mainstay of the fleet since the 1960s. It’s the latest twist in the process initiated by the Dunleavy administration to unload an iconic state ferry that’s been idle for more than two years.

The Malaspina ferry hasn’t sailed since December 2019. The Dunleavy administration decided then to tie it up at a private facility near Ketchikan rather than invest at least $16 million into the steel work needed to keep it seaworthy.

But even idle, the state is paying upwards of $75,000 a month in mooring fees and insurance costs at the private Ward Cove facility.

DOT announced on February 18 that an unnamed U.S. buyer who would keep the 450-passenger ship in Alaska was interested. It solicited proposals from other interested parties and got three more prospective buyers by the March 7 deadline.

“Hopefully we’ll have something in there that can allow the Malaspina to remain in Alaska,” DOT spokesperson Sam Dapcevich said Wednesday, “and that preserves the vessel’s historical value and promotes the marine highway system.”

Records request reveals interested parties include Ward Cove Dock Group

John Binkley on Juneau’s downtown waterfront on Sept. 9, 2019. He has a stake in the Ward Cove Dock Group which owns a newly created venture now making a bid for the Malaspina ferry. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)

CoastAlaska put in a public records request to DOT for the letter so interest from prospective buyers.  It was denied by the agency which said it would only release them after the sale was finalized.

But it did release the names of four interested parties. On top of the list is M/V Malaspina, a limited liability company incorporated on the March 7 deadline set by DOT to express interest in the ferry.  Its agent is listed as John Binkley, a prominent Fairbanks Republican.

He also owns half of the Ward Cove Dock Group with the Spokely family of Ketchikan, a partnership with the family firm that’s paid by the state to store the Malaspina and other idled marine highway vessels.

Binkley confirmed he and his partners are interested but said he wasn’t ready to talk about it.

Other interested parties were more forthcoming.

“We like these projects — we like to think big and nothing really scares us,” said Greg Meyer of Cordova. He and his wife own a waterfront restaurant in the Prince William Sound community. He says his family was sad when the ferry Taku was sold for scrap in 2018.

The Malaspina could be redeveloped on tidelands that are part of a former Cordova cannery property they own and make use of the vessel’s staterooms.

A1945 photo of the the Cordova waterfront property now owned by Greg Meyer and Sylvia Lange of Cannery Row LLC. The couple has proposed to beach the Malaspina on tidelands it owns as a restaurant and hotel. (Photo courtesy of Greg Meyer)

“We would be interested in converting the ferry into a floating hotel/restaurant,” Meyer wrote in his pitch letter to the state.

There are other potential uses for the former passenger ferry, he told CoastAlaska.

“Cordova has a housing shortage,” Meyer said by phone. “And we have seasonal workers that can never get housing in the summer. So it would help us to stimulate our economy.”

Another interested party is Meridian Global Consulting, a Mobile, Alabama-based firm that said in its letter that it owns three vessels of similar size.

“Meridian’s intent in purchasing the Malaspina is to use her as a floating hotel and
restaurant in and around Alaska,” wrote the firm’s owner Jonathan McConnell.

But how interested the firm is depends on the terms set by the state agency.

“If they’re going to ask, you know, $4 million for this vessel — then it’s not worth it,” McConnell said by phone from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

This isn’t the first time he’s approached the state to buy the Malaspina. Last year Meridian offered $625,000 for the ship to be repurposed as a floating barracks. It would house security contractors working to protect international shipping off the Horn of Africa.

But now the state says it wants the Malaspina to remain in Alaska. And he says his firm could do that. McConnell says he’s talking to partners in Alaska to turn it into a floating attraction.

“It’s a pretty neat experience to be able to eat a meal on board an old, beautiful vessel,” McConnell added.

The fourth interested party is HighSeas, Ltd which DOT says is registered in India. A BBC investigation last year found the firm had bought a historic British ocean liner at auction saying it would be used as a floating hotel in Dubai. But it was broken up for scrap.

The firm’s chairman didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

State looking to avoid a Taku scenario

DOT’s regional spokesman Sam Dapcevich says his agency acknowledges there has been commercial interest in the ship. But it wants to ensure that the Malaspina comes to a dignified end.

“The state doesn’t want the vessel to end up a derelict somewhere because someone bought it and didn’t have the means to take care of it,” Dapcevich said. “We prefer that it not be cut up for scrap, like what took place with the Taku years ago.”

Other ideas thrown around last year included scuttling the Malaspina in deep water. Gov. Dunleavy had also offered to give it away to the Philippines. But state officials say the government in Manila wasn’t interested.

DOT hasn’t committed to any timeline but says any transfer would have to be approved by the feds because of federal highway dollars used for its upkeep.

The post Malaspina ferry could get second life as Alaska attraction appeared first on KRBD.

The Norwegian Bliss prepares to leave Juneau on June 5, 2018. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)

In a step toward a limited, late summer cruise season, Norwegian Cruise Line has signed an agreement with the state of Alaska and several of Alaska’s port operators.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office announced the agreement on Thursday, which lays out a set of protocols that will guide the resumption of Norwegian cruises in Alaska. All cruise companies who want to operate in the United States this year have to enter into these kinds of agreements with U.S. ports in order to sail with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s blessing.

“I was quite honestly skeptical that it would actually happen, but I’m just over the moon that it’s actually going to happen, and we’re going to have cruise ships back in Alaska this summer,” said John Binkley, chairman of Ward Cove Dock Group, which owns a new privately-owned cruise ship dock just north of Ketchikan.

The first Norwegian ship would set sail for Alaska in early August. Weeklong voyages would run through late October and visit Ketchikan, Juneau, Glacier Bay National Park and Hoonah’s Icy Strait Point. Trips through the end of August would include port calls in Skagway, too.

The agreement says one Norwegian ship would run through Southeast Alaska once a week. On Monday, the company said the 4,000-passenger Bliss would run the route, but it lists four potential vessels for its Alaska itineraries, giving it some flexibility.

“We thank the State of Alaska for facilitating the development of this agreement, the first agreement that will be submitted to CDC for their approval for Alaska,” Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings president and CEO Frank Del Rio said in a statement provided by the governor’s office.

The multi-port agreement aims to fulfill a CDC requirement. It lays out safety procedures to prevent COVID-19 from coming aboard and outlines the Norwegian’s plan to respond to cases during voyages.

Notably, the company says it plans to sail only with fully vaccinated guests and crew and allow cruise tourists to explore port towns independently in line with updated CDC rules. If COVID-19 cases arise on board, infected and exposed people would be quarantined in specially designated staterooms. The agreement says they’ll rely on medical facilities onboard the ship to handle cases and “remove the affected individuals from the region following applicable transportation, medical care services, and housing requirements.”

The agreement also sketches out procedures for port operators, including a requirement that 95% of port staff be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The CDC must approve the plan before ships can set sail.

“Norwegian will be submitting the agreement to the CDC this week, and the CDC has committed to a five day turnaround,” governor’s office spokesperson Lauren Giliam said Thursday. Norwegian did not respond to inquiries seeking clarification on the agreement.

As of Thursday, private dock owners in Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau and Hoonah have signed on, as has the Alaska state health department and Hoonah’s city government.

The president and CEO of Huna Totem Corporation, which owns Hoonah’s Icy Strait Point cruise port, said the agreement is a model for other Southeast ports.

“Collaborating with the Governor’s team, the City of Hoonah, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, and the other ports, we created a template to follow for safe operation, getting Alaska back to business,” Huna Totem’s Russell Dick said in the governor’s office’s statement.

Local officials in other Southeast ports say there are still details to work out. Ketchikan’s port director, Mark Hilson, says city officials have yet to sign off on the agreement.

“For each port community that hasn’t signed on, there probably is some tailoring to do and some work to do to get it to a point where the municipal entities are comfortable adopting it,” Hilson said. “But it is progress, and that’s very much appreciated.”

The final agreement will need approval from Ketchikan’s City Council. Hilson says it’s unclear whether Norwegian plans to visit Ketchikan’s city-owned port — the cruise line has a preferential berthing deal with the Ward Cove dock north of city limits — but he says the agreement serves as a model for other Alaska cruise lines.

Juneau’s City Manager Rorie Watt says he’s waiting on an updated cruise ship calendar from Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska — the company that schedules cruise ship port calls — before he signs on.

Skagway Mayor Andrew Cremata says his local assembly has not yet green-lit the agreement; he says his community was just added to the document on Wednesday. He said Skagway has “a couple of concerns that we want to address,” but says he doesn’t think they’ll present an issue “after tweaks are made.”

Cremata earlier this year said he was concerned Skagway would be unable to fulfill a CDC requirement for shoreside hospital space for COVID-19 patients. The cruise company’s framework sidesteps that issue — if a passenger must be disembarked for COVID-19 treatment, they’d be sent to a Seattle hospital. But Norwegian also says its vaccination requirement makes outbreaks unlikely.

The agreement does not make clear whether Norwegian would bypass or restrict visitors in port communities with a major COVID-19 outbreak. That’s been a worry in Ketchikan, which in recent weeks has seen record-breaking spread of the disease. Ketchikan has already missed out on two port calls from small cruise ships because of the outbreak.

Ketchikan port director Hilson says he expects other lines that visit Alaska — like Princess, Holland America and Royal Caribbean — will soon submit their own proposed safety protocols.

“We’re expecting to hear from them shortly,” he said.

Holland America and Princess say they plan to restart Alaska cruises in late July.

This story was produced as part of a collaboration between KRBD and Alaska’s Energy Desk.

The post Alaska’s port towns are one step closer to welcoming back big cruise ships appeared first on KRBD.

Private developers want to build a cruise ship dock in Ketchikan’s Ward Cove. It’s the clearest example yet of Ketchikan’s economic transformation from timber to tourism.

For over 40 years, Ward Cove was home to the engine that drove Ketchikan’s economy. The Ketchikan Pulp Company took the old growth of the Tongass National Forest and turned it into dissolvable pulp, a raw material used to make things like cellophane and rayon. Reports estimate the mill directly employed about 500 people and supported more than 500 more jobs beyond that.

Back in the pulp mill’s heyday, former employee Jim Luther said there was money to be had. Ketchikan’s population was growing.

“All the bars were pretty much elbow to elbow,” he said. “And there were bigger bars.”

But then came the reforms of the 1990s. Subsidies for Tongass timber were slashed. And the business was simply getting tougher. Pulp production started to move overseas. More and more of the Tongass was off-limits because of environmental regulation.

“There wasn’t room in the National Forest at that point for the volume and the old school pulp mill ways,” Luther said. “I mean, that’s that’s my opinion. it’s like the economics weren’t there to run that place.”

After a few unprofitable years, the Ketchikan Pulp Company closed its doors in 1997. And in the years afterward, the town quieted down. Census Bureau data shows Ketchikan’s population dropped nearly 10 percent in the years after the mill closed.

But around that same time, Ketchikan — and all of Southeast Alaska — was in the midst of a revolution in the tourism industry. The Southeast Conference, which tracks economic trends in the region, says cruise passenger numbers doubled to over half a million between 1990 and 2000. Next year, the Southeast Conference estimates Ketchikan will host over one-and-a-quarter million visitors.

And now, the old economic engine in Ward Cove might be getting an overhaul. Fairbanks-based businessman John Binkley partnered with local Ketchikan investors Dave and Andrew Spokely to develop the former pulp mill site. Now, along with Norwegian Cruise Line, they hope to turn it into a new cruise ship terminal for some of Alaska’s largest ships.

To get a better idea of what the project entails, take a trip down to the old pulp mill. After passing through a parking lot that serves the Alaska Marine Highway System’s headquarters, there’s industrial equipment and metal pre-fab buildings. John Binkley, one of the investors behind the proposed dock, gets out of a car next to an enormous red brick warehouse.

“And it’s a classic 1953 era brick building,” Binkley said. “We’re going to be cleaning it all up, repairing all the damaged brick, replacing all the broken windows that are in here.”

He walked into the expansive warehouse and pointed to some old train tracks built into the foundation.

“This to the right as you walk in was actually a railroad track,” he said. “Many people may not realize that, but they had railroad cars that came in here to take the pulp out.”

He said he sees the mill site as an opportunity to illustrate Ketchikan’s economic transformation.

“This was the really the heartbeat of not only the economy for Ketchikan, but all of Southeast,” Binkley said. “This was really the gateway to the Tongass National Forest.”

But the mill site’s history presents some roadblocks for Binkley and his fellow investors.

In the years before and after the pulp mill closed, regulators discovered pollution on the mill site and at the bottom of Ward Cove. Ketchikan Pulp Company had dumped waste into the water and allowed logs to sink to the seafloor. Those decomposing logs produced toxins that made the seafloor uninhabitable for a variety of bottom-dwelling creatures.

 They capped the rotting logs with a six-to-twelve-inch layer of sand. The agency says that 80-acre sand cap allowed life to rebound on the seafloor.

“When the EPA looked at shutting down the mill and rehabilitating this site, they looked at what this might be in the future,” Binkley said. “They didn’t want it to be just a place that became rundown and derelict and unusable.”

The EPA’s website reflects that idea: one of the goals of its cleanup program is to make polluted sites productive again. But some worry cruise ships’ powerful propellers could disturb the sand cap that’s allowed bottom-dwellers to rebound in Ward Cove.

Garrett Johnson is a licensed marine pilot who regularly drives cruise ships in Alaska. He spoke with CoastAlaska earlier this year.

“We sure move a whole lot of water around on a massive ship like that,” he said. “I’m not convinced we’re not going to wash that sand cap and its material off the bottom.”

That’s got one of the site’s neighbors concerned, too. The state ferry system has facilities right next door.

Benjamin Storey is the regional environmental manager for the Alaska Department of Transportation. He said the agency plans to build a ferry terminal and berthing facility on its side of the cove. He’s concerned that if piledriving or ship traffic disturb the sand cap, the effects could spill over onto state property.

“Any kind of disturbance to that sand cap that creates any kind of recontamination,” Storey said, “we’re going to have to take that into effect with our design, or if any future designs are going to have to call for remediation.”

Binkley said he’s confident the ships won’t disturb the sand cap. He said the current dock on the site — where some state ferries are currently tied up — was designed to be deep enough to prevent ships’ propellers from damaging the sand cap. There, it’s 44 feet deep.

But he said the new dock goes above and beyond that. He gestured out into the water, perpendicular to the shoreline.

“And that’s why we decided to place it in this direction, away from the shore, where the propellers would be in 127 feet of water rather than 44 feet of water and not over the sand cap,” Binkley said.

Beyond that, Binkley said he’ll work with the EPA and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to monitor the sand cap both during construction and afterwards, once ships start arriving.

Binkley and his fellow investors are waiting for the Army Corps of Engineers to sign off on their plans for the dock. The Army Corps hasn’t said when it will come to a decision, but the developers are optimistic  the new facility may open in time for the 2020 cruise season.

This story was produced as part of a collaboration between KRBD and Alaska’s Energy Desk.

The post How developers plan to turn a symbol of Ketchikan’s timber past to a hub for tourism appeared first on KRBD.

A plan to convert Ketchikan’s former pulp mill into a private cruise destination will be further studied in coming weeks by state and federal agencies. That’s as the first phase of the $50 million project at Ward Cove is being reviewed by the Army Corps of Engineers.

At a summer open house, developers’ attorney Stephen Bradford told reporters that there’s a feeling in Ketchikan that downtown’s becoming saturated by cruise ships.

“Ketchikan reached a million visitors a couple of summers ago,” Bradford told KRBD in July. “And it really prompted a discussion of when is enough enough.”

Developers propose a solution that problem: more berth space for more ships, seven miles north of the historic town.

A partnership between the Spokely’s Ward Cove Group and the Binkley famiy’s Godspeed, Inc. is working with Norwegian Cruise Lines to convert the city’s former pulp mill into an entertainment complex that could eventually be a destination unto itself.

The property’s been owned by father-and-son David and Andrew Spokely since 2011. Both families are politically active: the elder Spokely founded the Alaska Free Market Coalition, a PAC that reported spending more than $20,000 to help elect Republican Mike Dunleavy.

The Binkley family partners are based in Fairbanks. Their father John Binkley is a former Republican legislator and president of Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, the industry’s main trade group in the state.

The major regulatory hurdle to break ground lies with the Army Corps of Engineers. It has to vet plans to build a 500-foot floating dock that could accommodate both of Norwegian Cruise Lines megaship sisters: the Joy and Bliss as soon as next year.

“We were just very concerned because those ships are over a thousand feet long,” said Benjamin Storey, the region’s environmental manager for the Alaska Department of Transportation. He wrote a letter raising questions about the project.

It was among more than 30 letters obtained by CoastAlaska following a freedom of information request with the Army Corps. Most were from residents critical or skeptical of the project’s feasibility. One letter was from an adjacent business expressing outright support.

“We were really surprised that they had projected how fast they would build it up,” Storey said in an interview.

That’s because Ward Cove is already home to the Alaska Marine Highway System’s layup dock and headquarters. Initial plans called for breaking ground before the end of the year.

“When we realized like all the agencies and the amount of consultation we have to go through, we were like, how is that even possible?” he added.

The U.S. Coast Guard is working with state officials to develop a risk assessment to look at navigation concerns on the cove. It hasn’t been completed, Coast Guard Lt. Jesse Collins said Thursday.

There’s also scrutiny from the Department of Environmental Conservation over building over the contaminated former mill site. The pulp mill operated from the 1950s up until 1997 and was a major employer in town. But following its closure, the EPA put a number of restrictions on the site to keep pollution from leaching into the wider environment.

EPA wouldn’t comment except to say it had requested the Army Corps give it another month to weigh in. The comment period has been extended until September 19.

Sally Schlichting with the DEC’s contaminated sites program wouldn’t say in any detail what her agency’s concerns are, but she says there’s a lot of history in Ward Cove that’ll be taken into consideration when they file comments with the Army Corps.

“We have quite an extensive environmental record for this site, six file boxes, at least,” she said.

She says DEC will be looking at the proposed floating dock that’s phase one.

“But we’re also looking at the long term use of the facility,” she said. “It’s not just the construction of the dock itself but also as a cruise ship dock with cruise ship traffic and activity.”

State biologists are also studying potential effects to fish species.

“It’s somewhat narrow, especially with the large cruise ship in there,” Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Mark Minnillo said of the water body. “And with bow thrusters and propellers and the noise created by those ships, there’s potential for disturbance to the migrating adult salmon species.”

The Craig-based habitat biologist is finalizing comments on behalf of his agency. He notes the cove is connected to Ward Lake, a popular place for Ketchikan anglers fishing for salmon and steelhead.

Decades of logs and other debris dumped in Ward Cove led to an EPA-approved closure plan that puts restrictions on the property.

A sand layer was placed over about 27 acres of seafloor nearly two decades ago. It’s at most a foot deep and is designed to help bottom-dwelling organisms recover.

The floating dock is being designed by Turnagain Marine Construction. The company’s president Jason Davis says the design takes that into account.

“You know, I think this is a very responsible and very appropriate development for Ward Cove,” he said by phone in Anchorage.

And there’s plenty of room for everybody, he said.

“This facility is designed so that there’s enough maneuvering room for all the Ward Cove dock users,” Davis said, “and we’re designing that to the standard of the industry for vessel navigation.”

It’s unclear whether the project will receive its permits in time for next year’s cruise season. But that remains the developers’ goal.

The post Agencies scrutinize Ward Cove’s cruise dock renaissance appeared first on KRBD.

Passengers walk a downtown Juneau dock where three cruise ships are tied up June 11, 2017. A little more than 1 million people rode ships to Alaska that summer. By 2019, the number will be 19 percent higher. (Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)

The number of cruise ship passengers visiting Alaska will jump almost 20 percent over the next two years.

Port cities need to plan for the infrastructure needed to support that many people.

One industry idea could change community control of the fees cruise ships pay.

Cruise lines are bringing more and more tourists to Alaska.

Passenger numbers topped a million for the first time in almost a decade last summer.

Cruise Lines International Association Alaska President John Binkley said they’ll continue to go up.

About 1.31 million passengers are expected to arrive in 2019, 19 percent more than last summer, according to projections Binkley released at the recent Southeast Conference Mid Session Summit.

“Sometimes there’s new ships that are coming into the market,” he said. “Sometimes there’s larger ships that are replacing smaller ships. And sometimes they’re adding to the shoulder seasons to have more voyages.”

Starting this summer, the larger ships will really be larger.

The Norwegian Bliss will carry up to 4,000 passengers, plus crew, starting this June.

The Ovation of the Seas will come in the following year, with as many as 5,000 passengers per sailing, double the capacity of some ships already traveling the region.

Cruise Lines International Association Alaska President John Binkley talks about industry growth Feb. 14 in Juneau. (Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)

Binkley said the growth requires more infrastructure.

“It’s not just one community having the facilities to be able to handle that ship,” he said. “You have to have at least three ports to be able to have a ship like that be able to deploy to Alaska,” he said.

Only Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway can handle such vessels.

They’re the biggest Southeast ports and they get the largest share of passenger fees.

Binkley said those total about $45 million a year, statewide. He said pooling that would allow other cities to boost their industries, too.

“We could be building a brand new dock each and every year in new communities around Southeast Alaska if we worked together and said … what’s the best way to take these dollars that we have and utilize them to grow the industry and have everybody in Southeast share and benefit from the industry,” he said.

It’s not a formal proposal, but the cruise association has already sued the capital city, challenging local control of how such funds are used.

Juneau City Manager Rorie Watt agrees more regional planning is needed.

But he takes a different approach.

He invited other community leaders to join the Southeast Cruise Port Association, which held its first meeting during the Mid Session Summit.

“I’m not under any illusion that we’re all going to cede local control of our communities to each other,” Watt said. “But I think we can get together on some very broad ideas.”

Those include improved communication and regional readiness for changes, such as quickly growing passenger numbers.

The industry’s share-the-wealth idea is of interest to Russell Dick, CEO of the Huna Totem Corp., which owns the Icy Strait Point attraction.

The renovated cannery and mile-long zip line completed its first dock two years ago, which brought more ships and visitors.

Dick said it’s looking toward construction of a second dock, which would support further growth.

“It’s all about tour capacity, having the infrastructure in place to handle the increase in ships and ship passengers,” he said. “And for us, that’s quite a bit. That’s a lot of people coming through.”

The cruise business is a significant part of Alaska’s visitor industry.

A cruise association report said ships, passengers and crew members spent about $1 billion during last summer’s season. And the passengers made up more than half of all visitors to the state.

Editor’s note: This report was updated to reflect cruise ships also brought a million passengers to Alaska in 2009.

The post Can Southeast share the wealth of tourism growth? appeared first on KRBD.

The Norwegian Bliss, shown in a promotional image, will begin sailing Alaska waters in about six months. It’s one of two megaships slated to sail the Inside Passage. (Image courtesy Norwegian Cruise Line)

Larger and fancier cruise ships will begin visiting Alaska ports starting this summer. The so-called “megaships” are part of a trend that’s sending more and more tourists to Alaska by sea.

If you think Alaska cruise ships are big, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

The 4,000-passenger Norwegian Bliss starts making port calls in June. The 5,000-passenger Ovation of the Seas shows up the following year.

Add 1,200 to 1,500 crew members and either will exceed the population of all but three Southeast cities.

“I believe people will notice the size difference in these ships, particularly the Ovation of the Seas,” said John Binkley, president of Cruise Lines International Association’s Alaska branch. “That is significantly bigger than the ships that people would normally be seeing throughout Alaska.”

The Bliss and Ovation will carry up to twice as many passengers as some ships already sailing here.

Chris Gray Faust is senior editor of Cruise Critic, an analysis and sales website owned by TripAdvisor, a popular travel-review app. She said Alaska is catching up with other cruise destinations.

“The large ships have been going to the Caribbean for several years. They’ve been over in Europe. They’ve been over in Asia and Australia,” she said.

So, why are they headed our way?

Gray Faust and Binkley said cruise lines are responding to several years of increased demand.

“It’s a somewhat exotic destination, yet it’s on U.S. soil,” Binkley said. “And it’s someplace that people feel comfortable and safe to visit.”

That was also the case after the 9/11 terror attacks.

The 5,000-passenger Ovation of the Seas begins its 26-mile conveyance to the North Sea March 11, 2016. It will begin sailing Alaska’s Inside Passage beginning in 2019. (Photo courtesy Royal Caribbean International.)

Gray Faust said there’s also additional interest from overseas.

“Ovation of the Seas has been designed for an international passenger base. It’s been based in Asia and also Australia. And it already has some name recognition in those regions,” she said. “And by bringing it to Alaska, I think you’ll see more of those international passengers also come up.”

The Ovation is leaving its China and Australia routes due to a drop in demand.

The Norwegian Bliss is a new ship that adds to the overall number sailing Inside Passage waters. Binkley said the Ovation of the Seas will replace a smaller ship.

“We are gaining slightly on the number of ships, but most of the capacity increase, the increase in the number of passengers is because of the larger ships, rather than additional ships,” he said.

The Bliss will sail week-long round-trips out of Seattle, stopping in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. It will also sail to Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm Fjord, south of the capital city.

The Ovation will be based in Seattle, too. Its Alaska itinerary hasn’t been posted yet. But it’s likely to follow a similar route.

Gray Faust said ships that large have added on-board attractions.

She points to the Norwegian Bliss, which advertises the largest go-kart race track on the seas. It also has a laser tag set that looks like it’s on the Death Star from “Star Wars.”

“One thing that’s very nice for passengers going to Alaska is they have a 20,000-square-foot observation lounge with 180-degree views,” she said. “Passengers in that lounge, they’ll really get the beauty of the landscape right there. They’ll be able to see it all as they come in.”

The Ovation of the Seas advertises skydiving and surf simulators, as well as robotic bartenders. But it’ll give the Bliss a run for its money in terms of scenery.

“They have what’s known as the North Star, which is a compartment that rises above the ship, like a traveling viewing compartment,” she said. “People should be able to get good views from that and certainly from the shore, people will notice that.”

The Bliss is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line. The Ovation is owned by Royal Caribbean International. Both sail other ships to Alaska.

Editor’s note: This report was updated to state that both cruise lines already sail the Inside Passage.

The post Two really, really big cruise ships headed to Alaska appeared first on KRBD.

Three cruise ships dock in downtown Juneau July 14, at the height of the tourist season. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)

Alaska’s cruise industry is on track to hit the magic million-passenger mark this year.

Industry leader John Binkley said that many passengers are projected to sail to the 49th state by the end of the season. That will be the first time in half-a-dozen years.

Binkley, president of Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, said the number is about 2 percent higher than last year.

“Worldwide, it’s about a 8 percent annual growth. … So we see a smaller percentage, but we’re kind of moving along with the trend in the industry,” he said.

The trade group said Alaska-bound ships used to carry about 8 percent of the worldwide cruise market. That’s almost double the current amount.

Binkley said global competition is the reason for the change.

He said the fastest-growing market is in Asia, which is attracting new customers, especially from China. He said that could help Alaska in the long run.

“Once that capacity and that growth is seen in Asia, then the hope is that in later years it will be a source for cruise passengers coming to Alaska,” Binkley said.

“So, initially competition. Later, a market that will increase more dramatically visitors to Alaska,” he added.

He said anecdotal evidence and market research show many new customers in the Asian market also want to cruise to Alaska.

Other factors could affect the state’s cruise industry in the coming years. One is an improved marine link.

“With the Panama Canal expanding in size, larger vessels can now move from the Atlantic, for example the Caribbean trade in the wintertime, through the Panama Canal into the Pacific and up to Alaska for the summer trade,” he said.

Binkley said overseas terrorism is another factor. He said that could make more Americans want to travel closer to home.

The post Cruise industry grows, global share shrinks appeared first on KRBD.

Tourists off the Norwegian Sun book a Mendenhall Glacier tour near Juneau’s waterfront on one of the last days of 2014′s tourism season, as a staffer watches. Passenger numbers were similar to last year’s. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)

Alaska’s cruise-ship season ended last week. It, and other types of tourism, attracted a similar number of visitors as in 2013. But the next few years could be different.

A group of Japanese tourists off the Norwegian Sun cruise ship walk Juneau’s waterfront, looking for an open sales kiosk.

Most days, they’d find more than a dozen. But right now, there’s just one, because the Sun is the only ship in town.

The cruise ship Norwegian Sun docks at Juneau’s waterfront on Sept. 24, one of the last days of 2014′s tourism season. (Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News)

The Sun can carry up to 2,000 passengers, plus 1,000 crew. Many times this summer, they’ve joined 10,000 or more other visitors and workers visiting Alaska’s capital city.

Many are taking their first trip to Alaska — and they’ve got a lot of questions. Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau volunteer Sharon Meier is one of the people giving them answers.

Some of those questions have pretty obvious answers.

“How far are we above sea level?” is one. “And I’m not making that up,” Meier says. “We get that all the time — and if we take American money.”

If they’re off a cruise ship, she’ll politely remind them that it’s floating in the ocean.

“And as far as the currency goes, you have to answer that based on who you are speaking with. You can never assume they want to joke, at their expense. So you just say ‘Yes, we do.’ But if they need an exchange, we can help them find a bank or someone who can help them out.”

Juneau saw almost all of the cruise ship passengers sailing Alaska waters this summer. Skagway and Ketchikan saw a lot. And Sitka, Hoonah, Whittier and Kodiak hosted far fewer. Smaller ships called at other cities, such as Petersburg and Wrangell, plus some Southeast villages.

Tourists consider checking out a sale on South Franklin Street, Juneau’s gift-shop row, on Sept. 24. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)

John Binkley is president Cruise Lines International Association in Alaska.

“It was a great season. We had almost a million visitors that will have come to Alaska on cruise ships. And about the same overall for other modes of transportation,” he says. “I think there were close to 2 million visitors this year.”

This season brought a new ship, the Crown Princess, which carries about 3,000 passengers and 1,200 crew. The same-sized Ruby Princess will sail next season, replacing a smaller ship.

Cruise lines often shuffle vessels in and out of their Alaska routes. Binkley says that has advantages.

“Many times when they put a new ship, or a newer ship, into a market, it has a loyal following. So you see a lot of passengers who want to go on the new ships and want to go to Alaska as well,” he says.

Passenger capacity has hovered around a million for several years. That may be as many as North America markets can provide.

But Binkley says cruise lines are targeting new customers, especially in Asia.

“It’s staggering the number of people who will be in the economic strata in China in the next 10 years to afford cruises. And one of the top destinations that they want to cruise through is Alaska,” he says.

Goldbelt’s Mt. Roberts Tram gondola Chaak (Eagle) enters its loading bay near Juneau’s waterfront. (Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News)

“Absolutely, there’s significant interest from China,” adds Jillian Simpson, director of membership and tourism policy for the Alaska Travel Industry Association.

“And actually, already we’re getting visitors, not only from mainland China, but also people in the U.S. who are studying from China or for business who are then adding on trips to Alaska,” she says.

Simpson says the association’s final figures aren’t in. But it looks like 2014’s season was strong, with about the same number of visitors.

But not everywhere.

“With the amount of rain we saw, the flooding that was happening early in the season, impacted Denali and the railroad. And anytime there’s lots of rain or storms it impacts the day cruises or people who need to take a boat out to a lodge, as well as flightseeing tours and being able to get out to remote parts,” she says.

Southeast Alaska’s Inside Passage also saw extra rain. But that didn’t affect its numbers, since cruise ship berths are booked months in advance.

Back at Juneau’s docks, a visitor’s bureau volunteer doles out maps and tips, as he has all summer.

Some dockside greeters get to be more outgoing. Sharon Meier says she went on board ships this year, to hand out information and answer questions.

What’s her favorite part?

A sign directs visitors to the Taku Fisheries shop on Juneau’s waterfront. (Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News)

“Meeting the people. The visitors are so eager to see Juneau and Alaska. I think it’s on a lot of people’s bucket lists to come up here,” she says.

Many of their questions are the same, about weather and wildlife, and of course, altitude and money.

But Meier says this season brought something different.

“Some people this summer have been asking where the Sarah Palin statue is. For some reason they think there’s one in town,” she says, laughing. (There isn’t one.)

Next year’s season begins in early May, when the Ruby Princess docks in Ketchikan. The ships will keep sailing ‘til mid-September.

The post Cruise traffic level, but could face growth appeared first on KRBD.