Study Suggests 42 Percent Increase in Moorage Rates

Aerial image of harbor courtesy of City of Kodiak

Jay Barrett/KMXT

The Kodiak City Council Tuesday night heard the results of a study of moorage fees in the city’s harbors. The presentation was made by Alexus Bond, with the firm Northern Economics. She said there is a gap in what the city charges and what it needs to charge to cover current operations and pay for replacement costs down the road.

— (Harbor 1 22 sec "The costs that we’re getting … to cover all your costs.")

The average rate in Kodiak harbors was calculated at $53.11 per foot. If costs were increased equally across the board, the average moorage rate would have to be $75.57 – a 42 percent increase.

Bond presented four possible ways to increase the harbor income:

— (Harbor 2 37 sec "The four rate options are … and go with square footage.")

She said the square footage of a boat would be calculated by multiplying the length of the vessel by its beam, and rounding up as if the boat were rectangular and not boat shaped.

— (Harbor 3 37 sec "It would account for the really wide … number we derived.")

The study has just been released, and Nick Szabo of the Ports and Harbors Advisory Board said the group will schedule a time to go over it as soon as possible.

Bond also presented a study of cruise ship rates in Kodiak. She calculated that the gap between fees received from cruise ships to the annualized cost of accommodating them to be just over $92,000. Like the moorage rate in the harbors, there were several options for calculating the fees, but recommended basing it on the net tonnage of the vessels, and capping the price at the 50,000 ton level.

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