Feds give Anchorage $20 million for Port of Alaska

Anchorage Daily News
Author: Aubrey Wieber

The city of Anchorage landed a $20 million grant to further cut into the cost of rebuilding the Port of Alaska’s cement and petroleum terminal.

The grant, given by the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration, was announced Tuesday. Port spokesman Jim Jager said Alaska’s congressional delegation helped in securing the grant.

In-water construction of the new terminal will start this spring and finish in fall 2021. It’s expected to cost a little more than $200 million, according to Jager.

In November, the city announced a $25 million grant toward the project, also from the Transportation Department.

With the new grant, there is a roughly $35 million deficit for the terminal rebuild. The port will bond for that money and pay off the bonds with tariffs, Jager said.

“This absolutely reduces the need for customer money, tariff money,” Jager said. "It’s money that Alaskans will not be paying for the dock.”

The port’s aging infrastructure was damaged during the November 2018 earthquake. The new terminal should withstand a more powerful earthquake than the 1964 Good Friday earthquake.

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