Thread: New dock in Sitka!

New Sitka Berth Nearing Completion

Friday, 01 April 2011

A new cruise dock in Sitka, Alaska is nearing completion. Sitka receives approximately 150,000 passengers each summer, and up until now, ships had to anchor and tender passengers to town.

The new dock will be complete, along with the new private port facility, by May 1, and will incorporate the use of a 470-ft long concrete platform that rises and falls with the large tidal fluctuation in Alaska.

I think you'll find that that's an April Fool's Day joke.

Originally Posted by explorenorth

I think you'll find that that's an April Fool's Day joke.

Really? I don't think so.

Alaska Beat
Sitka getting large-ship dock

Alaska Beat | Sep 21, 2010
After years of waiting and a few stalled efforts, Sitka is finally going to get a dock that can accommodate large cruise ships, CoastAlaska (via APRN) reports. Halibut Point Marine Services will build the dock near the town's ferry terminal, and has declined to disclose the project's cost. Although the dock will mean that cruise passengers can be disgorged directly onto the shore, instead of taking short trips on lightering vessels, there are no agreements yet with cruise lines to use it. Listen to much, much more, here.


Alaska Plans Pier Projects
Alaska Plans Pier Projects

March 2, 2011 By M.T Schwartzman
After years of public debate in Sitka concerning a city-owned dock for large cruise ships, a private company has made the surprise decision to build its own cruise-ship pier. The new dock will be about 1,000 feet in length — long enough to accommodate the largest ships sailing in Alaska (which currently belong to Princess Cruises, the only operator of post-Panamax tonnage on “The Last Frontier”) — and will include an access ramp for tour vehicles.

As the original capital of Alaska, Sitka is known for its Russian colonial heritage, including the onion-domed landmark St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral, as well as its colorful Native American cultural traditions, like towering totem poles (pictures left). It is the longtime home of the New Archangel Dancers and the site of Alaska’s oldest national park. Cruise lines that call in Sitka include Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Holland America Line, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Silversea Cruises.

Meanwhile, Alaska’s capital city and most popular port, Juneau, has more than US$60 million in port improvements on tap from the 2011 through 2014 cruise seasons. Projects include a new visitor center and the replacement of two city-owned cruise ship piers. In Ketchikan, known by its nickname “Alaska’s First City,” officials say they’ve received funding for refurbishments to berths 1 and 2 downtown that could eventually amount to US$26 million; work is scheduled to begin in the fall and run through spring 2015. The city previously had spent nearly US$40 million on pier expansion projects to berth 3 (opened June 2007) and berth 4 (opened May 2008).

If you’ve cruised Alaska before, what did you think of the state’s port facilities?

We'll see. The residents of Sitka have expresesd near-zero support for a publicly-funded dock. The private dock at Skagway costs each ship $17-18,000 to use each and every time they come to port. Will the few cruise lines who visit Sitka be willing to pay that or perhaps even more? Will a private company go ahead without firm contracts being signed?

The April 1st news article was the firs I had heard of it! After you suggested it might be an April Fools joke, I googled it and came up with a number of articles but I only posted those 2.

We shall see what the future brings!

Its true, I live in Sitka and the dock started construction last September and is nearing completion. The town seems to be supportive of it.

Originally Posted by mc2824

Its true, I live in Sitka and the dock started construction last September and is nearing completion. The town seems to be supportive of it.

Welcome to clf!!

That would be great if sitka could have at least one ship dock there

do you know where it is to be located?

Originally Posted by mc2824

Its true, I live in Sitka and the dock started construction last September and is nearing completion. The town seems to be supportive of it.

Welcome to our friendly cruise community!

Thanks for confirming that this report wasn't just an April Fools joke!
Does the town expect more cruise ships to call -- and stay longer-- after the completion of the new facilities?

Do look around at all the different forums cruiselinefans has here and feel free to participate.

There's sure not much information out there. A comment on a different Forum says: "You would be better off tendering. The new dock is being built about 6 miles from town which means bus, taxi, etc. " That brings in the question of who is going to pay for a large fleet of buses to get people into town.

I just wrote to a buddy of mine in Sitka - I'll get the real story shortly.

Thanks -- I didn't think that it would be close to town -- they would literally have to dredge a channel through those pretty tiny islands -- which didn't make sense to me

Right now HAL is paying big bucks to have transportation in anchorage for their 14 Amsterdam cruises to get people from the dock to town.