The Matanuska-Susitna Borough's Port MacKenzie earned $217,600 in 2005 from Jan. 1 through Dec. 22 in wharfage and dockage fees for several large cargo vessels and barges, just a fraction of the port's fiscal operating budget for fiscal 2006, borough officials said Dec. 20.
According to Cheyenne Heindel, the borough's revenue and budget manager, the port has an operating budget of $2.7 million for fiscal 2006, including $178,536 in wages and benefits for the port's two employees. The rest is earmarked for utilities, equipment rental, maintenance, supplies, vehicle fuel, furniture and professional charges, Heindel said.
Until July 1, 2005, port funds came from an areawide operations fund, Heindel said. As of July 1, the borough transferred all port assets - a total of $27.5 million - to a separate port enterprises fund. That fund has already paid out $410,000 in interest charges on a $10 million bond for port construction approved in a borough election several years ago, Heindel said.
While income is still lagging behind expenses, port director Marc Von Dongen said the port has exceeded its goal of four large cargo vessels in one year. In all, six Panamax-size ships came to the port in 2005, hauling away 120,000 tons of wood chips to Korea and Japan, he said. The wood chips were purchased from NPI LLC, a subsidiary of an Oklahoma-based firm that has purchased extensive timber rights in the borough.
The latest cargo vessel, the Kure, arrived at Port MacKenzie Dec. 21 to be loaded with spruce chips for processing in Japan, according to Van Dongen. The Siam Ocean departed Dec. 20 with a load of birch chips for processing in South Korea, he said. An increasing number of vessels is expected in coming years, he said.
NPI has announced it has a new contractor now overseeing operations at the port and work in the field, said Dale Rich, owner of NPI. Rich said Dec. 21 that NPI recently signed a 25-year management and operations contract with NANA Services of Anchorage, a wholly owned subsidiary of the NANA Development Corp. NANA Services is a global company with operations and management contracts throughout the world.
NPI currently employs about 100 workers, 98 percent of them Alaska residents, Rich said. NPI has cooperated with the Mat-Su Borough over the past five years to develop the deepwater dock facility at Port MacKenzie. Rich made a multi-million dollar investment in the bulk commodity conveyor system and for steel used for an extension of the dock. The borough has awarded NPI a 30-year exclusive lease of the bulk commodity loading facility and priority berthing for its ships.
Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.
