Don Young Port of Alaska in Anchorage
Don Young Port of Alaska in Anchorage

By FAMILY OF MARION DAVIS

Our beloved husband, father, and grandfather passed away at St. Vincent Providence Hospital in Portland, Oregon on July 18, 2019.  Marion was born on Sept. 18, 1948, in Greenville, Mississippi to Emett George Davis and Royce Christine Davis, the youngest of four siblings. His father was a carpenter, and Marion often followed him around as a young boy, watching and learning.  He was able to do almost anything with his hands, and he did beautiful tile work and carpentry, as well as fixing plumbing and electrical issues.  Marion's father died when he was young, and it was then that he began making trips to Anchorage to stay with his sister Christine Moesh during the summers.

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KTUU News
By Derek Minemyer

The Anchorage Assembly voted 8-3 to award a contract bid of $42 million for Pacific Pile & Marine to upgrade the Petroleum Cement Terminal at the Port of Alaska.

Several Port of Alaska facilities have been used beyond their planned service life and engineers say that the port, through which roughly 90 percent of Alaska's merchandise goods pass, is at "imminent risk of failure within the next five to ten years," according to an assembly resolution.

David Gamez of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Alaska, said that repairs are necessary to survive another shake like what occurred on November 30.

Read Full Story Here:
https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Anchorage-Assembly-gives-green-light-to-first-port-update-project-513423831.html

Alaska Journal of Commerce
By: Elwood Brehmer

The Anchorage Assembly has approved funding to start a total rebuild to the docks at the city’s beleaguered port a decade after construction problems halted prior efforts to upgrade the essential infrastructure.

An 8-3 Assembly vote at a July 30 special meeting allows city officials to award a $42.1 million contract to Seattle-based Pacific Pile and Marine to build the first phase of a new, roughly $220 million petroleum and cement terminal at the city-owned Port of Alaska.

Read Full Story Here:
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2019-07-31/anchorage-assembly-approves-42m-contract-first-new-port-dock

KTUU News
By Hank Davis

During a special meeting on Tuesday, members of the Anchorage Assembly will be tasked with finally making a major decision about whether or not to move forward with the construction of an all-new, 40 million dollar petroleum and concrete terminal (PCT) at the Port of Alaska.

The PCT is a major key to executing the long-discussed "Port Modernization Program," which is a sorely needed initiative to restore Anchorage's aging docks; however, the assembly has multiple factors to consider before taking a final vote.

Even with three state grants worth just under $50 million, an additional $100 million would be needed to complete the PCT -- only the first of multiple operations needed to bring the Port of Alaska back up to modern-day shipping standards.

Read Full Story Here:
https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Assembly-preparing-to-make-major-decisions-on-Port-of-Alaskas-future-513369981.html

KTUU News

The (PCT) petroleum and concrete terminal would be phase on of a plan to bring the Port of Alaska back up to modern shipping standards. (KTUU)

Watch Video Here:
https://www.ktuu.com/video/?vid=513370222

Alaska Journal of Commerce
By: Elwood Brehmer

The primary users of Anchorage’s beleaguered port want city officials to delay the first major rehabilitation work at the port in years while port leaders continue to discover earthquake damage to critical infrastructure.

The eight companies that make up the informal “Port of Alaska Users Group” sent similar letters to Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz June 28 and members of the Anchorage Assembly July 12 urging them to stop advancing work to build a new petroleum and cement terminal.

They contend the municipality’s plan to start building the roughly $220 million petroleum and cement import terminal, or PCT, without having a way to pay for all of it would leave the city with a “trestle to nowhere,” according to the July 12 letter to the Assembly, and could invite tariff increases that would impact business at Anchorage’s other logistics hub.

Read Full Story Here:
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2019-07-17/more-quake-damage-adds-troubles-port-alaska

KTUU News
By Derek Minemyer

Businesses using the Port of Alaska (POA) are urging the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) to slow down on a critical upgrade project.

MOA officials are debating how -- and when -- to move forward with upgrades to the Petroleum and Cement Terminal (PCT), as part of the multi-year Port of Alaska Modernization Program (PAMP). Port users met with the Anchorage Assembly and the Mayor’s Office to discuss the project at a joint session Friday.

"There's an overall lack of confidence of it being completed,” said Casey Sullivan, a spokesperson for Marathon Petroleum. “The project, as designed, in our opinion, is unaffordable."

Read Full Story Here:
https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/City-and-users-clash-over-potential-cement-and-petroleum-tariffs-to-finance-Port-upgrades-512675571.html

Alaska Journal of Commerce
By: Elwood Brehmer

Anchorage officials are moving ahead with a plan to build part of a new berth at the city’s beleaguered port while they look for ways to pay for the rest of it.

Municipal Manager Bill Falsey said during a May 16 meeting of the Anchorage Assembly’s Enterprise and Utility Oversight Committee that administration leaders want to use the $60 million they have on hand for port work to fund the first year of construction of a new petroleum and cement terminal.

Port officials in February released a financial analysis that indicated tariffs levied on fuel and cement imported to the state across the Port of Alaska docks would have to be increased at least five-fold in order for the port to fund revenue bonds to pay for the construction of a new terminal, which has been estimated at $223 million.

Read Full Story Here:
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2019-05-22/bids-sought-2020-work-port-alaska

KTVA News
By: Dave Leval

The Queen Elizabeth is impressive, much more than a floating hotel. It houses roughly 1,200 rooms that can accommodate close to 2,100 passengers. There are plenty of spiral staircases, a two-story library and a theater complete with box seating.

There's also a casino, but you can only play in international waters.

Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz came with gifts as he welcomed the Queen Elizabeth on its first voyage to Alaska. Not so for the ship's captain, Inger Klein Thorhauge — the first woman to command a vessel for cruise company Cunard Line.

"I was in Anchorage 15 years ago because I got the privilege to kind of look at Alaska for the Seabourn ships coming into Alaska for the first time," she said. "I traveled around in February, which is a little colder than it is now."

A spokesperson for the Queen Elizabeth said it's the first ship operated by Cunard Line to sail to Alaska in 20 years. It's also the first of 10 cruise ships scheduled to arrive in Anchorage this summer.

Read Full Story Here:
https://www.ktva.com/story/40490630/queen-elizabeth-sails-into-anchorage-on-maiden-voyage-to-alaska

Alaska Journal of Commerce
By: Elwood Brehmer

The Anchorage Assembly has brought in some familiar names in Alaska political and maritime circles to determine the best path forward on its troubled port modernization project.

The Assembly Enterprise and Utility Oversight Committee on April 18 approved a $45,000 contract to a partnership of the national project management firm Ascent PGM and the Anchorage consulting firm led by Mark Begich Northern Compass Group.

Ascent Alaska Vice President Roe Sturgulewski said he has worked on large port projects in Unalaska and Kodiak as well as other smaller marine infrastructure efforts across the state over the past 30 years.

Begich, a former U.S. senator and Anchorage mayor, noted during the April 18 committee meeting that he opposed the original port project management structure that put the U.S. Maritime Administration, or MARAD, in charge of the construction project because of the agency’s lack of experience in project management. MARAD’s management was approved by the Assembly and former Mayor George Wuerch shortly before Begich was sworn in as mayor in 2003, he said.

Read full story here:
http://www.alaskajournal.com/2019-04-24/consultant-team-including-begich-tapped-port-alaska-review