Haines should push back on a 35-year cruise-dock payment freeze

Thirty-five years at $9 per passenger, with no inflation adjustment. That is the term in Port Chilkoot Development Corporation’s cruise-dock proposal that Haines should challenge first. The borough has already scheduled increases in its own passenger fee, yet this offer would freeze its per-passenger payment for decades.

The Haines Borough Assembly will begin evaluating private-management proposals from PCDC, a partnership between Huna Totem Corporation and Survey Point Holdings, and Global Ports Holding. Both would finance construction in exchange for managing the borough-owned, single-berth Port Chilkoot dock at Portage Cove and collecting its user fees.

Neither guarantees annual payments above the $818,000 in fee revenue projected for the current fiscal year. That alone does not make either proposal a bad deal, because shifting construction and maintenance costs has value. But I would want inflation protection in any agreement that commits a public asset for 35 years. Passenger growth is a poor substitute for it.

The borough would need more passengers to recover today’s revenue

PCDC proposes paying Haines $9 per passenger, with a $250,000 annual minimum, while funding capital improvements and maintenance. The borough currently charges cruise lines that same $9 passenger fee, but plans to increase it to $12 next year and $13 in 2029.

Private management would also move income from docking, tendering, water, port security and other services to the operator. The comparison therefore involves more than replacing one passenger charge with another.

At PCDC’s proposed rate, Haines would need nearly 91,000 passengers annually to match its current fiscal-year revenue projection. The partnership’s expected-growth forecast reaches that level in the fourth year of the lease. Anything above the $250,000 minimum, however, depends on actual passenger traffic.

Over 35 years, PCDC projects approximately $34.8 million in passenger-based payments under its expected scenario. Its lower and higher forecasts produce totals of $24.2 million and $40.8 million.

Continued public operation could generate roughly $38 million over the same period if 2025 passenger volumes stayed unchanged and the scheduled fee increases took effect. Those are revenue comparisons, not calculations of what Haines would keep after maintenance and construction costs. They do not establish that public operation is the better financial choice.

They do show why the payment formula deserves scrutiny. Under PCDC’s offer, the borough’s income would depend on attracting more passengers while its payment for each passenger remained unchanged. More volume can lift the total. It cannot fix a rate that has no inflation adjustment.

Private investment comes with different public costs

Both bidders propose a floating dock. PCDC estimates its investment at $8 million to $12.5 million and would privately fund another $500,000 to $1 million in upland improvements, including covered staging areas.

Global Ports Holding estimates its floating-dock project at $5.33 million. It also asks Haines to contribute $2.85 million for a covered passenger shelter, replacement decking and bullrails, and refurbished fender panels. That public contribution belongs prominently in the borough’s assessment of what private management would save.

Global Ports Holding offers two payment options for a 20-year lease: $2.6 million upfront followed by $100,000 in annual rent, or $425,000 annually without an upfront payment. Both include inflation adjustments and neither depends on passenger numbers. A 15-year alternative would carry lower payments.

The $425,000 option would deliver $8.5 million over two decades before inflation adjustments. The $425,000 annual payment is substantially below the borough’s projected annual fee income, although privately funded construction is also part of the offer.

I prefer the inflation protection in that structure. It gives Haines a payment that can adjust over time without requiring another ship call. Whether the amount is adequate is a separate negotiation, particularly with the borough being asked to contribute construction money.

Global Ports Holding also proposes annual payments of $100,000 each to Haines High School, the Chilkat Valley Community Foundation and the borough once traffic reaches a specified threshold. Its own projections suggest those payments are unlikely. They should not be treated as dependable benefits when comparing the bids.

Spending rules could also differ. Current dock receipts go into the Port Chilkoot Dock Enterprise Fund and are restricted to improvements at that facility, a principle enforced through cruise-industry lawsuits against regional municipalities. Dock managers have previously argued that rent paid separately from cruise-line charges could be available for other borough services. That potential flexibility is relevant, but it is not an established outcome.

Growth has a local cost, too

Haines received 67,833 cruise passengers in 2025, with approximately 72,000 scheduled for 2026.

Global Ports Holding projects annual traffic of 96,500 to 274,500 by 2046, the final year of its proposed two-decade lease. Its offer includes a binding passenger ceiling that would rise at five-year intervals, starting at 175,000 annually and reaching 275,000.

A binding limit is useful, but the starting ceiling is already well above current traffic. It would allow considerable expansion before constraining the operator.

PCDC proposes no binding cap. Its forecasts begin from a lower base because they account for American Cruise Lines vessels moving to the Chilkoot Indian Association dock. Its low-growth case rises from 48,600 passengers in 2028 to 84,400 in 2057. The expected case reaches 120,500, and the high-growth case reaches 143,400.

Huna Totem operates Icy Strait Point in Hoonah. Survey Point provides cruise scheduling, ship tie-up, supply and medical-coordination services in Haines and owns and manages Juneau’s A.J. Dock.

Viking is central to PCDC’s baseline growth forecast. The line made nine summer calls in Haines, and PCDC says its relationship with Viking would increase calls from 16 in 2028 to 35 by 2032, with that schedule continuing through the lease.

Additional possibilities include doubling Seabourn Cruise Line’s calls and securing a long-term Haines commitment from an unnamed ship carrying up to 2,000 passengers. Those are potential arrangements, not guaranteed deployments.

PCDC itself says its highest forecast, while attainable, would “likely outpace infrastructure and tour development” and lack community support. Additional customers could benefit retailers and tour operators, but congestion and changes to Haines’ character are also part of the local debate.

The borough retains the right to negotiate revised terms. It should use it. PCDC’s expected forecast clears the current revenue threshold without reaching its highest-growth scenario, but that still leaves Haines collecting $9 per passenger decades from now.

A busier waterfront should earn Haines more than a chance to catch up with today’s projected dock revenue.