Background

The Lutak Dock was constructed by the U.S. Army in 1953 for the purpose of building and supplying the Haines-Fairbanks pipeline, a Cold War era project that delivered fuel to military bases in the interior. The Army designed the cellular sheet pile dock to receive massive amounts of materials for the construction of the 626-mile pipeline and associated tank farm.

The pipe was unloaded onto the Lutak Dock and then loaded onto logging trucks for distribution along the route. (see image below)

In 1977, after the pipeline was decommissioned, the Army gave the Lutak Dock to the City of Haines. The cathodic protection system that the Army maintained and operated over the years was turned off after the Haines Borough took ownership of the dock. The borough couldn’t afford the costs associated with operating the system, and the dock deteriorated over the years.

Ownership of the dock is split between the Haines Borough and the state. In the 1980s, a roll-on/roll-off ramp (RO/RO) was installed on the face of the borough-owned side of the dock, which freight Alaska Marine Lines (AML) used to deliver freight. A few years later, Totem Oil installed the fuel pipes across the Lutak Dock at their own expense. Fuel company Delta Western purchased Totem Oil in the mid 1990s.

The Lutak Dock currently has two users, fuel company Delta Western and freight company Alaska Marine Lines. Delta Western delivers fuel 15-20 times per year. Alaska Marine Lines (AML) delivers groceries and other freight once per week.

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THE NEW RO/RO

In 2020, AML paid $2.6 million for the construction of a new Roll-on-Roll-Off dock (RO/RO) on the Borough-owned tidelands adjacent to the Lutak Dock. All of the town’s freight has been delivered via the new RO/RO since 2020. The Haines Borough and AML have a 30-year lease for this arrangement. According to the agreement, use of the ramp is not restricted by AML and is open to other users.

The Lutak Dock Replacement

After over a decade of failed grant requests, the Haines Borough is moving forward with a $25 million replacement of the Lutak Dock, despite being historically unable to afford to maintain the entire 700 ft dock. The cellular sheet-pile dock, which was built in 1953, is failing - but the dock face has been closed since 2020. What is the minimal amount of work that needs to happen at the dock to ensure current operations can continue safely? We don’t know, because dating back to at least 2010, dock renovation efforts have been centered around the expansion or redevelopment of the dock as a deep-water port. Maintaining or expanding the size of the dock and rebuilding it to certain specifications would enable handymax ships to use it. Handymax are more than double the size of the two barges (freight and fuel) currently using the dock.

What’s wrong with that? Well, the dock project approved by the community was to rebuild the dock for safety. Many are still under the assumption that we need to rebuild the entire dock to maintain current operations, and the narrative presented to the community is that the replacement of the Lutak Dock is solely to meet local needs. But then why is the dock being built to accommodate handymax ships, a class of ship that can’t currently use the dock? And what new users would it serve?

The Borough hasn’t unveiled any future users that would justify building the dock to accommodate handymax ships. This is problematic because building for such a massive design vessel will cost tens of millions more than building for current users. And revenue brought in by the dock’s current two users won’t be enough to cover maintenance costs of the proposed rebuild. But in 2021, the borough submitted a RAISE grant application that referred to the transshipment of ore at Lutak Dock.

This deepwater port is a year-round, sheltered harbor with excellent road connectivity and the potential to develop spacious upland storage that could support the maritime services industry, bulk cargo handling, and transshipment of ore, timber, bio-mass/woodchips, and rock/gravel.

And in February 2022, the Borough submitted a state funding request for $3.2 million (for the 20% match required for the RAISE grant), which stated:

"...The Lutak Dock also plays a crucial role in the economic viability of the region. Key mineral mines in the Yukon territories, and other northern regions need access to maritime shipping as a cost effective way to bring their products to market.”

March 24, 2022 Ports and Harbor Meeting

The scope of the project (load weights, size, vessel capacity) has many concerned, especially after a controversial Port and Harbor Advisory Committee meeting in. Seven Yukon mining representatives attended the meeting to discuss the design plans and future use of the rebuilt Lutak Dock for Yukon mineral exports.

While the March 24 meeting was eye-opening, Borough officials have alluded to it being the only time shipping ore over the Lutak Dock was discussed. But the dock was being built to accommodate handymax ships way before this meeting happened.

Listen to the audio clips from the meeting:

The Old Design

R&M’s old phased design would demolish the existing cells, adding an elevated platform in Phase 3 that would provide ship-to-shore access for current users, as well as handymax ships. This is the design the Borough used to apply for the 2021 federal RAISE grant — this is the design that was approved by MARAD (the federal granting agency) when they selected the Haines Borough for a RAISE grant award in November 2021.

The old design would have cost $3.75 million per decade in maintenance costs.

The New Design

The Haines Borough is moving forward with the progressive design build of the Lutak Dock. They have chosen Turnagain Marine Construction for the design-build of the Lutak Dock, and R&M Consultants (the firm that developed the old design) as the Owner’s Advisor.

In July of 2022, Turnagain proposed a new concept for the Lutak Dock Replacement that would retain the dock’s original footprint. Rather than demolishing the old cells, which R&M’s design would have done, Turnagain plans to encapsulate the failing cells. This would retain the 700 ft dock face.

Turnagain’s 95% Design was approved by the Planning Commission on June 8, 2023 (see below). Note the image of a Handymax under “Design Vessels” on pg. 3:

Borough code requires Turnagain's design proposal to be seen by the Planning Commission at the conceptual stage, as well as at 35%. But Turnagain's design was not seen by the Planning Commission at the conceptual stage. The first time the Planning Commission saw the design was at their meeting on December 8, 2022 — when it was already at the 35% stage.

Action Items

You can submit comments by contacting your local representatives here and here.

Questions for your Haines Borough representatives:

• How will the Borough afford (to both build and maintain) Turnagain’s plan?

• The steel pilings Turnagain plans to use for the new wall aren’t galvanized. The pilings would be epoxy coated and sacrificial anodes would be installed. Turnagain estimates the anodes would need to be replaced in 15-20 years. How expensive would replacement anodes be?
  

We want to know what you think: Take our anonymous dock survey

News

What are the risks?

The Lutak corridor was among the Areas of Concern in the Geohazard assessment after the December weather disaster.

Understanding of future extreme weather events, seismicity, localized tsunamis and other potential hazards should guide any future developments such as trucking and shipping ore over Lutak Dock.

The Chilkat and Chilkoot commercial and subsistence fisheries would be directly at risk-- hooligan, herring, and salmon are sensitive to contaminants.

The haul route to the Lutak Dock would go directly through town. Big, noisy ore trucks would drive through town at all hours, emitting fugitive dust, driving down property values, and polluting our subsistence food sources & watershed.

Skagway Ore Terminal

The municipality of Skagway, Alaska, won't be renewing its lease for the ore dock owned by Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA). AIDEA leases the ore facility and ore loader to White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad. owns the ore facility and the ore loader but sublets leases the land and part of the dock they sit on to White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad. The municipality of Skagway plans to take possession of the ore dock in 2023 when the long-term lease with White Pass expires.

Skagway is upgrading its port infrastructure to accommodate bigger cruise ships, with plans to put an increasing focus on seasonal tourism.

Skagway’s Contaminated Harbor

In the mid-1980s after the South Klondike Highway opened, trucks came through town every 30 minutes 24 hours a day 362 days a year hauling lead and zinc ore concentrate.

Finally, in 1988, light was shed on the lead contamination in Skagway. Blood tests were drawn from Skagway residents… According to the report and the standards at the time, none were above a level of concern. But if held up to today’s standards, most of those children would have been in the top 2.5% of children tested for lead levels in blood nationally.

A state memo referenced by The Associated Press in 1988 said that the “Bottom sediments in the Skagway Harbor have been found to be among the most toxic in the world.”