Freight is Wrangell’s lifeline, like other Southeast Alaska communities. The borough decommissioned its barge ramp earlier this year. Since then, officials have been figuring out where to put the new one. Engineers deemed he 47-year-old ramp unsafe due to its deteriorating structure.
Since then, community members and officials have debated on where the best location would be. They’ve discussed closer to town or six miles away. No matter what, the decision will have some affect on the cost of living for every resident.
Wrangellites participated in a heated borough assembly work session Aug. 21. They discussed a proposed Memorandum of Understanding with Alaska Marine Lines, one of two freight companies that ship to Wrangell.
The other, Samson Tug & Barge, was present at the meeting. The city and company did not write up an MOU proposal by the time of the meeting.
The MOU with Alaska Marine Lines discussed financial contributions, and the location of where the new ramp will be placed depends on that price.
Six-miles from town or closer
A location the borough has been looking at is the old mill dock next to the Wrangell Service Center closer to town. They would expand that area for the ramp. But the costs are enormous, starting at $20 million and that doesn’t include building the barge facility.
The cost estimate for the site six-miles from town, that’s supported by some residents, is between $5 and $7 million. AML would fund it but it does not include any preliminary work to ready the area. At the same time, people have concerns, like City Market Manager John Mason.
“We all have to live here, and we have to be able to afford to live here,” he said. “I’m just asking that the assembly please keep in mind that where the rubber meets the road, it’s the consumer.”
He said he imports and moves millions of pounds worth of freight for the grocery store every year. He said he’s certain that moving the barge to the proposed six miles out of town will increase costs. That’s due to land freight and operational costs, and the rise will affect consumers. He said eventually, people will leave Wrangell due to the increased cost of living.
“We’re all consumers, and after rent and utilities, buying groceries and feeding your family is probably the most expensive cost that we have, and those costs have not been going down,” Mason said.
Assembly Member Jim DeBord asked Mason how long it would take for the shelves to go bare if the barge stops running. His answer? 10 days.
“If the grocery store shuts down in 10 days, how far behind you think the hospital, Bay Company, every place in this entire town [would be?],” DeBord said. “It would be a catastrophic issue for this community to not have barge services.”
He said the worst decision to make as an assembly body is indecision, and so it’s important to move forward now with creating the MOUs as soon as possible.
“We kind of inherited it too.”
Since March, the freight companies have been unloading at the Marine Service Center as a temporary solution.
But they feel it’s been too long with this indecision and they should have a ramp to unload on and not side tie to the sea wall, as they are doing now.
Additionally, many community members said they inherited the conditions of the dilapidated ramp since the city didn’t act on improving it sooner.
Cory Baggen, vice president of Samson Tug and Barge, said community members weren’t the only ones who inherited the ramp issues.
“We kind of inherited it too, because we were told one thing and given another,” she said. “If we can come up with a short term solution that works, great, and then keep working on this long term solution, that’s wonderful, but we need to also look at the short term solution, because we’ve got to make sure that you guys are serviced.”
She said she was under the impression that the ramp was being fixed when the float tanks were fixed back in 2022. Borough Manager Mason Villarma stated in an email that “the borough has no identified record of commitment to comprehensively repairing the ramp.” He said the borough assembly would have had to approve it and it was never brought forth to a meeting.
Along with the freight partnership, the city will seek out grants, like one from the federal government that provides disaster recovery. Wrangell is eligible for this grant because of the 2023 landslide.
Borough assembly wants to pursue the property six miles from town
In another meeting on Aug. 26, the assembly continued their talk during an executive session on next steps for possible barge service locations.
Villarma said the assembly reaffirmed direction to pursue the mill property at six mile for the new freight facility.
The borough is now waiting on an MOU with Samson to get an idea of their financial contributions.
“By the time we get through the MOU, we look at the conceptuals, we look at the cost estimates, what the total cost to build is going to be,” Villarma said. “Come up with an ownership structure and kind of negotiate an agreement to see if it will all pencil out.”
He said once the borough understands what the implications are for the community, there will be public engagement opportunities.
“We’ll produce the best we can return on investment that shows the community what they may end up standing to gain or cost them in the grand scheme of it all,” Villarma said. “So that’s kind of the process.”
Villarma said he expects the freight companies and the borough to reach a definitive agreement by the end of this year.
After, they would pursue full design, permitting and see construction later next year with a freight facility operating in 2027.
