Cruise lines will have to start paying about double what they currently pay to dock at either of the city’s cruise ship facilities beginning in 2026, city officials say.
The Juneau Assembly unanimously approved the change on Monday. The change applies only to large cruise ships and will equate to millions of dollars in additional city revenue.
Juneau Visitor Industry Director Alix Pierce said the regulation changes make the city’s dockage fees more competitive with the private sector in Juneau and others in Southeast Alaska.
“We know that our rates are definitely low compared to the private docks here and other ports in the region are also looking at their fee structure,” she said.
The rate change isn’t exactly apples-to-apples. The current dockage fees use the tonnage and length of vessels to calculate how much cruise ships pay. The new rates will be based on the ship’s passenger capacity.
Pierce says that’s expected to double the amount that cruise ships pay. Last season, Juneau took in about $2.5 million in dockage fees, and this season will likely yield a similar amount. That means next season the rates could bring in close to $5 million.
The city owns two of the four cruise ship docks in Juneau – they’re the ones closest to Marine Park. The Juneau Assembly recently approved the development of another private dock, too. Pierce said while she doesn’t know how much the private sector charges ships, she doesn’t expect much pushback from cruise lines about the city’s new rates.
“We’ve been talking about it for long enough that they know it’s coming,” she said. “I think, in the end, they’ve known that it’s coming for a few years.”
The additional revenue will go into the city’s Docks and Harbors enterprise fund. Carl Uchytil, the city’s port director, said there are fewer restrictions on how the city uses the money compared to some of the other fees that the city charges cruise ships.
“They’re not limited, like the so-called head taxes, the port development fee, or the marine passenger fee — it can be used for other purposes,” he said.
Marine passenger fees are what the city charges for each cruise ship passenger who comes into port. That money must be spent on projects that are connected to the visitor industry because of a settlement agreement with Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, which put limits on how the city uses the funds.