Pacific Pile & Marine submitted an apparent low bid of $42.16 million, about one-third of an engineer’s estimate of $61.4 million, for new piling and trestle work for the petroleum and cement terminal replacement project at the aging Port of Alaska. The bid means the port officials have sufficient money in hand to do the project, and will issue a Notice to Proceed if Anchorage’s municipal assembly gives approval July 9. Orders for steel and equipment will follow and construction would begin next spring. The port will still have to raise $116 million to complete infrastructure for the petroleum and cement terminal infrastructure. If that is done bids could be solicited next spring and the entire replacement completed in late 2021. The bid by Pacific Pile & Marine, or PP&M, against the engineer’s estimate, could be a sign that actual costs for reconstruction of the Port of Alaska could wind up being less than the $2 billion in preliminary estimates for the entire project (of which the PCT is only part). Port officials caution, however, that future phases involve different kinds of construction and may not attract as competitive a bid as submitted by PP&M. That $2 billion estimate raised alarm bells among shippers, particularly for fuel, because if expenses are paid by increased user fees it could encourage cost-sensitive air carriers to bypass Anchorage.

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