Petro Marine Services plans to replace Juneau’s main fuel dock next year. The dock is located just south of downtown at the Rock Dump Industrial Area, near the cruise ship docks.
“This facility is the primary dock that receives petroleum products for the city of Juneau,” said Matthew Lindsey, the chief operating officer at Petro Marine in Anchorage.
He said the dock is at least 55 years old and has deteriorated past its useful lifespan. Both Petro Marine and Delta Western use the dock to fill Juneau’s fuel storage tanks.
“Any petroleum product, from aviation fuels to automobile gas, construction diesel, marine diesel — all of those products are received at that facility,” Lindsey said.
Petro Marine has one other dock in Juneau that can receive fuel barges, on Douglas Island just north of the bridge. Lindsey said vessels have to be small enough to go under the Douglas Bridge to get there. He said the company will use it to help prevent disruption in fuel delivery services during construction on the main dock.
Lindsey estimates construction will cost $15 million or more. It will include removing and replacing the piles, dock, float structures, fuel lines and shoreline retaining wall. It will also include a new pump control building and storm drains.
Much of the work will be done using a crane barge, according to the public notice.
Because the reconstruction work could disturb marine mammals, Petro Marine requested authorization from the National Marine Fisheries Service. The federal agency issued a proposal this month that would allow Petro Marine to incidentally harass marine mammals during demolition and construction.
According to the proposal, that’s mainly because driving piles into marine substrate is noisy, and noise is known to disturb marine mammals. The deadline for the public to comment on this proposed authorization is October 13.
NMFS did not respond to a request for comment.
Juneau’s main fuel dock is beside the AJ cruise ship dock in the Rock Dump Industrial Area. (Photo by Alix Soliman/KTOO)
Lindsey said Petro Marine worked with the city to ensure the design cooperates with its long-planned Seawalk that would connect all of Juneau’s existing cruise ship docks.
“The new dock orientation will allow the Seawalk to fit in kind of behind it, essentially, and connect the AJ and Franklin docks,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey said construction is planned to begin early next spring, and the goal is to finish next summer.
