American Cruise Lines lease approved by Petersburg Borough Assembly

Petersburg's Borough Assembly on Monday unanimously approved a highly anticipated lease agreement with American Cruise Lines, a small cruise ship company that frequently stops in Petersburg. It's increasing its summer visits to town, and wants to build a cruise ship dock for its small passenger ships in Petersburg.

The Borough will lease part of its tidelands at the end of Dock Street next to the U.S. Coast Guard Dock to the company, which will build a mooring float and gangway there to support its cruise operations. The Assembly voted 6–0 in favor of the resolution, with Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton Gregor excused from the meeting.

Harbormaster Glorianne Wollen said the project is a good use of Petersburg's waterfront.

"I'm in the business of tying boats up and, you know, anything that we can do to enhance the waterfront for watercraft, I think is a benefit," Wollen told KFSK in a Tuesday interview. "That's a segment of our marine industry that allows us to diversify a little bit."

There are still more details to square out before construction can start. But approving the lease is a step toward that, now that the company has officially secured a location for the project. The company will have to provide plans for its dock project to the Borough and work through that with the harbor department, according to the borough manager and the harbormaster.

"We just want to make sure that what they're going to build is compliant with our expectations and our facility," Wollen said. "We don't want to have something that is going to be detrimental to our facility."

There are a number of safeguards for the Borough and limitations for the company set in the lease language, like vessel size and the amount of passengers, and that the Borough isn't responsible for maintenance.

Wollen said the dock limits itself because it is going to be small. She also said Petersburg would see a drastic decrease in overall tour boat traffic without the company's presence.

"Thank goodness they're here and they're willing to, you know, put some real money into Petersburg. I mean, this is a commitment," Wollen said. "This company is really putting their money where their mouth is, and investing in our community and plan a long-term relationship."

The lease agreement and project have been vetted by the harbormaster's office, the local harbor advisory board, and Petersburg's planning commission. The agreement lasts 50 years, with 5-year renewal cycles. The starting rent is 10% of the tideland's appraised value - $9,550 annually. Wollen said that was calculated with the same process used for other leases in the area, like the U.S. Coast Guard and Petro Marine.

According to the approved tidelands lease, which begins May 1, the cruise ship dock should be completed within two years. But throughout the process, officials with the company and the Borough have consistently mentioned the goal of having the facility ready for next year.

"Hopefully we'll have this in place and ready to go for the 2027 season," Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht said during the April 20 assembly meeting.

A public hearing on the lease was held during the first half of the meeting, but there was no testimony shared. However, at a town hall held in early 2025, residents generally supported having more tourism in town, so long as the Borough maintains control.

Discussions about the dock began in 2024. The Borough and the company initially approached the cruise dock project with the idea of building it collaboratively, and the Borough's last budget allocated a million dollars from the harbor reserves for the project. But over the course of discussions between the company and the Borough, Giesbrecht said it became clear that a lease agreement would work better for both parties; Wollen said partnering on the dock "was probably not the best financially feasible way" to approach the project. The company pivoted to instead lease the tidelands space and will build the dock privately.

American Cruise Lines is also trying to build docks for its vessels in other Southeast communities like Wrangell and Haines as part of a regional expansion. Its passenger ships stopped in Petersburg more frequently last year, but there were space constraints. Wollen said the dock could help with congestion in the maritime community, especially during the summer cruise season.

"Kind of a relief on our end, that I'm going to be able to attract the tender fleet again and not be so rigid with them ... which I think will be beneficial to the entire commercial fishing fleet," said Wollen. "It's a benefit to our operation here, and the operation of how we manage the harbor."

There are 85 port calls scheduled for Petersburg this summer. American Cruise Lines makes up 31 of them.

This story was first published at kfsk.org and is reprinted here with permission