The current boat lift at the Marine Service Center could have company as early as April 22, officials said. The new lift is painted red.
A long-discussed lift doubling the capacity of the Wrangell boatyard could arrive by the end of the month, officials said.
The lift, which Harbormaster Greg Meissner plans for the harbor to use in conjunction with the existing 150-ton lift, shipped from Italy in March and was set to arrive in Tacoma, Wash. by Wednesday, though harbor officials have revised estimates for the arrival in the past.
"My hope is it'll get here on April 22," he said.
That would put the arrival one day shy of a year from the date the borough assembly denied a grievance brought by a vendor who lost the contract.
Uncertainty about customs transit times and dock off-loading times mean that date is far from guaranteed, Meissner said.
Once in Tacoma, dockhands will unload five shipping containers of lift components. The components will travel first to Seattle, then north to Wrangell. Employees with manufacturers ASCOM S.p.A - selected exactly a year ago today as the low-bid provider over Sturgeon Bay, Wisc.-based Marine Travelift, which constructed the smaller machine currently in the service center - will come to town to help assemble the lift and train Marine Service Center employees in its use, Meissner said.
The new lift is intended to both service larger boats home-ported in Wrangell that currently must go elsewhere for service, and to draw business to Wrangell from other locations, Meissner said.
"I'm looking out my window at the Grace C fish packer," he said. "It's somewhere around 250 tons and it can't be hauled out."
Several other boat lifts in Alaska can handle larger boats. Seward has a 250-ton lift. Hoonah has a 200-ton lift. Kodiak has a 600-ton lift. Ketchikan has a 150-ton lift. Wrangell's current lift was installed in 2006, at a time when its capacity far outstripped competitors in the region. As a result of the lift and more efficient storage, lift and storage revenues effectively doubled between 2007 and 2008, city figures showed at the time.
"Half of our boat count is from out of town," Meissner said.
A few issues remain. Wrangell's Marine Service Center has effectively become a victim of its own success, with no lease spots available until the borough demolishes an existing shed and makes that property available to use for contractors and service providers, which will provide a single new spot. This has led officials to consider the 5.5-Mile mill site – recently granted a clean bill of health from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation – as potential industrial harbor site with the 300-ton lift as its centerpiece. Though officials have portrayed those considerations as extremely preliminary.
Whenever the new lift arrives, officials will have it up and running in about 10 days, barring unforeseen interruptions, Meissner said.
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