The port commission has recommended to the borough assembly approval of an ordinance that would require owners who moor their vessels at a reserved spot in Wrangell harbors to either provide proof of marine insurance or pay a monthly surcharge on their moorage fee.
Officials have been considering since 2022 adding the new requirement to municipal code to help shield the borough from the cost of raising and disposing of boats that sink in the harbors.
“The cost of recovering sunken vessels has significantly increased, and the community can no longer afford to subsidize uninsured vessels,” Harbormaster and Port Director Steve Miller wrote in his report for the Jan. 4 port commission meeting.
“The most recent sinking (last spring) could have cost the community of Wrangell over $75,000,” Miller reported. Fortunately for the borough, the U.S. Coast Guard covered most of the expenses, he told port commissioners.
It cost $15,000 about a year ago to repair a float that was damaged when a tied-up boat sank, though the vessel owner had insurance to cover the costs, Miller said.
The proposed ordinance, which the port commission sent to the assembly on a 5-0 vote, would require boat owners to provide the harbormaster with proof of insurance to get a reserved moorage assignment or pay an additional $5 per month per linear foot of their vessel.
The surcharge revenues would go toward paying “the unrecoverable costs” of harbor repairs, removing and disposing of sunken boats, according to the ordinance.
The assembly will need to schedule a public hearing to consider the change in municipal code.
At the port commission meeting, three members of the public spoke on the ordinance, two against and one in support.
“I have some problems … with the whole concept of what you are doing,” Chris Ellis told the commissioners. The better answer is to focus on preventing sinkings, not requiring costly insurance, she said.
“We are being assessed for problems other people are causing,” Ellis said. “It doesn’t seem fair to me.”
She and her husband own an older wooden boat, which would require an expensive marine survey and be “almost impossible” to insure, she said.
Wayne Ellis suggested a better solution to the problem of sinking vessels would be to require owners install a very loud high-water alarm system in the bilge, to alert the harbormaster and others when there is a problem.
Ron Johnson testified Jan. 4 in support of the ordinance, noting that boat owners are at risk if they are tied up near an uninsured vessel. “Most harbors these days have it,” he said of mandatory insurance.
Commissioners noted that boat owners with a loan on their vessel already are required by lenders to maintain insurance.
The port commission renewed its discussion of requiring insurance almost a year ago, after a fire at a Ketchikan harbor in late 2022 put that city at risk of a lawsuit over damages to a vessel near the uninsured burning boat.
Vessels don’t sink every year, Miller said in an interview in 2022, but when they do, the harbor pays a high price. There is always “the potential that it could happen.” When uninsured boats sink, the Port and Harbors Department foots the bill for removal and cleanup unless it can recover it from the owner or another agency.
The borough budget includes $50,000 a year for expenses of removing derelict vessels at the harbors and Marine Service Center, which has been spent most every year, port commissioners were told Jan. 4.
Kodiak, Seward, Whittier and Juneau harbors all have provisions mandating that boat owners insure their vessels, and other harbor departments are considering the requirement, Miller said last year. “We’re not the only ones … fighting the battle to try to recover costs.”
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