Monday’s Port and Harbor Advisory Board meeting in Fisherman’s Hall included an update by Harbormaster Marty Owen on the boatlift facility at St. Herman Harbor. He said boats may be serviced as early as September.

“There’s a lot of progress being made now that spring is here,” Owen said. “The ground has thawed out and all the equipment is operational.”

Owen said assembly of the lift — designed by Marine Travelift of Sturgeon Bay, Wis. — begins around May 19. Half of the machinery is already on-island; the other half is on its way. The lift is scheduled for completion by mid-June.

A representative from Marine Travelift is coming to Kodiak to supervise construction of the facility, of which there are nine others like it worldwide. Kodiak will house the 10th model.

The lifting piers are scheduled for construction completion in early August, with other aspects like sewer lines, plumbing for the wash-down pad and underground utilities not done until September. Owen said, however, that construction schedules are tentative and susceptible to changes.

Owen also elaborated to the board his trip to Sturgeon Bay in March. He vouched for the integrity of the “impressive machine” and Marine Travelift.

“I went through the entire factory. It’s just a really ship-shape place,” Owen said. “Above every door in the entire factory is a big sign that says, ‘The next inspector is the customer.’ They really take that philosophy to heart. I was very impressed with their whole operation.”

Jim Bronstien, president of Florida-based Marine Business Advisors, has been hired as a consultant on the project. Owen said Bronstien is experienced helping other firms and municipalities with similar types of projects.

Still in the planning stages are other aspects of the project like marketing, yard security, staffing and user fees.

Owen clarified that he will not be applying for federal stimulus package money for the project because he and former Kodiak City Manager Linda Freed thought there was little chance the project would qualify, given stiff nationwide competition for the funds.

“If they had a few billion dollars to throw at the maritime industry, it would have been a different story,” Owen said.

Owen in his update also said federal money appropriated for dredging St. Paul and St. Herman harbors has been lost for the time being. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would have completed the work.

“It’s not particularly a showstopper, but it is a little bit shallow and it’s getting shallow as we continue to rebound, particularly in St. Paul Harbor,” Owen said. “We just need to keep the cause alive. In our last trip back to (Washington, D.C.), the issue was brought up again, and our lobbyist is aware of it.”

Owen also said revenue was lost during the arrival of the second cruise ship of the season, the 820-foot Crystal Serenity of Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises. The Crystal Serenity was unable to dock at Pier 2 because the Alaska Marine Highway System’s M/V Kennicott was already there.

“The cruise ship anchored offshore, out by Puffin Island. That all went fairly well. We had pretty good weather, so they were able to transfer passengers back and forth from the ship … (but) we gave up a lot of revenue to do that,” Owen said.

“We gave up in the neighborhood of $15,000 in dockage fees, plus whatever Horizon Lines might have gotten for their services. So it’s easily a $25,000 bill for the city (that was lost) … I like to get cruise ships to dock. As long as they’re going to come here, we might as well try to get our fair share of payback of what it costs to own and operate that dock.”

Owen said next year’s cruise ship schedule is in the works. A proposal has been submitted for more than 25 ships coming in 2010, but Owen said nothing is set in stone as he told a story of a quest one man’s search for cheaper options.

“Although as the economy continues to slide, (the schedule) may change. Right now, a friend of mine was looking at the cost of taking the ferry to Bellingham. If you go to Whittier, you can take a cruise ship, get a room and board all the way to Vancouver for considerably less than you can take the Marine Highway System from Whittier to the south. So they’re seriously offering some discount rates. Whether they come through with the 25 ships next year or not, is anybody’s guess.”

Mirror writer Bradley Zint can be reached via e-mail at bzint@kodiakdailymirror.com.