Alaska Village Electric Co-operative, inc.

999 TUDOR RD., ANCHORAGE, ALASKA 99502 TELEPHONE 279-3548

December 2, 1970

Mr. George C. Silides, P. E.

George C. Silides, Engineering Associates

P. O. Box 746

Fairbanks, Alaska 99701

Dear George:

This is in reply to your letter dated November 9th concerning the future dock facility at St. Michael.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

AVEC's use of the dock facility would be;

a.

b.

C.

Indirect use as far as the barge company being able to
handle equipment going into the Lower Yukon;

Limited to the annual receipt of 8 drums of lube oil and
30,000 gallons of fuel oil for the St. Michael plant; and
Replacement of diesel engine generators every 5 years.

At present, AVEC has no special requirements as far as type of
dock facility. Our fuel for the power plant is delivered by barge
and pumped from the beach Via a 3" fill line.

A dock facility at St. Michael should help to lower the freight and fuel cost in the area.

The people of the Lower Yukon would be able to have larger items shipped into their villages at lower cost (freezers, washers and dryers, etc.).

St. Michael would benefit by having more jobs for its residents and lower fuel costs. Black Navigation would benefit in being able to handle the freight in a much more efficient manner.

Sincerely,

Вав

Robert L. Ditton
Chief Engineer

RLD:wlb

1. What use, if any, would B.I.A. make of a dock facility?

If a dock facility was built at St. Michael large enough to accommodate the NORTH STAR III, BIA would use the same. The NORTH STAR III draws 25 to 30 feet of water and would require a dock at least 500 feet long and built strong enough to hold a ship capable of transporting 10,000 tons of cargo. Being very familiar with the shallow water in the St. Michael area and also the ice conditions which prevail, I doubt whether the amount of freight to be offered by all carriers would justify such an expenditure.

2. If B.I.A. would make use of a dock facility, what type would best suit its needs?

Naturally the best type would be a permanent dock extending out
into the water far enough to accommodate a ship of the size
indicated above. We believe this would be quite impossible since
ice conditions in the Bering Sea and the shallow water would, in
my opinion, make the same impracticable. A floating dock of a
non-permanent type might serve the purpose; however, I doubt whether
the same would do much to lower the shipping costs for freight
destined for up-river stations.

3. How would B.I.A. benefit from a dock facility?

Hopefully, with such a facility the time required to discharge could be shortened and the rehandling of freight might be somewhat eliminated. It would seem the cost of shipping freight upriver should be lowered.

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4. How would the Lower Yukon benefit?

There might be some increased labor involved, but once the dock was constructed, I think the labor involved would be less than now used through the operation of tug and barge.

5. How would St. Michael benefit?

Over a period of considerable time St. Michael might benefit through increased labor and possibly lower cost of merchandise. Sincerely yours,

V.R. Farrell

Administrative Officer

& Special Representative

Thank you for your letter of November 16 relating to contemplated dock facilities at St. Michael.

We are not in a position to discuss the practices employed at St.
Michael as they relate to cargo other than that which is shipped
on the NORTH STAR III. As far as our cargo so shipped is con-
cerned, we were not aware that large pieces were deposited on the
ground in the vicinity of the St. Michael Shipyard for eventual
routing. Our freight is block-stowed on the NORTH STAR III and
is offloaded on barges at St. Michael in a similar manner.
As a
rule, this freight is not offloaded at St. Michael except such
cargo as is destined for the village of St. Michael. The barges
deliver other village freight for us such as the freight for
Mt. Village, directly from the ship to the barge to Mt. Village
with no offloading at St. Michael. As far as we are concerned,
we are quite satisfied with the way our freight is handled at
St. Michael. We do not think that the construction of barge
docking facilities at St. Michael would eliminate any of the
already existing problems or that it would decrease the final
laid down cost of the merchandise at St. Michael or any of the
other villages located on the Lower Yukon.

UNDERLINING BY SILIDES

Sincerely yours,

V. R. Farrell.

Administrative Officer

& Special Representative

Thank you very much for your letter requesting our comments
pertaining to a possible construction of a St. Michael, Alaska
docking facility.

We would like to answer your questions in the same order as you
directed them to us.

4 and 5. Both St. Michael and the Northern Commercial Co.
would welcome a more advanced type docking facility
which would keep the handling cost to a minimum.

We certainly hope that these answers are to your satisfaction
and we would be very happy to elaborate further if you so desire.

Very truly yours,

Mikmach

Carl H. Henrich
Traffic Manager