December 2016 | Business View Magazine

74 75 a port call in Nome on its way to New York City through the Northwest Passage – the largest cruise ship ever to ply that route.“Our activity is building; our traffic numbers are up; our budgets are double what they used to be,” says Port Direc- tor, Joy Baker.“I managed the Port by myself for almost fifteen years, and now there’s a staff of five, with frequent support from our Public Works crew for handling large ships, fuel transfers, increased port security, and port services.” The Port’s physical structure has been rede- veloped several times over the years, with a major project having been completed in 2006 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Today, the Port is awaiting news on yet another Corps project which, if implemented, will expand to become a deep-draft port with an existing outer harbor that is dredged to 28 feet from its current 22.5. The plan also calls for demol- ishing a small breakwater at the end of the existing causeway and extending the causeway 2,150 feet. A 450 to 650-foot large vessel dock would then be constructed at the end of the causeway in the newly protected basin to be Port of Nome Supplies quality marine fueling ser vices at the Por t of Nome - Gateway to the Arctic and Bering Strait. Bonanza Fuel WWW.SNC.ORG THe pOrt OF NOme dredged to 35 feet. The large eastern breakwater would remain in place and the extended causeway would wrap around the end of it to expand the harbor. “We’d be able to accommodate not only the existing fleet that make port calls in Nome,” says Baker, “but we’d also be able to accommodate national secu- rity cutters, the existing icebreaker and future models, as well as the foreign-flagged vessels, most of which are too deep to dock, like large cruise ships, oil tankers, research vessels and offshore supply platforms/deck barges.” Unfortunately, as is often the case in major projects such AT A GLANCE The Port of Nome, Alaska WHAT: A maritime port WHERE: Norton Sound on the west coast of Alaska WEBSITE: www.nome alaska.org/department/ index.php?structure- id=15