Alaska’s Congressional delegation announceda total of $105 million is being awarded to Alaska ports from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, or MARAD.
Sen. Dan Sullivan said he’s been pushing for a variety of federal funds, from DOT and the Department of Homeland Security, to go to Kodiak specifically.
“I brought the commandant of the Coast Guard and the Secretary of Homeland Security to Kodiak just about a month and a half ago. So, we are continuing certainly to focus on DHS and Coast Guard funding," Sullivan said. "But what the announcement was yesterday, is that was actually Department of Transportation funding.”
MARAD had nearly $500 million available for the 2026 grant cycle, $450 million of that came from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Besides Kodiak, funding also went to projects in Whittier, Nome, Anchorage, Kake, and Unalaska.
Kodiak’s St. Herman Harbor has received federal grants from MARAD before, which require the city to match a certain percentage.
The harbor replacement project received $11.25 million in federal funds two years ago that required the city to match 50%. Then earlier this year, the congressional delegation directed another $5 million to the harbor. And with this latest grant, the Kodiak project has now secured $43 million solely from federal funding.
City of Kodiak Mayor Terry Haines said in a statement the latest federal funding is, “a powerful vote of confidence in the importance of this project.” He said the city now needs the State of Alaska as a funding partner.
For transparency, Haines is also a KMXT employee. As KMXT’s morning host, he makes editorial decisions about what airs in local newscasts, but under KMXT’s policy on editorial independence, he does not edit or review news stories before they are published.
Sen. Sullivan echoed the mayor, saying state funding and more federal will likely be needed to fully fund the Kodiak project.
“But this will help build momentum for other funding sources and certainly as the mayor and I talked about today, we hope this will build momentum for state funding as well,” Sullivan said.
Phase one of the multi-phase St. Herman Harbor replacement project is set to begin next year and will replace five of the 15 main floats. Almost all are more than 40 years old according to the project’s website.
