Cruise port operator seeks to hide backers of Haines dock project

Colin Murphy, of Global Ports Holding, in the Haines Borough Assembly Chambers, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Will Steinfeld/Chilkat Valley News)

By Will Steinfeld

Chilkat Valley News

Global Ports Holding last week asked the borough to redact information revealing which cruise lines support its dock management proposal.

Four letters of support from cruise lines were included in the company’s response to the borough’s public solicitation for offers to manage its cruise facility. The letters were from Norwegian Cruise Line, Virgin Voyages, Silversea Cruises and National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions.

Borough staff said the company notified them Friday morning, about 12 hours after the materials were posted to the public, that the information was “confidential financial information.” Staff then removed the letters from publicly posted assembly documents and redacted the list of cruise lines supporting Global Ports’ proposal. The letters are available at chilkatvalleynews.com. 

The letters of support for the dock’s other bidder, Port Chilkoot Development Corporation, PCDC, a partnership between Survey Point Holdings and Huna Totem Corporation, remain public.

The networks of support behind each bidder show some of their differences, but also overlapping endorsements.

That includes National Geographic-Lindblad, which has written letters supporting both competing proposals. In one letter, National Geographic-Lindblad executive Jenelle Findley writes that the company believes “[Global Ports] brings not only professional port management and operational capabilities, but also a willingness to listen, collaborate and develop experiences appropriate to the destination and to the guests of individual cruise operators.”

“We are therefore pleased to support [Global Ports] as the Haines Borough considers its options for the future management of its cruise facilities,” Findley wrote.

But in PCDC’s proposal, a different Lindblad executive, Craig Moylan, writes that the company “support[s] Survey Point Holdings Inc. and Huna Totem Corporation in leading [Port Chilkoot] development plans.”

Spokespeople for National Geographic-Lindblad did not respond to questions about the company’s endorsements.

Royal Caribbean is also endorsing both sides. A letter from a Royal Caribbean Group executive, on Royal Caribbean letterhead, endorses PCDC “to lead these development plans” at the cruise ship dock. At the bottom of the letter are the logos of the group’s brands, including Silversea Cruises, which is fully owned by Royal Caribbean.

In a separate letter, attached to the other proposal, Silversea endorses PCDC’s competitor, Global Ports, to manage the dock.

Aside from Lindblad’s and Royal Caribbean’s double endorsements, the support for each side paints a picture of regional companies competing against an outsider.

Huna Totem and Survey Point are both established players in the Alaska cruise industry, and many of their endorsers and references are regional figures.

The two companies list as references Juneau city manager Katie Koester, Ketchikan mayor Bob Sivertsen, Hoonah city administrator Dennis Gray, and Doyon Limited chief financial officer Patrick Duke.

In contrast, Global Ports’ letters of support and references come almost entirely from port authorities and governments that work with the company elsewhere in the world. 

On the cruise line side, Global Ports’ letters of support include one from Virgin Voyages, a newcomer to the Alaska market that sailed its first Alaska season this summer.

Its other major cruise line endorser, Norwegian Cruise Line, is a relative newcomer as well. Norwegian began regular Alaska sailings in 2000, after larger companies like Carnival and Royal Caribbean were already established in the region.

PCDC partner Survey Point, whose subsidiary Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska schedules most of the cruise ship stops in the state, gives berthing priority to these longer-running companies under a system called “historic priority scheduling.”

Global Ports has indicated it would not use this system, writing in its proposal that it is “not affiliated with any individual cruise line” and “would apply an open-access policy, seeking to ensure that all eligible cruise lines and vessel operators are treated fairly and transparently, without preferential treatment.”

In Norwegian’s letter supporting Global Ports, the company argues that the port would be best operated “by an independent operator, which we believe best promotes a fair and competitive environment for all cruise lines serving the destination.”

Norwegian Cruise Line has partnered with Huna Totem to finance dock infrastructure in Juneau and near Hoonah.

Norwegian Cruise Line did not respond to a request for comment.

• This article originally appeared in the Chilkat Valley News.