American Cruise Lines has taken a $4 million deal for Letnikof Cove docking rights off the table less than a week after making the offer.
The company’s offer in Haines was to pay $4 million of a planned $9 million project to repair Letnikof Dock floats, which broke in Nov. 2024. In exchange, American Cruise Lines asked for 20 years of guaranteed dock space at the facility, with two options to extend for another ten years each.
The company’s first official approach to the borough was a letter dated Sept. 2, 2025, offering $2 million. Borough manager Alekka Fullerton said last month she responded by saying the offered payment wouldn’t be enough. Then, last week, American Cruise Lines sent a letter dated Jan. 12 doubling their offer to $4 million. That would have funded much of the $4.5 million the borough needs in matching funds to apply for a state harbor-funding grant.
But now, just four days later, the company has reversed course. Borough Manager Alekka Fullerton confirmed on Friday afternoon that the company had withdrawn the $4 million offer, and said she believed they were no longer interested in a Letnikof deal.
Fullerton said the company may have been concerned about community opposition to their offer.
The back and forth in Haines has happened nearly simultaneously with final approval of a similar deal in Wrangell.
The Wrangell assembly last Wednesday approved a contract in which the cruise line agreed to pay for construction of a new dock on the Wrangell waterfront, a project estimated by Wrangell manager Mason Villarma at roughly $2.5 million. After building the dock, the cruise line will pay annual rent starting at $50,000, slowly increasing over time. In return, it will have reserved space at the dock for its ships during the summer tourist season.
It’s not clear if, and how, approval in Wrangell affected the company’s dealings in Haines, given that the company offered the larger sum to Haines after receiving the go-ahead from the Wrangell assembly.
The company has not yet responded to request for comment. But at that Jan. 7 Wrangell assembly meeting, American Cruise Lines CEO Charles Robertson said the company hopes to replicate in Alaska its operations on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, where it has added 5 ships in the past decade and funded construction of 6 docks.
Robertson said the company plans to introduce a third ship to its Alaska fleet in 2028, and then “roughly one ship per year” after that.
“We hope (the Wrangell deal) serves as a model in other communities around Alaska, too,” Robertson told the Wrangell assembly before the final approval. “We want to operate these ships out of Juneau and Ketchikan currently, and hopefully one day out of Wrangell,”
The potential deal in Haines ran into vocal opposition almost immediately after it was introduced. Community members raised concerns about the impacts of opening Chilkat Inlet to cruise ships, including interference with both subsistence and commercial fishing and fishing gear. Community members also warned of increased traffic and crowding around Letnikof and Mud Bay Road resulting from cruise ships.