PORT TOWNSEND — Sinking revenues in the Port of Port Townsend boat yard have led port commissioners to seriously consider a two-for-one offer to attract more business.
The port commissioners on Monday discussed offering a second week for free in the boat yard to those working on their boats for two weeks. After two weeks, the port would charge again.
“The objective is to fill the yard more,” Commissioner John Collins said.
Port work and shipyard activity has decreased dramatically since 2006, said Don Taylor, port finance director.
“2006 was our best year,” Taylor said. “It’s about a 40 percent decrease from the high point.
“We’ve been slipping every year now for three years.”
“Lay day” revenues, meaning the daily charges for boats sitting in the work yard, totaled $184,000 at the end of April 2007, he said.
This year, it’s at $158,000 at the end of April.
New ideas
“We’ve been discussing different ways to bring revenue into the port due to the [empty] space and the down economy,” Commissioner Herb Beck said.
The two-for-one offer would be a first, Beck said.
Beck, the longest-standing port commissioner in the state at more than 30 years, recalled the port commissioners discounting rates across the board in the late 1970s when the first gas crisis caused a major downturn in the economy.
“It’s just for a short period of time,” Beck said. “It’s like a sales item that you have on your shelf.
“We’re trying our best to bring people in.”
Beck said he has found that boat owners are coming in, doing their work in three days and leaving.
In the past, boat owners have stayed longer and spent their money in Port Townsend on lodging and food.
Port numbers show that April ended with shipyard occupancy at 50 percent while the boat yard was running at 62 percent occupancy.
The ship yard is used by vessels hauled out by the 300-ton lift.
On the high end, the shipyard was at 88 percent occupancy for two days in April.
The boat yard was at 72 percent occupancy for two days in April.
Les Schnick, Port Townsend Marine Trades Association chairman, called the two-for-one proposal “a win-win for everybody,” but he wanted to see how marine trades operators would respond to the idea.
________
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
