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Port staff previews Pier 27 management deal and proposes raising passenger fee to $18
Summary
Port staff presented an informational briefing on a draft management agreement with Pacific Cruise Ship Terminals (Metro) for Pier 27 and Pier 35, proposing to raise the passenger fee from $12 to $18 and outlining event and parking revenue-sharing mechanisms to offset higher operating costs at a modern terminal.
At an informational presentation on May 13, port staff outlined a proposed management agreement with Pacific Cruise Ship Terminals (Metro) to operate a new primary cruise terminal at Pier 27 and maintain Pier 35 as backup.
Planning and development staff and finance staff described operational features of Pier 27 — shore power, a mobile gangway and HVAC — and said the facility’s modern systems will raise operating costs. To offset those costs the draft agreement would increase the per-passenger fee from $12 to $18 and require Metro to pay an annual $180,000 terminal fee (CPI-adjusted). Staff described multiple revenue streams in a proposed financial model: the passenger fee, a Metro-paid terminal fee, split event revenues and a share of parking revenue from the ground-transportation area (GTA).
Staff emphasized that some revenues depend on a permit amendment from the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) to allow GTA parking; if BCDC restricts GTA parking, staff warned, projected port income could be reduced and would affect the project’s breakeven scenario. The staff presentation included a base-case projection using 82 cruise calls per year and showed sensitivity to both higher and lower call volumes.
Commissioners and Metro and union representatives asked questions about event pricing, frequency of review of event rates and the timeline for transitioning operations from Pier 35 to Pier 27. Metro representatives said event rates would be set collaboratively with port staff and that the agreement would include percentage splits: staff proposed 50% of gross event revenue to the port and specified shares of parking revenue; staff also described incentives in the draft agreement intended to encourage Metro to attract more cruise calls.
Staff said the port would present the management agreement for consideration as soon as May 27. The commission treated the presentation as informational; no vote was taken at this meeting.
