KODIAK, Alaska — The U.S. Coast Guard has hired Perini Management Services, a subsidiary of Tutor Perini Corp., to build a new fuel pier and cutter berths at Coast Guard Base Kodiak. The contract is worth about $315 million.
The Coast Guard awarded the contract on Sept. 11, according to gCaptain, and Tutor Perini announced it in early October. Design work began in late September, and the company expects substantial completion in September 2030.
What's being built
The project replaces the base's fuel pier with a new one that can take fuel deliveries by tank barge, the standard way fuel reaches the region. The new waterfront will also have room to berth up to two major Coast Guard cutters at once.
The contract covers:
- A new fuel pier and expanded dock with up to two major cutter berths
- Removal of unexploded ordnance from the work area
- Waterfront grading and ground stabilization
- A new fueling utility building
- Shore connections for docked cutters, plus water, sewer and IT utilities
- Safety equipment and site improvements
An environmental assessment for the project calls for demolishing the existing fuel pier.
The job uses an accelerated design-build-to-budget approach, in which the contractor designs and builds the project within a set budget. The Coast Guard did not say how many firms bid.
Why Kodiak
Kodiak is being built up as the Coast Guard's main base for operations in the Arctic. In June, the service said it will homeport its first two Arctic Security Cutters, a new class of icebreaking ship, at Kodiak, with the first expected in 2028. A third is planned for Seward once supporting facilities are ready.
The base already hosts three fast response cutters, the most recent of which, the Frederick Mann, was commissioned in Kodiak in February. Sen. Dan Sullivan said at the time that the Coast Guard also expects two more offshore patrol cutters in Kodiak.
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday called the contract a major investment in the infrastructure that supports Coast Guard crews and families in Alaska. He tied the waterfront upgrade to securing the northern border and the Arctic approaches.
The Coast Guard's icebreaker fleet is stretched. Its medium icebreaker Healy has been sidelined in Seattle since an engineering problem in July, forcing the cancellation of its 2026 high-latitude summer mission, gCaptain reported.
How it's funded
The waterfront project draws on three sources: the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, fiscal 2023 Coast Guard major acquisition infrastructure money, and fiscal 2025 budget reconciliation funding.
That reconciliation bill included $4.4 billion to rebuild Coast Guard shore facilities, according to The Maritime Executive, including $300 million set aside for a new icebreaker homeport in Alaska. The shore facilities money expires in late 2029.
The rest of the Kodiak buildout
The fuel pier is not Tutor Perini's only job at the base. In May, the company won two task orders totaling $143.4 million for 30 family housing units and a child development center at Base Kodiak, to support a growing number of Coast Guard personnel and their families.
Kodiak's air side is growing too. Sullivan's office has said the base's MH-60 helicopter fleet is set to grow from five to nine aircraft, with money set aside to repurpose a hangar for them.
Timeline
Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
Feb. 13, 2026 | Fast response cutter Frederick Mann commissioned in Kodiak |
May 2026 | Tutor Perini wins $143.4M for base housing and child care center |
June 2026 | Coast Guard picks Kodiak to homeport first two Arctic Security Cutters |
Sept. 11, 2026 | $315M fuel pier contract awarded |
Late Sept. 2026 | Design begins |
2028 | First Arctic Security Cutter expected |
September 2030 | Expected substantial completion of the pier |
Building in Kodiak
Kodiak is not an easy place to build. The island is reached by sea and air, and fuel arrives by tank barge, which is part of why the new pier matters. This site also has unexploded ordnance that must be cleared before the new pier can be built.
For contractors and suppliers, the base is shaping up as a steady source of federal work through the end of the decade, with marine construction, utilities, housing and child care facilities all underway or planned. Tutor Perini has not announced subcontracting plans for the pier.