Longshoremen and their families packed City Hall to hear about plans for finding a new preferred shipper at the city dock. (Annie Ropeik/KUCB)

Unalaska’s dock workers usually spend their Friday mornings pulling mail and groceries from a weekly Horizon Lines container ship.

But that offload went on hold for a few hours this week, as longshoremen and their families packed into a special city council meeting. They were there to weigh in as the city looks for a new preferred shipping company for the Unalaska Marine Center dock.

Doug Leggett is the president of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union in Unalaska. He was one of about 150 people who came out to City Hall Friday morning.

"We wanted to demonstrate who we are in the community," Leggett said in an interview. "So we brought as many kids as we could out of the schools and that sort of thing to show that whatever happens, it affects a lot of people, so we need to be careful and considerate of all the consequences."

The council was considering a draft request for proposals for a new, long-term preferred use agreement at the dock Horizon has occupied for 25 years and serviced using union labor. But councilors didn’t vote on the request as planned, saying they wanted more time for public input and revisions.

The union workers in the room were worried they could lose their jobs if the city went with a company other than Horizon. Ports director Peggy McLaughlin said that’s not the city’s intent.

"We can take a very serious look at that and make sure we’re grading on their intent to use local labor, or their history of using local labor and local assets," she said.

But the audience, and councilors, still wanted to know why the city didn’t focus on keeping Horizon Lines as their primary shipper.

McLaughlin says negotiations with the company broke down after their original contract expired in Dec. 2013. To restart those talks, she says Horizon will have to bid on the dock contract publicly like any other company.

Horizon terminal manager Jenn Tungul drew applause for her brief comment at the meeting. She said Horizon wants to keep using the facility at the rates they’ve been paying for the past year -- and they would be open to putting them into a contract:

"Horizon is only looking for tariff, and a five-year [preferred use agreement] to bring our ship to the dock, to bring you your groceries and your mail and services for our shipping company partners. Nothing more," Tungul said. "We have facilities down there. We are the anchor tenant. We’ve been there for as long as I can remember. ... We have no interest in going anywhere, and Horizon lines will be here for as long as we’re able to be here."

Horizon has been paying more since their original long-term agreement ended. Before, the company was getting discounts for frequent, repeated use of the dock space.

Whatever the arrangement, McLaughlin says the city needs to know exactly who wants to use the dock, and what kind of upgrades they might need. That information will be used to design and finance a $44 million-dollar renovation and expansion of the facility. 

"We cannot in good conscience put forward any more money on a design without recognizing the needs of the shipping piece of it," she said.

Councilor Tom Enlow wanted to be very clear in asking for the same type of service that Horizon provides now. Enlow, who’s also the president of UniSea, said any change to schedule or logistics would have a ripple effect.

"Our entire business model within the processing sector on the island is built around weekly linehaul service," he said. "The retail and service sector of our community is dependent upon that."

McLaughlin said they’d clarify those requirements in the next version of the bid request, and add separate specifics about domestic and international shipping. Right now, Horizon covers both for different companies.

"I want to make this very clear -- our intention here is for a container shipping company," McLaughlin said. "We’ve had multiple requests [for information on bidding] -- all of them, by the way, have been signatory to the ILWU. So I think this is a process that will fall naturally into the operations that already exist today, but it is a long-term agreement, and it requires public process."

Councilors asked for more details on who’s shown an interest in bidding, and on the city’s past negotiations with Horizon. They’ll factor those in when they discuss a new version of the bid request at a future meeting. McLaughlin isn’t sure yet when that will be.