Seward Daily Gateway

NO MARINE ACCIDENTS HERE

Fogs and snows and other kinds of thick weather carry more dangers to ocean-going vessels and are more dreaded by navigators and marine insurance companies than any other form of risk.

The standard marine insurance for vessels alone, not including cargo, on the Inside Passage to Alaska, is about 15 per cent of its value per annum. That is, on a vessel insured for $500,000, the premium paid by the owners for insurance per year amounts to $75,000.

On some parts of the Alaska run, like that along the Aleutian Peninsula, the premium for part of the year is as high as 26 per cent.

But from Seward by the Outside Passage to Seattle or San Francisco the rate is less than one-third the rate by the Inside Passage. The difference on a vessel insured for $500,000 would be $50,000 in favor of the open Port of Seward. That is an item that has to be charged to freight rates, and must be taken into account in the considerations involved in an all-year open port for a railroad terminus as was wisely taken into account in the selection of Resurrection Bay in preference to others where the insurance risk was prohibitive.

There has never been a marine accident in Resurrection Bay--a matchless record.