Thursday, October 1, 2026
Swantown Marina & Boatworks posted across-the-board losses in the first half of 2025, largely because of higher maintenance and administrative costs.
Swantown's financial report for the six-month period was presented to the Port of Olympia Commission at a meeting on Monday, July 28.
The report by Harbor Senior Manager Damien Egan delved into the performance of Swantown’s three departments, ongoing challenges and considerations for future rate increases.
Swantown is compised of the Marina, Boatworks and Fuel Facility.
Egan said while income is steadily increasing, that was offset by higher maintenance and administrative costs. Factoring in depreciation costs, or the cost of capital assets spread over time, Swantown’s loss was even greater.
Swantown’s three departments reported the following net losses after depreciation costs:
A key indicator of Swantown’s financial performance is the marina’s occupancy rate, which for the first half of the year reflected historical trends, according to Egan. The occupancy rate started at 30% in January and ended at 60% in June.
Boatworks, the name for Swantown’s boatyard, also reflected historical trends. Egan noted the boatyard is impacted by derelict vessels, which are taking up half of its space.
Staff have already been working to haul the boats away through a contractor and will be reimbursed for the associated costs by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
As for the fueling business, Egan said gasoline sales were up, but diesel sales decreased due to the loss of two large commercial customers.
Sales were also affected in the first quarter when weekend gas sales were unavailable because of staffing issues.
Commissioner Bob Iyall said income from the Fueling Facility does not match figures given when it was pitched to the commission in 2017.
He expressed concern that the payback period for the investment the commission made would be longer than the alife expectancy of the facility.
“We're going to have to continue depreciating that for up to 2040,” Iyall said. “Until that comes off, we’re not going to make headway on at least even recovering our investment. Our payback period is much longer than the life expectancy of the fuel dock."
Iyall emphasized that he wasn’t complaining to Egan, who wasn’t the manager of Swantown at that time, but said he needed to point it out.
“The commission made a good decision based on the information they had. Some factors have come along since that time and things changed tremendously,” Iyall added.
Egan said the fuel facility serves more as a public amenity rather than a revenue generating source at this point. He added the port is limited in what it can do at the fueling site due to environmental factors.
Egan also discussed Swantown’s rates and shared his thoughts on how he could increase rates in order to better support capital projects.
He explained the rates do not currently account for the costs of infrastructure projects and asset replacements, which he said he would like to investigate.
Commissions Amy Evans Harding expressed concern about whether tenants would be able to continue paying the rates, especially since the port will need to finance various improvements for Swantown.
Egan said he hoped so since the marina’s rates are still 25% lower than rates in the Pierce County market. He added the port has 10 years to address the issue, which represents the number of years remaining before the docks have to be replaced.
“That's kind of the consideration that I have at the moment — it’s trying to figure out how we toe that line with being mindful of what we need to replace and what we can fix to make sure that we stay available and open,” Egan said.
He added the rates have been increasing over the past three years by 10% in 2023, 5.4% in 2024 and 5% in 2025.
A full copy of the Port of Olympia’s financial report for the first half of 2025 is available here.
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KarenM
"Egan said the fuel facility serves more as a public amenity rather than a revenue generating source at this point."
It might be okay for the Port to provide some public amenities - but a fuel dock?
What part of the public is that serving?
I would like to see the private sector handle the provision of fueling for those who can afford a boat that uses fuel.
Of course things have changed since this was pitched to the Port Commission. I would have expected the Commissioners to realize that this was not going to 'pay off' as an investment. Now they are stuck with something that will never 'pay for itself' and the losses could get worse.
Friday, August 1, 2025 Report this
PCBigLife
I suggest that the board did not make a good decision about building the fuel dock. The fuel dock was always going to lose money. I remember looking at the analysis and projections and thinking they were overly optimistic to the point of being bogus. The fuel dock follows other flawed decisions like purchasing the two big cranes; The port has the ability to speculate with public money because they have the ability to raise taxes to cover for their mistakes.
Saturday, August 2, 2025 Report this
swvoltz
Without the fuel docks, the occupancy rates at all the Olympia marinas will drop. Who wants to keep a boat at a south sound marina when they have to schlep jugs of gas or diesel from land to boat slip. The fuel dock is a necessary part of the equation. Let's raise the price of fuel at the dock to cover the expenses.
Saturday, August 2, 2025 Report this
Boatyarddog
The public saw this issue coming when the Fuel docks were conceived, it was Joe Downing that pushed for that mistake to be built. The Fuel docks take away from Boston Harbors Fuel Docks, Zittles Marina on Johnson Point. The Swantown Fuel docks should never have been built, interfere will local business, and cost the Public much more than it WILL EVER bring in. We have EX director Sam Gibboney to blame for this. As far as derelict Vessels in the boatyard.. how about Parthia and SandMan, just clogging up the usable space. SANDMAN was up for auction with Zero bids. It's history, but losing it's appeal as a Tourist attraction. CRUSH IT! LOOKS like Parthia may never be placed.
Saturday, August 2, 2025 Report this
Porter
Sell the whole shebang.
Sunday, August 3, 2025 Report this
BobJacobs
Year after year this operation loses money while private marinas turn a profit. And it will get worse when the docks need to be replaced and more dredging is needed. Taxpayers pay for these losses, subsidizing boat owners who do not deserve subsidies. Like every operating unit of the Port of Olympia. Take from the poor and give to the rich. Why do we continue to do this?
Bob Jacobs
Monday, August 4, 2025 Report this