Moving Freight in Alaska: commodities important to transportation industry.

• Author: Phelps, Jack E.
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

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Alaska's isolation from the rest of the country has always made logistics a problematic issue for the young state. This has not changed significantly in the early 21st century.

Many parts of Alaska are not accessible by road and continue to depend on barge and container-ship traffic to bring goods to their communities. This affects both the local people directly, as the supplier of groceries and other needed items, but is also vital to the success of construction companies doing work in remote Alaska locations. In Nome, for example, construction material for the new hospital must be barged in during the narrow window of ice-free seas between mid-June and early September, said Neeser Construction's senior project manager, George Tuckness.

"Logistics planning becomes very important on a project like this. We have to plan to keep materials on site because it can be a long wait for the next barge load," Tuckness says.

ON THE WATER

Several companies provide waterborne freight service to Alaska from the Lower 48 and between various ports-of-call within Alaska. These may be divided between those that offer or specialize in barge service and those that utilize container vessels. Lynden Transport, for example, provides both barge service through its subsidiary, Alaska Marine Lines (AML), and regular steamship service to major ports, such as Anchorage. Lynden also provides direct trucking service to Alaska via the Alaska Highway. Samson Tug and Barge, on the other hand, specializes in moving cargo by barge.

Other major shippers include Pacific Alaska Freightways, Northland Services, American Fast Freight and Horizon Lines. Horizon Lines does not operate barges, depending entirely on Washington-based container ships to move a wide variety of freight from Tacoma to Anchorage, connecting through the Port of Anchorage to the Interior by way of the Alaska Railroad and a network of trucking services. The company also services Kodiak and Dutch Harbor with container vessels, according to a company spokesman.

STEAM RIDE

Lynden's steamship service includes connections to such far-flung Alaska locations as Fairbanks, North Pole, Delta Junction, Fort Knox gold mine, Prudhoe Bay, Kenai and Railbelt destinations such as Eagle River, Palmer and Denali Park. Northland Services provides delivery in Western Alaska to major hubs like Dillingham, Naknek, Bethel and Nome, as well as more than 80 small villages, including those in the Yukon River basin. These shipments include heavy equipment, building material, groceries, dry goods and fishing supplies.

ALASKA'S COMMODITIES

According to the Alaska Office of Economic Development, bulk commodities also are an important factor in the Alaska shipping...