Beyond the Road: Marine shipping takes Alaska goods global.

• Author: Kvapil, Rachael

Far from everywhere yet halfway to anywhere, Alaska occupies a central position for international shipping. Overseas customers crave the state's exports of seafood, metals, and crude oil, yet that represents a sliver of Alaska's trade potential.

According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Alaska exported $4.8 billion of Made-In-America Goods in 2018, making it the 40th largest state for exports that year. Although outranked by landlocked Colorado and Oklahoma, Alaska's access to the ocean gives it other avenues for shipping business. Among the international shipping companies are those with direct routes--where only one vessel carries goods-and those shipping through indirect routes that require offloading onto additional vessels, also referred to as transshipping.

Jake Maenpa, Vice President of Sales for Alaska Marine Lines (AML), says that Alaska is strategically located as a key transshipment hub for businesses targeting Asian, European, and North American markets. AML moves containers full of Alaska seafood on barges from fisheries in Bristol Bay, Prince William Sound, Dutch Harbor, Southeast Alaska, and other coastal locations. Much of this seafood goes first to Seattle, Anchorage, or Dutch Harbor by barge, where it is transferred to additional ships that carry it to its final destination. Freight is also moved to trucks or planes by a process known as transloading.

AML and its parent company Lynden have multimodal transportation infrastructure, which plays a vital role in connecting exporters with the rest of the world. This is especially true in Alaska, where resources are primarily located in remote locations. Maenpa says companies often face the challenge of getting their products from point of origin to international gateway ports for distribution around the world.

"Relative to Alaska's size, the road system is a tiny fraction of any other state," says Maenpa. "Lynden's business development has been driven by our customer's needs to get beyond the road to reach their customers. By leveraging hubs and our multimodal capabilities, we can connect Alaska's people and businesses seamlessly to each other and the world."

AML's barge services between Seattle and Alaska include weekly shipments to Southeast and Southcentral Alaska. with seasonal shipments to Western and Arctic Alaska. In total, the company services nearly 100 towns and villages in Alaska. In conjunction with the other Lynden companies, AML provides...