Carlile transportation systems: celebrating 25 years in Alaska and still going strong.

• Author: Friedenauer, Margaret
• Position: Corporate 100 Company - Company Profile

Carlile Transportation Systems is an Alaska success story that went from the scrappy innovation of two brothers to one of Alaska's largest motor carriers and logistics companies throughout North America.

Founded in 1980 by brothers and Seward natives John and Harry McDonald, Carlile began with two trucks--transporting grain and fertilizer between Anchorage and farmland in Delta Junction. In 1984, the brothers gained some half dozen business partners and added nightly services to Fairbanks, and eventually served all intrastate points on the road system from Kenai to Prudhoe Bay.

"A little bit of everything really is what you have to do to survive," said Linda Leary, partner and vice president of sales and marketing.

INTERNATIONAL IN 1994

Carlile entered the interstate and international market in June 1994 when the company purchased K&W Transportation out of Federal Way, Wash.

"That opened up the whole domestic market to use," Leary said. Leary calls Carlile "entrepreneurial" in its efforts to keep pace with technological advances. Most of its programs and systems are designed in-house. Leary said the company also launched Qualcomm System in the last year, a satellite cargo-tracking system that offers more efficiency for the company and safety for its drivers, primarily between Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay.

"There was not a successful tracking system in Alaska for the trucking (industry) because of the curvature of the Earth," Leary said.

The company also has developed a computer system for billing and tracking orders as well as reporting tools for customers. Carlile has been hardy in the marketplace, steadily increasing its revenue in a growing market. Leary said the company's revenue approximately doubled overnight with the purchase of K&W Transportation. She estimates revenues went from the mid-$30 million mark to about $78 million worldwide in 2003; $64 million of that was Alaska revenue.

A TALL ORDER

In order to keep pace with those numbers, Carlile continues to expand its markets and enhance its current ones. Leary said the Prudhoe Bay market is a staple for the company, one that has helped them develop into the state's largest heavy-hauling company.

"In Alaska, that means hauling anything that is high, wide and heavy," Leary said.

With a fleet of 170 trucks, the company must be innovative and creative in order to keep up with client needs. She said Carlile can truck up to about 200,000 pounds at one time, essentially the most the road...