Carlile Enterprises keeps on trucking.

• Author: Bauman, Margaret
• Position: Carlile Enterprises Inc. - 1995 New 49ers

A recent acquisition and computer technology enable this trucking company to deliver on-time service to customers.

When BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. suffered a blow-out on a North Slope oil well last fall, Carlile Enterprises Inc. was asked to get one million pounds of drilling mud from Kenai to Prodhoe Bay - pronto.

Twenty-four hours later, the drilling mud had arrived.

For Carlile's owners, it was simply a case of meeting the customer's needs, says Linda Leary, sales and marketing director for the Alaskan-owned intrastate trucking firm.

A rush order? Yes, indeed. But then Carlile, incorporated in 1980, moves about 10 million pounds of freight a week, according to Leary. "There's always something new and Harry and John are really big on taking on those challenges, Leary says.

Seward Origins

That's Harry and John McDonald, brothers raised in Seward who got into the transportation business a quarter of a century ago, handling timber, milk, bulk products and general freight.

John McDonald is now chairman of the board of Carlile, which had 1994 gross revenues of $24,313,437, up nearly 67 percent over $16,205,166 in gross revenues for 1993. Harry McDonald is president and chief executive officer of the firm.

Other owners include Leary, personnel director Karl Hornack, and Josh Stetson and Jeff Allen, who became involved with Carlile with the addition of its LTL (less than truckload) division in 1983.

Harry McDonald attributes much of the firm's growth in 1994 to the acquisition of K & W Trucking, a move which allowed Carlile to offer LTL and truckload transportation service to the Lower 48.

"Our volume will be up less than 10 percent (in 1995) over what the two of them were doing independently," he says. "(But) we have been able to do things we weren't able to do before. Now that we have the system, we are bringing in more customers."

Carlile is a major Alaskan hauler of hazardous materials and waste, with more than 600 loads of hazardous waste hauled in the five years since that service was initiated. Each shipment of waste is personally inspected by Carlile's hazardous waste coordinator for proper loading, securing and placarding. The trailers are then sealed to ensure the safety and integrity of the load.

Drivers hauling hazardous materials for Carlile must participate in an extensive training program to learn safe loading techniques, federal regulations regarding transportation of such materials, and proper emergency regulations.

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