Charting steady courses: with no waves of growth on the horizon, Alaska's water transport competitors will focus on maintaining market share.

• Author: Richardson, Jeffrey
• Position: Industry Overview

Judging from the balance sheets, Alaska's marine transportation was virtually becalmed in 1991, waiting for the state's economic trade winds to pick up velocity. But on the water and at dockside, the major competitors were hustling just to maintain their positions in the market.

Sea-Land Service Inc. and Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE) continued their neck-and-neck rivalry at the Port of Anchorage, which receives the bulk of Alaska's general year-round waterborne commerce. "1991, as far as general cargo was concerned, was almost exactly the same as 1990," says H. Glenzer Jr., port director.

While Sea-Land and TOTE split the majority of the Southcentral market, Crowley Maritime, Alaska Cargo Transport and Canadian National's Aquatrain service also provide regular service to Anchorage and the Railbelt. Crowley managers claim their firm accounts for about 18 percent of waterborne commerce in what they call the Anchorage-Fairbanks market.

Competing in the Dutch Harbor market are Sea-Land, Samson Tug & Barge and a number of other companies. Crowley, which feeds cargo to Sea-Land in Dutch Harbor, dominates marine shipping in rural Western Alaska with its tug-and-barge and lighterage services. According to a company spokesman, Crowley controls about 80 percent of the market to the villages and regional centers of Western and Arctic Alaska, with an average of just two to three sailings a year.

In Southeast, a number of smaller firms provide regular barge service between Seattle and the Panhandle's coastal communities.

Major carriers plying the waters between Alaska and the Lower 48 had anticipated a brighter 1991, but with 20-20 hindsight, the word most often used by company spokesmen to describe the year was "flat." Although most industry analysts expect some growth in 1992, the discrepancy between last year's predictions and ultimate volumes has led most water transportation managers to conservatively project a repeat of 1991.

According to Dick Simpson, vice president of public relations for Crowley Maritime Corp., headquartered in Oakland, Calif., all carriers serving Alaska currently are operating at less than capacity. He asserts it would take a 40 percent increase in the market to use up that capacity and prompt consideration of expansion. Unless a megaproject, such as the gas pipeline or oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, gets a green light, such a jump is unlikely in the near future.

The 1991 numbers aren't all bad news. Given the poor state of the national economy, some marine transport managers are grateful just to be able to keep their ledgers in black ink, instead of red. Comfort also is drawn from the recognition that current trends reflect a stable, consistent alternative to the ledger-wrenching gyrations of Alaska's traditional boom-and-bust cycle.

Steering Plans. Furthermore, some companies are using this time to consolidate previous gains or better position themselves to take advantage of the next spurt. TOTE, for example, regained substantial momentum following a 1990 accident that put one of its Alaska ships temporarily out of commission.

Dan Ramsay, a spokesman for Sea-Land says operations last year were pretty unremarkable. Highlights of 1991 for the firm, which is based in...