Container shipping: Alaska's consumer lifeline.

• Author: Sommer, Susan
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

One glance around a typical Alaska office or home reveals a startling fact: Nearly everything arrived from somewhere else by container ship. Every computer, desk, table, refrigerator; every automobile, spare tire, snow shovel, set of skis; every banana, box of cereal; even every nail and piece of duct tape holding things together.

Most of the state's goods arrive via the Port of Anchorage, which "provides an estimated 90 percent of the merchandise goods used throughout 85 percent of Alaska's populated areas," according to Steve Ribuffo, deputy director of Alaska's largest port.

PORT OF ANCHORAGE IS STATE'S LIFELINE

Only two companies, Horizon Lines Inc. and Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc. (TOTE), ship containerized goods to Alaska via the Port of Anchorage. Horizon Lines was formerly SeaLand, and started using the port just after the 1964 earthquake. TOTE has had a partnership with the port since 1975. Both companies subcontract to freight forwarders, such as Lynden, Span Alaska and Carlile, among others, to transport those goods to their final destinations along Alaska's road system. The Alaska Railroad Corp. is also a major player in hauling containerized shipments from the state's ports to Railbelt communities. A much smaller percentage of goods are hauled to rural Alaska by air and barge.

According to a 2011 Port of Anchorage cargo distribution study, almost all of the container goods that make up the day-to-day items that Alaskans use travel in shipments from the Port of Tacoma and are brought to the Port of Anchorage (POA). Many of Alaska's consumer goods originate in Asia before transiting Tacoma's port. These shipments represent a "critical lifeline for Alaska" and amount to nearly 30 percent of Tacoma's total cargo activity. The total annual value of these goods is estimated to be well over 1 billion. The Port of Tacoma lists Alaska as its third largest two-way trading partner of 2010, topped only by China/Hong Kong and Japan.

Containers are part of a larger network of goods arriving via the Port of Anchorage, which also transfers vehicles, military deployments, cement shipments and petroleum products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, heating oil, etc. More than 4 million tons of cargo move each year through the port, which is self-sustaining through tariffs and fees rather than tax dollars.

Nearly all of the consumer goods and business supplies for Fairbanks, Mat-Su and the Kenai Peninsula first enter through...