Golden Heart Hub: Span Alaska's new Fairbanks Service Center.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa

For more than forty-five years, Span Alaska, an LCL/LTL (less than container/truck load) to full load container and flatbed logistics company, has been serving the Alaska market. In addition to its corporate office in Auburn, Washington, the company has service centers in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Wasilla, Soldotna, and Kodiak.

In 2019, the company made a roughly $30 million investment to expand its Anchorage Service Center, and in spring of 2022, Span Alaska initiated work on a new, state-of-the-art facility in Fairbanks that will replace its current service center.

"Over the past few years, we have made an incredible investment in the state of Alaska, putting money into our infrastructure, facilities, and our people," says Joan Johnson, Fairbanks sales manager. "Everyone knows the importance of shipping and logistics to this state, and as the hub of logistics in the Interior, we wanted to create a state-of-the art facility to help our customers run profitable and successful businesses, whether they work in retail, fabrication, manufacturing, oil and gas, or other industries."

Building a Legacy

Span Alaska was founded in 1978 by Ray Landry, who steadily built the operation into one of the largest freight companies serving the state. After he retired in 1990, the business remained in the family until 2014, when it was acquired by majority shareholder Evergreen Pacific Partners of Seattle. The next year, the company purchased Pacific Alaska Freightways, which it integrated into the business, and in August 2015, the company was acquired by Matson Logistics, one of the leading logistics and supply chain providers in the nation.

Now a Matson Logistics subsidiary, Span Alaska transports more LCL, volume LCL, and full loads to and from Alaska via vessel, barge, highway, and air transportation than any other forwarder. The company receives and loads shipments twice weekly from its headquarters in Auburn, near the Port of Tacoma, to send to its service centers throughout the state.

"We handle everything from A to Z--nuts, bolts, widgets, oil and gas equipment, construction materials, animal food, groceries, mining and mechanical parts, flooring materials, as well as freeze and chill," says Johnson. "Anything you can imagine, we ship."

Today, Span Alaska and its subsidiaries ship more than 400 million pounds of freight annually to the 49th state and employ more than 200 people. In addition to the vast volume of shipments from the Lower 48 to...