Keeping Alaska Fueled Up: Fuel delivery via truck, ship, and even a rolling drum.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

While many Alaskans are daydreaming of warmer days ahead, those who deliver fuel to the state's residents remain knee-deep winter work until temperatures rise regardless of the calendar date. Trying to keep customers warm and companies running in temperatures that can sometimes reach 50 below is challenging--especially in a business in which margins are small and competition fierce.

"We fuel Alaska, whether a customer uses one hundred gallons a year or millions of gallons a year," explains Jasper Hall, vice president of Crowley Fuels, which has been serving the state since 1953. "Our customers are both residential and commercial and include construction, mining, fishing, logging, aviation, utilities, retail fueling stations, and the federal, state, and local government. And we serve them regardless of size or requirements."

Where Does the Fuel Come From?

A family-owned business, Crowley operates out of offices in twenty-one Alaska cities from Kotzebue to Ketchikan to Hooper Bay. "Historically, we look at markets as either highway-served or marine-served," says Hall. "Cities, towns, and villages on the road system are served by our linehaul fleet, which includes 35 power units and roughly 200 pieces of equipment including trailers. We use the highway system to transport fuel from the three refineries in the state to serve Anchorage, Fairbanks, and all points in between."

In southcentral Alaska, for example, Crowley transports fuel from Petro Star and Tesoro terminals in Anchorage to areas including Palmer and Wasilla, where it is stored in terminals for use by smaller end users served by the company's local delivery fleet of about ninety trucks. Southeast cities are slightly different, as their fuel supply is transported over water to local terminals.

Delta Western, which provides jet fuel, diesel, heating oil, and aviation gas to Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, Ketchikan, and Sitka, buys fuel at truck racks or in Kenai or Valdez to serve Anchorage and Fairbanks. "For our other locations, particularly southeast, we pull from the Pacific Northwest and transport fuel via barge," says Kirk Payne, vice president of supply and terminals.

Petro Star is a little different from other fuel delivery services in that it both produces and distributes its own fuel. "From its beginnings in North Pole with only one small refinery, Petro Star and ASRC [its parent company] understood that vertical integration--being able to deliver and sell its own products directly to consumers--was key to its success," explains Doug Chapados, president and CEO of Petro Star Inc. "Through its thirty-four-year history, Petro Star has grown via vertical...