Multi-modal leaders in Alaska: Alaska's multi-modal transportation industry/infrastructure is complex.

• Author: Bonham, Nicole A.
• Position: Industry Overview

From the docks of Ketchikan to the shores of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska's transporters deliver our goods each day by land, by air, by sea.

It's a select few among that roster of professional cargo handlers that offer their clientele a multi-modal range of transport options. They are the companies that use Alaska's challenging geography and breadth to their benefit, creating a logistical movement network based in marine, air, railway and truck transport.

It's a case of simply selecting from among Alaska's varied freight-transport services, then letting the professionals do their job.

MASTER SHIPPERS

Key among those companies providing a full multi-modal complement of services, Lynden Inq. is a household name for freight customers in Alaska, the Lower 48 and in many international locales, Lynden and its family of subsidiaries provide a long list of capabilities, to include truck-based transportation, schedule and charter barges, scheduled and chartered air freighters, rail and multi-modal logistics. For those searching out a "one-stop shop" for complicated transfers, such as international ocean transport, or hazardous waste and chemicals transfer, Lynden provides custom operations for each.

Not surprisingly, cargo entering Alaska constitutes the largest segment of Lynden's operation. Of its various subsidiaries, three share the largest volume of cargo: Alaska Marine Lines, Lynden Transport and Alaska Railbelt Marine "In terms of revenue, air, truck and marine are about evenly split says Lynden CEO and President Jim Jansen. "There is not a great deal of fluctuation, with the exception of the resource industries, which fluctuate with the level of construction and development activity."

Another primary freight-transport giants is CSX Lines, subsidiary to global freight transporter CSX Corp. The company's vessels sail twice weekly from Tacoma to Anchorage, to/from Dutch Harbor each week, and twice weekly to Kodiak. Truck and barge service connects CSX Lines to a regional network of communities in those areas. And through its cooperative relationship with Maersk-Sealand, CSX Lines provides its customers access to global seafood markets.

These and other transport-related companies like Pacific Alaska Forwarders Inc., Carlile Transportation Systems and Totem Ocean Trailer Express round out what has become a well-developed, multi-modal, freight-transport industry in Alaska.

Though many transportation-related sectors in the nation have buckled under the pressure of recent economic slowdown stemming from events like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the shock wave of the telecom industry collapse, and even the autumn's waterfront labor negotiations, Alaska has seemingly weathered such storms with relative strength.

"The state of the industry is currently stable," Jansen affirms. "The future depends upon Alaska's ability to create new and support existing resource activity and to maintain good tax and policy decisions to encourage economic activity in Alaska."

CSX Lines of Alaska Vice President and General Manager Ken Privratsky offers a similar report of stability.

"Many of us forget that 10 years ago, we in Alaska did not have many of the large businesses we now take for granted," he says. "Over the past decade, the intermodal transportation system and providers have effectively fed this growth and continue to do so. We in Alaska indeed are enjoying the 'fruits' of a very robust supply chain that extends from suppliers and distributors in the Lower 48.

"From a transportation industry...