NEW AND BETTER PORTS FOR THE LAST FRONTIER.

• Author: SWAGEL, WILL
• Position: Seward, Alaska - Anchorage, Alaska

Among the 50 states, Alaska tops nearly any list when it comes to the importance of waterborne transport. And well it should--Alaska's 33,000-plus miles of coastline, along with some of the mightiest rivers in North America, led Native Alaskans, first, then Sourdough immigrants, to cluster their settlements at natural ports and anchorages.

Alaska has 140 ports-a large number for one state, until you consider the vast area these ports serve. Alaska's coastline is longer than that of the other states combined. Prince William Sound alone has more coastline than the Lower 48 West Coast.

Ports in Alaska range from the extensive facility in Anchorage, that handles goods and supplies for 80 percent of Alaska, to the tiny harbor at Ouzinkie near Kodiak, where only a handful of fishermen now anchor. But both of these harbors are undergoing major improvements and are expected to have profound economic impacts on their respective regions.

In fact, from one end of the state to the other, port facilities are constantly being upgraded and expanded--primarily through the efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Alaska Department of Transportation. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into Alaska's marine facilities over the last decade and the trend is continuing.

Credit for all this money goes to a variety of sources--Alaska's powerful congressional delegation, strong public support for commercial fisheries and port development in general, and a recent effort by the state to renovate harbors and then turn them over to municipalities.

Seward

From where he sits, Seward Harbormaster James Beckham says recent trends pose a bright-though not altogether untroubled-future for Alaska's ports.

Seward is one of Alaska's busiest ports and one where the local economy essentially revolves around the harbor. With harborside connections to the Alaska Railroad, local fishing boats, visiting cruise ships, sightseeing craft and pleasure vessels, scarcely a dollar changes hands in Seward that hasn't some connection to maritime activity.

"If the harbor went away, Seward would die," says Beckham.

Beckham is the president of the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators, which was formed 18 years ago to coordinate and promote portside interests.

Last year, the state turned Seward's harbors over to the city, but before doing so, funded a $6 million project to replace about two-thirds of the harbor's 30-year-old float system. The city is also planning a new harbor to double local moorage.

"With (state) DOT oversight, the state was supposed to provide maintenance funding over the years)," says Beckham, "but it was always subject to legislative appropriation, which rarely came."

...