Transportation: Alaska companies have the answer.

• Position: ALASKA BUSINESS MONTHLY'S 2008 TRANSPORTATION DIRECTORY

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The vastness of Alaska and its transportation challenge of major rivers, mountains and few roads call out for able minds, tough employees and skookum equipment to handle these obstacles.

On the Far North's main road, the Dalton Highway, dicey winter conditions and dusty summer travel over a gravel-packed highway that traverses boreal forest, taiga and tundra, past pingos and herds of musk ox and caribou, require heavy equipment and knowledgeable drivers that can withstand these hazards.

Experienced Arctic hands captain barges through the waters of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, winding their way through ice and fog to deliver precious fuel and goods to villages along the Arctic Coast.

All over Alaska, freight barges come and go from ports in the Lower 48, cargo for towns and villages along the way--fire trucks, school buses, groceries and fuel--everything needed to provide for a community's security.

And the "Blue Canoe" of the Alaska Marine Highway System connects communities in the southern part of the state, carrying freight haulers and passengers in comfort and safety.

Alaska's air transportation companies are renowned for surmounting the ever-changing weather and...