Transportation in the Great Land.

• Author: McCORKLE, VERN

The transportation industry in the Great Land is extremely diverse. Perhaps even more so than any other state in the nation. It is comprised of a huge air transport industry of world-class scope, as well as trucking, railroad and waterborne transportation sectors. In the last decade, all sectors have experienced growth, and the future for each is equally as upbeat into 2000 and beyond, according to leaders in each segment.

Almost 22,000 people are employed in Alaska's transportation industry. That makes it the state's second largest employer, as large as the entire state government personnel structure. Transportation jobs exist in virtually every part of the state, no matter how remote or isolated a village may be. With the exception of the Alaska Railroad and Alaska Marine Highway System, nearly all of the jobs are contained within the private segment. Nationally only about three percent of all private wages and salaries are connected to transportation activities. In Alaska the figure is double that: six percent.

Since statehood, and even before, growth in this industry has been phenomenal. The reasons for that are not difficult to understand. In Alaska, a single transport may involve a train, barge, truck and/or an airplane or four-wheel off-road scooter.

During the years between the two World Wars, many events helped to shape the unprecedented growth of transportation. Perhaps the single most important of which was the introduction of the airplane. According to a recent report from the Alaska Department of Labor, Alaskans jumped from river traffic and dog sleds into the air in one leap, bypassing the automobile almost entirely.

To illustrate this rate of growth, in 1980, 11,344 Alaskans earned livings in the industry. By 1998 the figure had become 18,600. Transportation had expanded by 26 percent while the rest of the economy experienced only a 16 percent growth rate over the same period of time. The expansion of air transportation was responsible for the lion's share of the gain.

Waterborne Transportation

No jurisdiction in the continental limits of the U. S. depends on water transportation as much as Alaska does. During Alaska's early history, and even recently, access to waterborne transport has been a critical connection to the development of the Last Frontier and more often than not, has determined where cities and towns would be located.

It is not possible to calculate the total number of miles of navigable waterways in the state, but Alaska does have 33,900 miles of coastline, more than the entire contiguous 48 states combined. According to the Alaska Department of Labor, the bulk of employment in this sector is contained by private enterprise. It provided about 1,940 jobs in 1998, exclusive of the ferry system with its estimated work force of 860 that serves 33 state ports and moves some 350,000 passengers and thousands of tons of freight annually.

Those employed in commercial water transportation occupations include stevedoring companies, boat charter services, barge and tugboat operations, water taxies, lighterage and harbor craft.

Deep-Sea Transportation

Marine transport giant CSX Lines (formerly Sea-Land Freight Service) entered the 21st century with a sharpened focus on its seamless supply chain management process. Augmented by its dynamic new e-commerce facility at www.csxlines.com, shippers can book their own voyage on a ship or barge of their choosing. Further, says Eric Britten, CSX Lines Alaska sales manager, consignment progress...