Trucking industry roundup: players, trends, issues: Weaver Bros, moves oversize loads of empty storage tanks on the Dalton Highway.

• Author: Griffin, Judy
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

Carrying cargoes that meet the everyday needs of Alaska residents as well as to build large construction projects requires more than a casual road trip. Scheduling capacity, handling goods, and identifying the optimum mode and route rely on preparedness and careful assessment of the journey that lies ahead. The trucking industry has successfully embraced technology and implemented safety measures to improve the ride.

As trucking entities look down the road for hazards, they recognize that lower oil prices will likely reduce freight volumes. They also see hardships if the state's highways don't receive adequate maintenance. But the biggest and increasingly detrimental threat is the difficulty of placing a driver behind the wheel.

Consequence in Motion

Aves Thompson, executive director of the Alaska Trucking Association (ATA), a trade association representing diverse trucking operations competing in Alaska, presented figures on the economic impact of the industry during a press conference that preceded the March 2, 2015, public hearing by the Department of Interior on the proposed five-year offshore lease plan. According to Thompson, more than three thousand family-owned and corporate trucking businesses make up the Alaska industry, which pays more than $800 million in wages annually.

Statistics compiled by the ATA and the national trade association American Trucking Associations indicate that Alaska trucking provided 14,430 jobs, employing one out of seventeen civilian workers in the state and providing an average salary of $54,662 in 2013. The mean average salary for truck drivers was $47,450.

Service Smorgasbord

A highly competitive business, the Alaska trucking industry has attracted players of all sizes. Shippers have bountiful options for consolidated or unconsolidated loads, moving produce, building products, and all manner of wares to, within, and from Alaska. The providers compete through responsive customer service that offers specialized equipment, easy ordering and tracking, and pricing alternatives.

Among the major players are two businesses that belong to vertically integrated firms whose sister companies complement the trucking capabilities.

In mid-2013, Saltchuk Resources, a Seattle-based family of diversified transportation and petroleum distribution companies, purchased Carlile Transportation Systems of Anchorage. Founded in 1980, Carlile has 350 tractors, seven hundred employees, and ten terminals, including four outside of Alaska. Other Saltchuk companies include Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Delta Western, Northern Air Cargo, Inlet Petroleum, and Cook Inlet Tug & Barge.

One Carlile Transportation asset differentiating the trucking company is an Alaska-dedicated lowboy trailer designed for moving oversized items and rated for more than one hundred tons. According to President Terry Howard, the company hauled a configuration of trailers more than two hundred feet long utilizing this lowboy from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay in early 2015.

Also expanding its capabilities as an integrated provider of truck, marine, and air services in 2013, Lynden, Inc. acquired Northland Service, a marine transport business serving Seattle, Washington; Alaska; and Hawaii. Lynden is the parent company of Lynden Transport, which has provided trucking services in the state since 1954 and operates the largest terminal network in Alaska. Other Lynden companies include Alaska Marine Lines, Alaska West Express, Bering Marine Corporation, and Lynden Air Cargo.

Among major freight consolidators are Span Alaska Transportation, Inc., Pacific Alaska Freightways, and American Fast Freight, Inc. These firms specialize in receiving truckload and less than truckload cargoes. Most of the volume moving to Alaska destinations originates at their Washington terminals and is shipped to Alaska aboard water carriers. Freight is received by trucks from containerships at the Port of Anchorage for distribution to Interior and Southcentral Alaska. Barge lines also service Southeast, Western, and other Southcentral communities in Alaska.

Chuck...