Freight Transport in Alaska: The Haul of the Wild
Because of Alaska's remote location and precarious weather, transport providers carrying freight on land, sea, and air have developed special expertise to buck the challenges.
SEAFOOD SPECIALS
Among the questions Alaska service providers are currently asking is, "Just how big will this year's seafood production be?" The answer depends on who is talking, but estimates generally call for 2015's salmon season to approach or exceed record levels. If that happens, it will be welcome news to the array of companies that provide logistics services to Alaska. Seafood, which often comes from remote locations in the state, is the second-largest source of cargo behind the oil and gas sector.
ON THE ROAD
Interstate highways in Alaska are not required to be constructed to the same interstate highway standards that apply in the continental United States. Many Alaskan highways are rural, two-lane, undivided thoroughfares—sometimes with steep grades, and not always paved.Shippers doing business in Alaska have to package shipments well to ensure safe transport of their goods moving to remote areas.
UP IN THE AIR
The shortest flight path between the United States and Asia stretches over Alaska, and Asia-bound steamships typically pass near Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Airfreight shipments from Anchorage can reach 90 percent of the industrialized world within 9.5 hours.
PUMPING UP OIL & GAS
Logistics providers are wondering if the decline of oil prices over the past several months will have a long-lasting effect on the volume of oil-related cargo moving into Alaska. Moving equipment and supplies to the oil and gas companies working in the state's remote oil fields, such as those near Prudhoe Bay on the north coast, has been a steady source of business for the past few decades. Until the price drop started, the sector was looking good, with the passage of the More Alaska Production Act, which cut oil taxes following a long political battl