TERRAIN FOR THE TENACIOUS
Alaska’s distinctive configuration means logistics professionals must know their way around and through the state’s demanding land and water obstacle course. “You can’t fake logistics,” Prokop says. “Either the shipment is on time, or it isn’t. This is especially crucial for Alaska.” About 90% of Alaska’s inbound freight arrives by water. The Port of Alaska’s share of this serves about 85% of all Alaskans. “Importantly,” Prokop says, “of the amount that arrives in Anchorage, only half is for local residents.” Navigated by specialists experienced in the logistics challenges of Alaska, freight makes its way to the state’s bustling cities as well as remote villages and towns. (The state’s name is derived from the Aleut word “Alyeska,” literally meaning “the object towards which the action of the sea is directed.”) FEEDING THE FLOW The state’s own abundant natural resources are shipped throughout the world. For example, Alaska’s fisheries— the source of such delicacies as halibut and king crab—are in the world’s most treacherous waters. Additionally, “Alaska’s oil helps power the nation and is transported from one end of the state to the other by the 800- mile engineering marvel known as the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS),” notes Prokop. The state’s impressive logistics infrastructure includes highly valuable assets such as Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, one of the top air cargo facilities in the world. The airport’s geographic advantage is that it is within 9.5 hours flying time to 90% of the industrialized world. Being at the center of the great circle route between U.S. and Asia markets, it is not surprising most cargo planes stop in Anchorage to refuel. “Apart from this geographic advantage is the airport’s operational advantage,” Prokop adds. “Its special air cargo transfer rights are unique to the airport and these allow foreign planes to transfer their cargo between them. It is a variation of a form of trade liberalization
Span Alaska moves more than 400 million pounds of freight annually throughout Alaska, offering chill/freeze services for perishables, food and beverage, and medical/pharmaceutical shipments.
known as cabotage and it makes a rare example of unilateral trade liberalization by the United States for the benefit of Asia-Pacific trade flows.”
semi-trailers to step vans, flatbeds, and air and rail service to deliver to its customers. Span Alaska, launched in 1978, opened the largest DC and service center of its kind in the state in Anchorage in 2019. The facility has 88 dock doors, a lay- down area for breakbulk cargo, and an in-house maintenance shop. EXPANDING SERVICES In 2023, the company opened a new and expanded service center in Fairbanks, Alaska’s second-largest city. Span Alaska has additional service centers in Wasilla, Juneau, Soldotna/Kenai (in the Kenai Peninsula Borough), and Kodiak. Span Alaska direct loads containers to service centers from its consolidation center in Auburn, Washington, near the Port of Tacoma. “That means customers’ shipments are loaded into shipping containers destined directly for one of the six service centers or the Anchorage air cargo facility,” Johnson explains. “This eliminates rehandling and costly delays. The shipments are not rehandled or devanned and reloaded along the way.” Span Alaska offers expanded chill/freeze services for perishables, food and beverage, and medical/ pharmaceutical shipments.
MEETING ALL TESTS The transportation and logistics
infrastructure of Alaska has been tested over time and terrain, and through all types of severe weather, yet it remains resilient and able to serve all Alaskans, no matter how central or remote they are. “The transportation infrastructure is one of the most resilient—and geographically dispersed—in the country,” says Michael Johnson, president of Span Alaska, which connects Alaska to the rest of the United States, and the world, with a weather-tested transportation network over land, sea, and air. “Due to Alaska’s size, its weather, and lack of road infrastructure, delivering products can be complicated and challenging,” says Johnson. But as the state’s largest freight forwarding company transporting freight and shipments to, from, and around Alaska, Span Alaska meets the challenges and ships more than 400 million pounds of freight annually throughout the state. The company utilizes ocean container service, barges, and trucks ranging from
34 Inbound Logistics • April 2024
Powered by FlippingBook