TERRAIN FOR THE TENACIOUS
volume can be disruptive to existing supply chains,” McKallor says. “The most important thing to Lynden is to make sure we can continue to serve our existing customers with reliable service.” FORTIFYING THE FUTURE Alaska’s presence as an American state gives the country an enhanced definition. “Alaska makes the United States an Arctic nation,” notes Prokop. “As such, it is on the frontier of the wealth of resources that are being discovered in the Arctic Ocean. In the decades ahead, Alaska will also play a major role in opening the Arctic to transportation via the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route.” He is proud the University of Alaska Anchorage contributes to the state’s assets through its logistics and supply chain management programs. “We teach students how to plan well and use their imagination,” he says. “It took a lot of imagination and daring to build Alaska into the logistics powerhouse it is today.” n
help contribute to Alaska’s rank as the state with the largest land mass in the United States. “Alaska’s coastline’s proximity to its natural resources is a tremendous advantage,” McKallor says. “Our business model is built around filling the gaps in infrastructure, which reaches only a small fraction of the vast area of Alaska. “We build our business strategy around filling those gaps in the best way possible. Where you don’t see a road, you see a marine, air, or another solution. We use interesting things like PistenBully snowcats (used in heavy snow and ice), hovercrafts, and Hercules aircraft to access areas unreachable by other methods.” Lynden’s experience in Alaska is applicable in other hard-to-navigate places too. “Some of these issues are not necessarily unique to Alaska,” McKallor says. “What makes us especially effective is that as an asset-operating transportation company we know the pitfalls and risks of proposed logistical plans. What may be theoretically possible may not be
practically possible and have a high risk of failure. If a certain part of the plan for a logistics project doesn’t pan out it could have catastrophic effects on the success of the project.” In those instances, Lynden has the practical knowledge and ability to turn to alternative methods. “That’s where we add a lot of value when it comes to advice and helping customers,” he says. Looming energy and mining projects bode well for Alaska’s continued strategic importance throughout the world. “We’re bullish on Alaska,” he says. “Alaska is very well positioned to be a critical natural resource supplier, especially with the focus on trying to develop secure supply chains for strategic minerals.” He refers to the current era as “the century of the Pacific,” and he believes the next five years will see greater investment in the energy and mining sectors. “Our focus is to support these projects wherever we can.” “Large projects with large swings in
ALASKA ON TOP OF THE WORLD?
Myths about Alaska are as vast and meandering as the area itself. Much of the confusion arises from the state’s appearance on a typical map of the world, says Dr. Darren Prokop, professor emeritus of logistics in the College of Business and Public Policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Where is Alaska? Most people would likely answer the question after conjuring up a map in their heads, Prokop says. They might say: “Alaska is at the top of the world.” Well, everyone does say that, even many who regularly write about the state. Not so? “Well, they would be right—but only to the extent that a flat earth wall map is an accurate depiction of a round, three-dimensional earth,” Prokop says. “With apologies to the Flat Earth Society, such maps are not
accurate. There is no ‘top’ of the world. In fact, Alaska is equidistant between the major population centers of Far East Asia and the Lower 48 if one travels the shortest distance between them. But one could never tell that by looking at a wall map.” In this case, the reality is better than the myth. “The consequence of these ‘great circle routes’— the shortest distance between two points on a sphere—is that all airplanes using them would fly over Alaska,” Prokop says. “Also, ocean vessels traveling from Asian ports to those along the U.S. West Coast use shipping lanes that follow great circle routes which are not too far off Alaska’s shores.” So, perhaps surprising to those who are not logisticians, a more accurate answer to the question is: “Alaska is at the center of world trade.”
40 Inbound Logistics • April 2024
Powered by FlippingBook