Alaska Business June 2024

Cargo COMMITMENTS

New infrastructure fulfills Alaska's potential as a regional shipping hub

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The Alaska Defense Forum (ADF) addresses critical challenges impacting military installations, families, and local communities. Throughout this two-day gathering, military officials and ADF participants engage with government representatives, and defense experts, fostering discussions essential for our national security. Positioned strategically between Asia, North America, and Russia, Alaska hosts key military bases crucial for power projection, top-tier training, and defense against threats, highlighting its indispensable role in national defense.

Stamp

Approaching

Rachael Kvapil

Extended

Professional

How

Singapore-India Trade Mission

Seeking

Welded in

Aloha, Alaska Style

Pacific Islander

Rough Seas Ahead

Radical

Over the Fence

Meet

Downstream of the Pipeline

The journey of Alaska’s black gold By Terri Marshall

Resolve

TAKE YOUR BUSINESS TO NEW HEIGHTS

Wherever you want to take your business, First National can help. With more than 100 years of helping Alaskans succeed, our team of local bankers provides tailored financial solutions, dedicated support, and unmatched expertise to help you navigate everyday challenges and a changing economy.

Shape Your Tomorrow

Discover how First National helps power success for Lake and Peninsula Airlines, a lifeline for Southwest Alaska.

CONTENTS

SPECIAL SECTION: TRANSPORTATION

36 PURRFECT

JOURNEYS AND RUFF TRIPS

Traveling with cats and dogs

By Sarah Reynolds Westin

52 LAND, SEA, AND AIR FAMILY

Saltchuk companies mark 49 years in the 49th state

By Hilary Reeves

58 ALASKA AIRLINES SPREADS ITS WINGS

New planes and routes take passengers farther

By Sarah Reynolds Westin

42 RURAL

SUPPLY LINES

Ingenuity and technology get Alaskans what they need

By Gretchen Wehmhoff

46 DELIVERING ANCHORAGE’S PROMISE New infrastructure for strategic logistics

By Jamey Bradbury

ABOUT THE COVER

No, Alaska Business isn’t packing up and moving anywhere, except in the sense that every Alaska business always strives to move forward. And when the load must relocate, transportation and logistics providers get the job done. This issue of Alaska Business spotlights every mode of transport, especially those that tie the state to its neighbors in Hawai’i and the Pacific Northwest.

Alaska gets its name from the Unangax̂ idiom for the mainland—that is, land that is not an island. Although the state might look like an island as an inset on some US maps, it is “a piece of the continent, a part of the main,” as John Donne meditated. And just as no man is an island, entire of itself, neither is Alaska; connections to Outside supply and sustain the state and its people.

On the edge of tomorrow, straddling the International Dateline, Alaska is also halfway to everywhere: the Air Crossroads of the World, along the Great Circle of North Pacific shipping.

Now, if we could just get out-of-state deliveries to understand.

Cover design by Monica Sterchi-Lowman

Kerry Tasjer

Joe Huhndorf

American Heart Association

Celebrating a Century of Advancing Health and Hope for Everyone

Very few organizations reach 1 0 0 years—which makes the centennial of the American Heart Association (AHA) an achievement that is “something to behold,” says AHA, Alaska Executive Director Kristin George. “I believe this milestone is a testament to the life-saving initiatives and tangible results we’ve championed to advance health and hope for everyone, everywhere,” she says.

Founded by six cardiologists as a small professional health society, the AHA is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. From scientific discoveries to public education and advocacy, the AHA has created a massive impact over the years. The association has invested more than $5.7 billion in scientific research that has supported life-saving innovations, including the implantable pacemaker, artificial heart valve replacements, and drugcoated stents.

The AHA’s education efforts have heightened public awareness of heart attack and stroke symptoms, heart-healthy eating patterns, and HandsOnly cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills. Thanks to its advocacy work, most public spaces are smokefree and school lunches are more nutritious. The AHA has advocated on behalf of Alaskans, with policy wins like the extension of Medicaid coverage to twelve

months for new mothers in Alaska, helping their babies have the best possible start in life. “I can’t wait to see what the next 100 years bring for the organization—especially here in Alaska,” George says.

Cardiovascular health is multifaceted and interconnected to wellbeing in other parts of the body. That’s why the AHA is committed to advancing scientific discoveries, clinical care improvements, community impact initiatives, and policy to enhance cardiovascular health. It also combats emerging health threats like the risk of e-cigarettes. George explains, “We’re advocating for policies, such as the recent tax passed by the Fairbanks City and North Star Borough Assembly, that will help keep dangerous tobacco and nicotine products away from kids and teens.”

A champion of health equity, the AHA focuses on identifying and removing barriers to health care access and quality. It drives change by working with

clinical, community impact, and organizational partners like Catholic Social Services, Kenai Peninsula Food Bank, and Bethel Family Clinic, which empowers residents with blood pressure management devices and educational resources. “Our project in Bethel helps make it easier for community members to take control of their health and work to manage this critical health indicator from the comfort of their home, alongside the guidance of a local clinic,” George says.

Bethel Family Clinic’s medical director, Debra L. Cyphert, MSN, FNP, expressed this about the

project in a September 18, 2023 news release: “For those who are making lifestyle changes like adjustments to diet or increasing physical activity, seeing the impact of those changes through their daily readings can be very encouraging and informative.”

In honor of this year’s centennial celebration, AHA encourages Alaskans to participate in its 100 Ways in 100 Days program, annual AHA events around the state, and community sponsorship and donation opportunities. Contact the AHA to learn more about how to join the fight against heart disease and stroke.

Photo by American Heart Assoc.

Aphrase that readers can expect to see less often in this magazine is “The Last Frontier.” Although it remains Alaska’s official nickname, printed on state license plates, it has fallen into disfavor for three reasons.

Anthropological: To the first people migrating into the Americas, whether overland or along the coast, Alaska was their doorstep. Indeed, they likely did not perceive a frontier at all, just a lowland extension of the Asian continent (now inundated by the Bering Sea). Their descendants reached Tierra del Fuego about 10,000 years ago, but even that was not the last frontier. Polynesians pushed the actual frontiers of human habitation within historical times, settling Hawai’i and Easter Island about 1,100 years ago and finally discovering the unpeopled islands of New Zealand around the same time as—for reference—King John of England signed the Magna Carta.

Historical: Even from the perspective of European explorers, Alaska was not the last frontier. True, the Bering expedition of 1741 put Alaska on European maps a century after New Zealand became known to the Tasman expedition of 1642. The middle of the Pacific Ocean, however, remained a big blank until 1778, when the Cook expedition made formal contact with Kamehameha the Great’s nascent kingdom. After that, the only frontiers left were the North and South Poles.

Political: The third reason “The Last Frontier” is a dubious nickname for Alaska is contained in another nickname, the 49th State. Eight months after statehood became official on January 3, 1959, the nation gained a 50th state. Until a 51st is added, the stronger claim to “The Last Frontier” belongs to Hawai’i.

To whom was Alaska the last frontier, then? US settlers. While missionaries and planters flooded the Kingdom of Hawai’i in the late 1700s, the Russian Empire discouraged entry into its North American territory. After the Alaska Purchase of 1867, the focus for two decades was on the exploration of the unmapped Interior, even as the US Census Bureau declared the Western frontier closed in 1890. Then the 1896 Gold Rush sent Klondikers stampeding out of Seattle. From their perspective, then, Alaska truly was a frontier.

But North to the Future was not a one-way trip. Coming from the last frontier, Alaskans are constantly seeking the new, next frontier. In particular, Hawai’i retains its allure for Alaskans escaping the long winter.

Anyone is welcome to continue referring to the official nickname, and readers may see the phrase printed here as direct quotations. I don’t expect everyone to share my archaeological pedantry. For my part, though, the name “Alaska” needs no further poetic embellishment.

Scott Rhode Editor/Staff Writer, Alaska Business

EDITORIAL

Managing Editor Tasha Anderson 907-257-2907

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Editor/Staff Writer

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Stamp of Approval

Approaching deadlines for new postage meter standards

By Rachael Kvapil

No t long ago, the phrase “It’s in the mail” meant that something sent via the United States Postal Service (USPS) was on its way, but the delivery date was uncertain. Thanks to an advanced postage system with tracking capability, that uncertainty has greatly diminished. However, technology often requires updates to handle compliance issues that arise in new situations. In 2024, USPS is enacting the final stages of postage meter requirements to increase efficiency and security of mail originating in the United States.

From IBI to IMI

Over the years, USPS has developed a number of products and platforms for shipping services. Postage meters and PC Postage Products belong to USPS’s Postage Evidencing System (PES) and

are offered to customers through PES providers. PC Postage is a service that allows customers to print labels and postage with their own printers. PC Postage uses USPS-approved thirdparty providers, like Stamps.com, Pitney Bowes, EasyPost, and Endicia.com, with vendor software that allows users to pay for and print postage using a computer, printer, and internet connection. PC

Postage is different from other online shipping label generating services like eVS (Electronic Verification System), ePostage, and Click-N-Ship, which are all offered by USPS and other third-party providers. The differences are in the details and include the shipping volume, the size of the business outlet, and how postage accounts are managed.

Postage meters, however, are a less complicated part of PES. Postage meters are tabletop printers leased

by authorized providers for use in the home or office. A postage meter calculates rates and directly prints postage onto envelopes and packages. A meter stamp is proof of payment that also contains a postmark and a cancellation that prevents the reuse of the stamp. There are several benefits to using a postal meter, including the elimination of adhesive stamps, allowing the user to send out any class of mail (except periodicals) in any quantity at any price. Small meters require users to hand feed each piece of mail; large and specialized meters can fold, insert, weigh, and stamp postage onto envelopes.

“People think only big corporations have postage machines, but most of our customers are small businesses who like the convenience of the postage meter and the current 6 percent

savings over buying adhesive stamps,” says Mike Ferris, the only authorized dealer/reseller of Francotyp-Postalia postage machines in Alaska.

In 2024, USPS is moving through the final stages of ensuring that all PES platforms meet the new Intelligent Main Indicia (IMI) standard. Currently, there are two types of PES Performance Criteria: Information Based Indicia (IBI) and IMI. USPS established IBI in 1999 to transition from mechanical PES to digital PES. However, as meter requirements evolved, USPS developed the IMI standard in 2013.

“We are upgrading older IBI models every time someone calls about an issue… It’s often faster to get them a new machine and costs about the same amount as their older model.”

When it comes to postage meters, there are two important dates to remember for this year: June 30 and December 31. On June 30, USPS will decertify IBI machines, so vendors can no longer distribute IBI machines for use. Existing users can still use IBI machines until December 31, when USPS will mark them inactive. Any postage printed on IBI meters to that point will be valid until June 30, 2025. After that, USPS will no longer consider IBI postage valid for use or refunds.

“USPS made the announcement regarding this change in 2020,” says Ferris. “Over the last four years, vendors like us have been transitioning non-compliant customers into a compliant technology.”

A Long Time Coming

Postage aficionados have likely noticed differences in the meter postage marks on letters and packages.

The meter postage in the upper right corner of the mail is called an "indicia." Older IBI meters produce a two-dimensional barcode as well as human-readable information. The new IMI postage features an advanced postal marking that captures and communicates more data.

According to USPS, IBI standards no longer meet evolving business needs. They contain limited postage and transaction data, they cannot automate refunds and postage payment validation, and they do not fully meet product reporting and pricing

Mike Ferris Alaska Enterprise Solutions

Mike Ferris, Owner, Alaska Enterprise Solutions

United Way of Anchorage

requirements. USPS says that IMI provides more transparent and detailed transaction data, enables automation of costly back-office operations, and employs better security standards.

IMI provides transaction-level data for each mail piece daily; supports automated refunds, refund authorization, and fraud detection; supports proper mail rating and classification by restricting keyedin postage; provides end mailer information for federal government compliance; supports tracking and management of reprinted indicia; and improves security for rate table, log files, and data exchange interface. IBI meters are only partially compliant in several of these areas and noncompliant for the rest.

Users will benefit from the new platform, says Ferris. Even the most careful manual data entry might produce errors that result in paying either too much or too little for postage. With an IMI, the postage is automatically calculated based on service class. Using IMI saves money, and less mail is returned for lack of postage. Ferris estimates that an IMI meter will save customers up to $38 a year, depending on the size of the machine.

“We are upgrading older IBI models every time someone calls about an issue,” says Ferris. “It’s often faster to get them a new machine

and costs about the same amount as their older model.”

Businesses will need to prepare for one change as they replace IBI machines. IMI meters need a dedicated line plugged into the local computer network to ensure a constant connection for faster updates and postage refills. Ferris says USPS requires IMI machines to connect to the manufacturer’s servers every seventy-two hours.

“I’ve had several customers call to say their new machine has locked up because they took it offline, and it did not communicate,” says Ferris.

Out with the Old

From the outside, some of the new IMI machines look exactly like the old ones, but the software inside is completely different. Ferris says very few businesses purchase their postage

meters, and even for those that do, they still need to rent the meter (the part that manages money) inside the machine. He says businesses should remember that the meter belongs to USPS, which means they will keep billing for an older IBI meter even if a business is not using it. Businesses must return the meter to the vendor.

Given the pending deadlines, Ferris says this is a great time for a business to assess their current machine and determine if it’s still meeting their needs. The type and amount of correspondence changes as a business evolves; a meter from five or ten years ago might be too small now—or even too large. Ferris suggests that businesses take the time to determine what changes, if any, to their postage needs have occurred before contacting their vendors. He says they may find a need to upgrade or even downgrade based on their current needs.

With all this in mind, Ferris cannot emphasize enough the need to make these changes before the deadline.

“The clock is ticking,” says Ferris. “To minimize the risk of interrupted mail service, we are advising users to take a look at their current contract to ensure they are upgraded to a new postage meter equipped with the USPS IMI technology by the deadline date of the end of the year.”

Businesses must exchange their older IBI meters by the end of 2024.

Alaska Enterprise Solutions

The postal service will continue to process items marked with IBI postage through June 30, 2025, but only IMI postmarks will be valid after that date.

Extended Reach

Credit union shared facilities

By Tracy Barbour

While visiting Seattle, an Alaskan takes in the sights and smells of Pike Place Market. Wishing to financially support the shopping mecca, the visitor locates Rachel the Pig, a bronze statue that collects spare change for the Market Foundation. But oh darn, the Alaskan isn’t carrying cash.

No problem. About two blocks away, at 2nd Avenue and Pine Street, an ATM at BECU (established as the Boeing Employees Credit Union) dispenses dollars as readily as cash machines back home. BECU is part of the Co-op Solutions Shared Branch network, as are many Alaskabased credit unions. The network extends the reach of instate financial institutions to more than 30,000 surchargefree ATMs nationwide.

Credit Union 1 (CU1) is Alaska’s second-largest credit union, with twelve branches, thirty live-agent interactive teller machines (ITMs), and nine ATMs throughout Alaska. As the only statechartered credit union in Alaska, members must live or work in Alaska, so CU1 does not have ATMs in other states. However, CU1 joined Coop Solutions’ ATM network about ten years ago, allowing its roughly 95,000 members to access money nationwide without paying surcharge fees. Being part of the network gives CU1 members who travel or move the perk of having access to their money beyond its Alaska-based locations, says COO Erika Smith.

In Southeast, Tongass Federal Credit Union (FCU) has eight branches in Ketchikan, Sitka, Metlakatla, Klawock, Petersburg, Wrangell, Haines, and Juneau. It also operates five community microsites in Thorne Bay, Hydaburg, Kake, Hoonah, and Yakutat. Last year, Tongass FCU merged with its long-time Southeast ally, ALPS FCU, making it the fifth-largest credit union in Alaska.

But Tongass FCU has no physical locations outside of the state. Even so, it offers member benefits nationwide because, since 2018, Tongass FCU has participated in the Co-op’s Shared Branch network.

Helen Mickel, President and CEO, Tongass Federal Credit Union

“Currently, there are over 5,000 locations, including branches and express self-service locations,” says President and CEO Helen Mickel. “So members from Tongass FCU can go into any of those branches across the country and access their accounts, make withdrawals, make loan payments, transfer money, and more.”

In Fairbanks, the largest locally owned and operated credit union is Spirit of Alaska. Established in 1960, it has three branches with ATMs as well as one kiosk with an ITM. While Spirit of Alaska has

Erika Smith Credit Union 1

Helen Mickel Tongass Federal Credit Union

no physical branch locations or kiosks outside the greater Fairbanks area, it serves approximately 9,000 members throughout all fifty states as well as many countries across the globe. As part of the Co-op Shared Branch network, Spirit of Alaska’s members can conduct financial transactions at thousands of participating branches in the United States and five foreign countries, including 24/7 access at more than 2,000 7-Eleven stores.

provider PSCU and is rebranding as PSCU/Co-op Solutions.

Approximately 1,700 credit unions participate in the network, serving 62 million credit union members.

Here’s how it works: If someone is a member of a credit union that’s part of the shared branch network, they can visit another participating credit union as a “guest member” and complete teller transactions as if they were at their home branch.

cannot open or close accounts, apply for loans or credit cards, or change account information and resolve complex account issues. There may be fees for certain transactions, but typically Co-op Shared Branch network institutions provide services to guest members with no or nominal surcharges.

Strength in Numbers

“Having that expanded reach through shared branching or other digital channels allows for our members to be nimble rather than be tied to a physical branch location to perform their financial transactions and business,” says Spirit of Alaska President and CEO Anthony Rizk.

How It Works

While a number of these networks exist, more than one-third of the country’s 4,600 federally insured credit unions participate in the nationwide system of branches and ATMs operated by California-based Co-op Solutions. Earlier this year, the company joined forces with fintech solutions

For credit unions, shared branching helps justify brick-and-mortar locations in an increasingly digital world. When a guest member completes a transaction in a participating credit union, the branch generates revenue through the network’s interchange.

Members use a variety of methods to find nearby Co-op shared branches and ATMs, such as the online Co-op Credit Union Branch Locator or their own credit union’s website and mobile apps. Services may vary by location and credit union, but shared branch guest members can complete a range of transactions, such as get a copy of their account history, make loan payments, withdraw money, transfer funds between accounts, make deposits, and cash checks.

Co-op shared branching locations have some limitations, though. For instance, credit union members who are not banking at their home branch

For Tongass FCU, shared branching aligns with its goal of meeting the banking needs of its 13,000 members. “We’re here to serve our members and our communities locally throughout Southeast,” Mickel says. “We also know that many Alaskans travel throughout Alaska and the Lower 48 regularly. Our expanded nationwide reach allows our members to get the benefits of their local credit union with the advantages of a nationwide financial institution.”

Shared branching, Mickel emphasizes, is not just a service designed to be used outside of Alaska. She says, “Our other Alaska credit unions also participate in the network, so their members can use our branches and our members can use their branches when needed.”

Spirit of Alaska FCU is able to amplify its presence throughout Alaska, the Lower 48, and other countries thanks to shared branching. Rizk says the extended capability lets members

Anthony Rizk Spirit of Alaska Federal Credit Union

The Johansen Branch serves Spirit of Alaska members in their hometown of Fairbanks, while a shared branch network meets them most other places they might travel.

Spirit of Alaska Federal Credit Union

continue to choose Spirit of Alaska as their primary financial institution—no matter where they go. “Once a member, always a member at Spirit of Alaska, and we do build that into our mission of

offering superior member service,” he says. “We pride ourselves on being very local and member-centric.”

Shared branching is just one of many resources the credit union’s members can use to facilitate a variety of financial transactions, including online banking, mobile banking, live local call center support, 24-hour ATMs, and ITMs during normal business hours.

Rizk says, “It is common knowledge that the majority of younger generation consumers prefer to use a financial institution’s digital services rather than visit a brick-and-mortar branch. As we continue to monitor our shifting age demographic to a younger one, it is critical to be able to offer reliable digital services members need and have come to expect.”

Enhancing Access

CU1’s motivation for participating in Co-op’s network is simple, according to Smith: “We think you shouldn’t have to spend your money to access it, and this massive network gives our members the ability to use more surcharge-free ATMs than most

traditional bank customers can,” she says. “Credit unions originated to serve the underserved. As a not-forprofit, it is our job to support members’ financial well-being, and providing them access to surcharge-free ATMs beyond our own is just one of the many ways we do that.”

The network also adds new uses for CU1’s branch locations within the state. “In Alaska, we have a unique and expansive landscape to consider,” Smith says. “And across the industry, we are seeing changes in how people want to interact with their financial institutions through technology.”

While technology is expanding access to financial resources in Alaska, Smith says, many areas of the state are underserved and underrepresented by financial institutions—and CU1 is committed to offering local solutions to that problem. For example, CU1 is planning to build two additional branches—one in Wasilla and one in Kotzebue—and is working to deploy an ITM inside UAA’s student union. In addition, CU1 is the only credit union in Alaska with a fully equipped,

The interactive teller machines at CU1's South Anchorage branch connect to live agents. To serve members outside of Alaska requires a different approach.

“You don’t often think of the financial services industry as being cooperative, but ‘cooperation among cooperatives’ is actually a shared core principle among credit unions... This means that, if by working together we can better serve our members and communities, we will.”

Helen Mickel President and CEO Tongass Federal Credit Union

tractor-trailer-sized mobile branch on wheels, according to Smith. “We can take it anywhere on the road system to help members open accounts, apply for loans, or even park at an event and open the built-in ATM for use,” she says.

Other financial institutions in Alaska are capitalizing on the Co-op Solutions Shared Branch network to increase their geographic reach— even though they already operate out-of-state locations. Global Credit Union—formerly Alaska USA Federal Credit Union—has seventy-seven branches across Alaska, Washington, Idaho, California, and Arizona, as well as branches on three US military installations in Italy. Nuvision Credit Union, headquartered in Huntington Beach, California, has twenty-six branches in five states: Alaska, California, Washington, Arizona, and Wyoming.

ITMs, ATMs, mobile banking, and shared branch networks are all part of the package of resources to facilitate financial transactions.

Credit Union 1

Cooperation Among Cooperatives

Beyond bolstering revenue and services, shared branching exemplifies the cooperative framework that fuels credit unions’ existence. Credit unions are “unique, inclusive, and member-focused” financial institutions with an inherently communal structure, says Mickel. Members own and govern the institution where they keep their money, and the shared branching network is a natural extension of that cooperative spirit.

“You don’t often think of the financial services industry as being cooperative, but ‘cooperation among cooperatives’ is actually a shared core principle among credit unions,” Mickel says. “This means that, if by working together we can better serve our members and communities, we will.”

that credit unions are set up to offer products, services, and other resources that enhance the well-being of their members. “It’s not something that people think of when they think of their local credit union—that we have that kind of reach to serve them wherever they are, but we do. The access that the network provides allows us to focus on serving locally but also gives us resources across the country, rivaling b ig banks,” she says.

Co-op’s network is a great example of the principle of cooperation among cooperatives, according to Smith. “Alaskans want a financial institution that is a reflection of our lifestyle and character, and we want access to be seamless when life takes us Outside,” she explains. “Being part of this cooperative gives members that confidence.”

Mickel adds

Professional Finish

How Alaska grows its own doctors and lawyers

By Lincoln Garrick

Ev er wondered why certain careers are called professions?

The term comes from the Latin root “profiteri,” as in professing something of importance to others. The hallmarks of today's professions are years of dedicated training, academic rigor, and a passion for having a positive impact in the community. The first step toward becoming such a practitioner is a professional degree, sometimes referred to as “first” degrees. Theology (MDiv, MHL, BD, or Ordination) and Medicine (MD) were the traditional professional fields, and now the list includes Law (LLB, JD) as well. The medical profession has expanded into Dentistry (DDS or DMD), Optometry (OD), Osteopathic Medicine (DO), Pharmacy (PharmD), Podiatry (DPM, DP, PodD), Veterinary Medicine (DVM), and most recently Psychologists (PsyD, PhD Clinical Psychology).

Like academic PhDs, these are terminal degrees, signifying the highest level of expertise in a chosen field, but usually without a dissertation. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation characterizes first degree programs with the following criteria: 1) completion of the program is required to begin practice in the field, 2) at least two years of college work is required prior to entering the program, and 3) a total of at least six academic years of college work is needed to complete the degree program. Additionally, many professional degrees end with comprehensive exams in order to be licensed, like the United States Medical Licensing Examination, the Multistate Bar Examination, the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination, North American Pharmacy Licensing Exam, or the National Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology.

Every doctor and lawyer in Alaska had to choose to bring their skills back into the state after finishing their education elsewhere. Although there are no medical or law schools locally, aspiring professionals do have a variety of entry points to those career pathways. Undergrads also have many options for completing their terminal degrees.

The JD

Typically, a lawyer requires a fouryear baccalaureate degree followed by three years of focused legal study

when pursued full-time. Those who wish to take the Alaska bar exam to become a law professional must have already earned a master’s degree known as a Juris Doctorate (JD) from an American Bar Association accredited law school. The American Bar Association has very specific requirements about law school curricula and contact hours: at least twenty-four months and no more than eighty-four months.

Alaska is the only state without a law school, so every lawyer is imported. Alaskans who wish to earn a JD must leave the state to attend an accredited law school. According to Alaska Bar data from the last fifteen years, the ten most attended law schools, in order of highest number of active members, are the following: Seattle University School of Law, Lewis and Clark Law School, University of Washington School of Law, Vermont Law and Graduate School, University of Oregon School of Law, Willamette University College of Law, Gonzaga University School of Law, University of Michigan Law School, University of

Minnesota Law School, and University of Montana Blewett School of Law.

UAA has partnerships with a variety of Lower 48 schools (including Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon; University of Washington School of Law in Seattle; and Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio) to complete an accelerated 3+3 program, which is a three-year bachelor’s degree in Alaska and a three-year law degree Outside.

A new development is on the horizon with Alaska Pacific University (APU) launching an MBA/JD dual degree program this year, which is an accelerated path for both of those graduate degrees. In this new program, MBA instruction is first provided by APU and then JD instruction is provided by Seattle University School of Law through flexible part-time hybrid-online delivery with low residency requirements.

The MD

According to the report “Alaska’s Physician Workforce in 2021” by the University of Washington Department of Family Medicine, there are about

Local professionals bring a unique perspective and a commitment to staying, contributing to a future filled with innovative solutions for the state's challenges.

1,750 medical doctors providing direct patient care in Alaska, which is roughly 95 primary care physicians per 100,000 residents (86 per 100,000 residents in rural Alaska). Alaska’s physicians are trained at a multitude of schools with several studying in Maryland, Minnesota, Colorado, and Oregon. But the largest single source, approximately 12 percent of Alaska’s licensed physicians, are WWAMI graduates.

Alaska’s version of a medical school, WWAMI, started in 1971 when the state entered into a cooperative agreement with the University of Washington School of Medicine; the states of Washington, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho joined, forming WWAMI, the acronym for each of the five partner states. This competitive program, now housed at UAA, provides Alaska students admission to the University of Washington School of Medicine with in-state tuition, which is partially subsidized by the state. In 2021 that totaled more than $3.1 million to support sixty aspiring physicians in years two through four of the program.

Alaska WWAMI students can complete their entire medical education—four years of medical school and three years of residency—in Alaska, with the exception of twelve weeks of clinical rotations in Seattle. WWAMI students spend the first eighteen months of medical school at UAA, taught by more than thirty MD and PhD faculty, and then clinical training during third and fourth years can also be completed in Alaska or Washington before heading out to residency.

WWAMI students have the opportunity to secure an in-state family medicine residency or one of the many specialty residencies out of state, which is important because Alaska needs all kinds of doctors. More than 500 Alaskans have earned their MD through WWAMI, a 97 percent completion rate. The program meets 20 percent of Alaska’s annual new demand for physicians, which is roughly sixty new doctors each year.

Shannon Uffernbeck, the pre-med advisor for the WWAMI program, sums it up well: “WWAMI is dedicated to preparing Alaskan physicians [who] want to come back and serve their Alaskan community.” The success and need for WWAMI is

evident in its recent expansion from twenty first-year applicant spots to thirty in the next class.

The PharmD Pharmacists ensure safe medication use by dispensing, educating, and acting as a final check on prescriptions. A January 2022 study in the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy indicated that patients interact with pharmacists almost twice as often as they do with physicians. This medical provider-type role is likely to expand in the future to offset a looming shortage of physicians and address more completed prescription therapies.

A partnership started in 2016 between the UAA College of Health and Idaho State University L.S. Skaggs College of Pharmacy means Alaskans can earn their “white coat” and fouryear PharmD while staying in Alaska. The program delivery method is unique. Classes are located on UAA’s campus, and on-site faculty use video technology to deliver live instruction between three equivalent sites; two in Idaho (Pocatello and Meridian) and one site in Anchorage, so one-third of the content is always face-to-face and two-thirds utilizes online synchronous delivery.

The first three years of the program focus on foundational skills, diseasestate management, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry, and the final year is full-time Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences at various clerkship sites including in Pocatello, Boise, Coeur d’Alene, Reno, or Anchorage. Alaska’s pharmacists can be found in community settings, hospitals and clinics, academia, manufacturing, as well as the growing field of virtual and remote care.

The DVM

Basic veterinary care is a public health issue, especially in rural Alaska, with high incidences of hospitalization for dog bites and concerns about disease from both domestic and wild animals. According to the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, there are thirty-two accredited schools or colleges of veterinary medicine in the US that issue the DVM degree. Twentytwo states do not have stand-alone vet schools, and Alaska is on that list.

However, veterinary medicine education is available through a 2+2

partnership between UAF and Colorado State University. In this program, Alaska’s future veterinarians attend their first two years of school in Fairbanks then move to Fort Collins, Colorado for their third and fourth years and have their DVM conferred by Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

“Alaska has significant need for veterinarians in large and farm-animal agriculture as well as wildlife,” says UAF Assistant Professor of Veterinary Physiology Cristina Hansen. “From reindeer to sled dogs, our students get hands-on experience right away during their first semester.”

The UAF program allows Alaskans to be considered as in-state applicants during admissions, pay in-state tuition at Colorado State University, and remain in Alaska for 50 percent of the program, which increases their competitiveness, reduces their costs, and makes it more

likely for them to practice back at home. Alaska ranks quite high in terms of the number of employed DVMs on a per capita basis, with 32.9 per 100,000, according to a 2024 study by veterinarians.com, placing Alaska as 11th in the United States. That doesn’t illustrate the whole picture, however, as there are many types of veterinarians besides those that serve small animals. Specialties can range from toxicology and surgery to ophthalmology, dermatology, and animal sports medicine. According to the US Department of Agriculture, there remain critical shortages in Alaska for certain types of veterinary medicine, including those that serve beef and dairy cattle, poultry, small ruminant, swine, and equine. The demand for

Eric Zucker and Vaughan Seed introduce veterinary students to reindeer at UAF’s Large Animal Research Station.

UAF

Alaska Medical Transport An indispensable community lifeline

When Providence Alaska Medical Center asked spouses Athena and Charlie Grimm to provide wheelchair transport services about ten years ago, they accepted the opportunity—and challenge. Their first week was a trialby-fire experience. Another established wheelchair transport business abruptly closed, leaving its stunned clients scrambling for help. “We really had to muster to figure out how we were going to grow this quickly and help the hospital with their needs,” Athena recalls. “As we continued with that service, we realized there was a greater need. We reorganized the wheelchair division into its own separate company and expanded the ambulance service.”

The expansion—which spawned Alaska Medical Transport (AMT)—made perfect sense. The Grimms had owned and operated BAC Transportation since 2000, and they had built a good reputation. Plus, as former volunteer firefighters and medics, they were accustomed to working on ambulances.

By Tracy Barbour

Today AMT is integral to Anchorage’s interfacility transport system, offering on-call, 24/7 emergency and nonemergency medical transportation. With a skilled team of paramedics and emergency medical technicians, AMT is a critical provider of ground transportation between communities— especially during inclement weather. “We are the lifeline outside Anchorage when the environment doesn’t allow flight services to get in,” Athena says. “We’ll go anywhere there’s a road and transport people wherever they need to go.”

To perform its mission of raising up the community and statewide emergency medical services, AMT relies on ultra-fast internet, 5G wireless services, and mobile devices from GCI. Athena has personally used the company for more than twenty years and was naturally inclined to choose GCI’s fiber connectivity for AMT’s main headquarters. GCI’s 5G mobile provides enhanced cell phone coverage to reach personnel inside AMT’s ambulances, and its advanced WiFi supports medical

devices that AMT employs to transmit patient-care information in the cloud. Without GCI’s advanced technology, she says, “It would be a paper nightmare. We believe in innovation and working collaboratively with cloud solutions; paper’s not an option for us.”

Headquartered in Alaska, GCI provides data, mobile, video, voice, and managed services to consumer, business, government, and carrier customers throughout Alaska, serving more than 200 communities. The company has invested more than $4 billion in its Alaska network and facilities over the past forty years and recently launched true standards-based 5G NR service in Anchorage. GCI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Broadband Corporation. Learn more about GCI and its services at www.gci.com.

Photo Credit: Alaska Medical Transport

Alaska veterinarians may increase appreciably in the next five years with mass retirements predicted, bigger salaries in Lower 48 states drawing away talent, and the long lead time needed to develop each fully-trained vet.

Professional Psychology

A psychologist is a mental health professional who uses a variety of tools like talk, cognitive behavioral, psychoanalytic, and dialectic behavior therapies as well as psychological evaluations to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. They are distinct from psychiatrists, who are MDs specializing in mental health; psychologists are scientists of the mind who can apply that knowledge in a clinical setting.

Professionals can be licensed in Alaska as either a psychologist, which requires a doctoral degree, or as a psychological associate, which requires a master’s degree in psychology. Aspiring psychologist professionals may choose between a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) or a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Both doctoral degrees qualify graduates to apply for licensure and work with patients, but their focus areas differ somewhat. A PsyD prioritizes practical skills and emphasizes diagnosis, therapy techniques, and working with diverse clients—preparing graduates

for hands-on patient care backed by research. A PhD in Clinical Psychology has an additional emphasis in research, exploring the science of mental health, and contributing to new treatments— ideal for those passionate about research and therapeutic innovation.

There are two doctoral programs in Alaska, one at UAA and the other at APU. UAA’s program is a five-year PhD in Clinical-Community Psychology, which includes a master’s degree along the way, with emphasis on research, evaluation, prevention, clinical practice, community, and social action, especially in rural, Indigenous communities. APU’s PsyD program is four years of course work and one year of supervised internship; it similarly includes a master’s degree along the way, though the program is also open to other masters-level professionals. The unique training model of the APU PsyD program, where students meet in-person for several days of intensive instruction approximately every six weeks during the semester, can serve students even in the most remote areas of the state.

Services that mental health professionals provide are important, and the need in Alaska cannot be overstated. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies Alaska as having the third highest percentage of death by suicide in adults, and the

highest for youth and young adults, according to Alaska Bureau of Vital Records. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Alaskans struggle to get the help they need, with 43.1 percent of Alaska adults reporting symptoms of anxiety or depression and 26.5 percent stating they were unable to get the counseling or therapy they needed. There are currently 300 licensed psychologists and 23 psychological associates in the state.

Why Grow Our Own?

The phrase “brain drain” refers to the loss of human capital from one geographic area or industry to another. Communities develop slower when they lose their talented and skilled citizens. This happens when emerging or established professionals leave their community and go elsewhere to take advantage of better opportunities.

Studies indicate the top reasons why individuals might choose to leave their community are 1) difficulty preparing for careers, 2) social injustice, and 3) inadequate employment compensation, with access to career preparation being the most important factor. Some economists have argued that Alaska has more of a brain exchange than a drain, with individuals from other areas moving to the state to fill professional positions, yet Alaska thrives when it has a homegrown workforce. Local professionals bring a unique perspective and a commitment to staying, contributing to a future filled with innovative solutions for the state's challenges.

Without a robust pipeline of talented professionals equipped with advanced education beyond the bachelor’s degree and prepared with specialized knowledge and skills, Alaska’s economic progress may stagnate. Investing in future professionals’ education is therefore an investment in Alaska.

Lincoln Garrick is an assistant professor of business, MBA director, and alumnus at Alaska Pacific University. He has more than twenty years of experience in the business, marketing, and communications fields, providing public affairs and strategy services for national and Alaska organizations.

Veterinary students in the class of 2025, pictured at their white coat ceremony at UAF before embarking on the rest of their degree program at Colorado State University. The ceremony marks the end of the first two years at UAF and the start of the clinical phase of earning a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. UAF

This year, TOTE Maritime Alaska celebrates 49 years in the 49th State! TOTE is proud to have served Alaska since 1975, connecting communities with dedicated, reliable service from Tacoma, WA to Anchorage, Alaska. With our “built for Alaska” vessels and roll-on/roll-off operations, our service and operations were designed to meet the unique needs of the customers and communities of Alaska. Join us in commemorating nearly half a century of excellence in shipping to the Last Frontier.

IN THE 49TH

Singapore-India Trade Mission Seeking new opportunities in South Asia

By Vanessa Orr

While Alaska’s largest international trade partners are currently China, Korea, and Japan, there may be some new Asian players entering the market if Greg Wolf, president and CEO of the Alaska International Business Center (akIBC), has anything to say about it. This spring, he was busy putting together an international trade mission to India and Singapore; he believes it could create lasting relationships between Alaska and the two countries. Those relationships, in turn, hold the potential to open new markets for Alaska exports.

“We believe that—similar to the success that we’ve achieved with exports to China—India could be the next very large market,” he explains. “Essentially, India needs everything that China needs, and our state has a lot to offer. Our goal over the past fourteen years has been to learn about what their import needs are and how our exports can meet those needs.”

In contrast to India as the world’s most populous country (surpassing China’s 1.4 billion in 2023), Singapore is one of the smallest sovereign countries by area, squeezed onto an island barely larger than the Anchorage Bowl. Its wealth belies that size, however.

“Since becoming an independent country about the same time as Alaska became an American state, Singapore has grown from an economic backwater to one of the most successful and richest countries in the world,” Wolf adds. “And they’ve already made some forays into the Alaska market.”

Inroads into India

In 2010, akIBC (then known as World Trade Center Anchorage) led its first trade mission to India, accompanied by Alaska business executives and government officials. The trip was designed to enable leaders of the state and the country to get to know each other and to better understand India’s import needs while sharing information about Alaska’s exports.

India’s population growth since then leads Wolf to believe that trade with Alaska could follow the same trajectory as the state’s ties with China

“We had great success in China; we started with nothing and created a stillgrowing relationship that has resulted in more than $1 billion in exports annually from Alaska,” Wolf says. “We think we could replicate that in exports to India if we can successfully develop a closer relationship and expanded commercial ties with that country.”

In 2022, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.2 percent; in the same year, the US GDP grew by 1.9 percent. This growing economy is at the root of Alaska’s opportunities with India. In 2023, Alaska's exports to India amounted to $1 million, primarily seafood.

New opportunities may be found in infrastructure build-out, as numerous projects are underway in that country to improve and expand the national infrastructure. “Alaska companies involved in engineering, construction, and materials could play a part in the growth and modernization of India’s economy,” says Wolf.

India is also the second largest importer of coal in the world behind China, which is another need that Alaska could meet.

“Even though a lot of countries are shifting away from coal to cleaner sources of fuel, coal is still a large percentage of India’s energy production, and it will be for a long time,” says Wolf. “As they work to make the transition to a cleaner source of fuel, I believe their fuel of choice will be liquified natural gas, creating a target market for our state if we develop and commercialize our natural gas.”

Outside of import/export opportunities, Wolf notes that, along with China, India is developing into one of the largest outbound tourism markets in the world. “This is a welcome and potentially very lucrative developing market for our tourism industry,” he says. “Walking around Anchorage in the summer, you see more and more Indian travelers—some directly from India and others that are Indian nationals or US citizens of Indian descent from the Lower 48 coming to Alaska.”

While many may not have considered India as the next big thing, Wolf is

“Sure, we’re known for our worldfamous seafood and oil, but in terms of our other businesses, we need to go out and make the business case for Alaska.”

Greg Wolf, President and CEO, Alaska Internati onal Business Center

Greg Wolf, pictured below in San Francisco with T.V. Nagendra Prasad, India's consul general, envisions the current $1 million in Alaska exports to India rising to match the $1 billion in exports to China.

certain that he’s right about its market potential. “I’m convinced that India could be our next very large market,” he says. “I felt the same way twenty years ago with China, and at that time a lot of people were skeptical. Turns out, it’s nice to be right.”

Wolf points to numbers that validate his hunch. “China is now our number one trading partner and it has been since 2011,” he says. “I won’t say that we can replicate that growth, which happened so quickly—tenfold within ten years—but there is definitely potential for long-term growth in exports to India.”

Singapore Praises

While Singapore’s population is much smaller than India’s, with only 5.5 million people, its per capita income is one of the highest of any country. In 2022, the city-state’s GDP grew between 3.5 and 4 percent. In 2023, Alaska’s exports to Singapore totaled $3 million, consisting largely of transportation equipment and seafood products.

“Singapore is a very interesting market for Alaska. I’ve been there many times on business trips, and you can drive around the whole country in three hours. Those 5.5 million people are concentrated in a very small area,” says Wolf. “But they have accomplished an amazing growth story in a relatively short period of time—roughly fifty or sixty years.”

Singapore already has ties to the Alaska market. Millenium Hotels and Resorts, which operates The

Lakefront on the shore of Lake Spenard in Anchorage, also has a presence in Singapore and around the world. Singapore Airlines Cargo is a large customer of the Ted Stevens International Airport, currently operating between fifteen and twenty-four flights per month, depending on the season.

The city-state is home to two sovereign wealth funds, including the Government Investment Corporation and government-owned Temasek, which together have approximately $1 trillion in assets under management.

“When we visit, we always visit Temasek to learn more about how it invests its sovereign wealth fund, which we compare and contrast to how Alaska invests the Permanent Fund,” says Wolf, noting that Temasek started as a holding company for former state-owned corporations like Singapore Telecom and Singapore Airlines. “Their strategic investments provide an interesting contrast to how we do business in Alaska, which we may want to use as a model.”

For example, Temasek brought the semiconductor industry to Singapore

by putting up 25 percent of the money needed to attract companies that fabricate silicon wafers. After proposing this idea to companies around the world, Temasek got three equal partners and created TECH—named for partners Toshiba, the Singapore Economic Development Board, Canon, and Hewlett-Packard.

Due to its strategic location at the Strait of Malacca, Singapore has played a major role in petroleum distribution, storage, and refining in Southeast Asia and more recently decided to get involved in liquified natural gas (LNG). The city-state set up its own company, Pavilion Energy, and now provides LNG storage and distribution to nearby countries.

“Instead of waiting for someone else to do it, they do it themselves,” says Wolf of Singapore’s can-do attitude, which he compares to Alaskans’. “If we were ever able to develop an LNG project on the North Slope, Singapore would likely be a participant either as a customer or as a partner in the project.”

Wolf adds that private companies in Singapore could also potentially invest in Alaska projects, such as tourism or resource development, and some companies have already invested in the Arctic through a private equity fund in Anchorage.

Playing the Long Game

Following the first trade mission in 2010 to India and Singapore, akIBC has continued to strengthen the relationship between Alaska and the two countries through two Alaska-

Bridge builders on the Brahmaputra River contribute to India's rapid economic growth.

D. Talukdar | iStock

Alaska International Business Center

India-Singapore business conferences in Anchorage, most recently in 2019. The akIBC has also welcomed Indian government officials to Alaska, most notably the consul general in San Francisco, who has visited twice.

“We’ve hosted luncheons, roundtables, and meetings with both government leaders and educational leaders,” says Wolf, who notes that, in addition to commercial ties, India is interested in expanding educational opportunities with the state’s universities.

The upcoming trip in December will first stop in Singapore before continuing on to India. The trip will follow two akIBC trade missions to China planned for September and November.

“I expect strong interest in the Singapore/India trip,” says Wolf, who typically takes about ten people, plus akIBC staff, on a trade mission, though he has taken as many as thirty over the years. The ten-day trip includes two travel days and eight days for business meetings—some of which are open to everyone and others that are industry-specific.

“If we’ve got a seafood seller, we’ll set them up with meetings with buyers,” says Wolf. “Same goes for energy companies, engineering, and construction companies.”

Paul Johnson, president and CEO of Highliner Consulting Group in Anchorage, says that he was able to successfully create both relationships and business deals through the 2010 trade mission to Singapore and India— even with other countries.

“Not only were we able to turn a meeting with India’s Minister of Coal into a successful project with a group looking to export coal from the Navajo Four Corners Mine, but we also picked up work in Greece as a result of the connections we made in India,” he says.

He adds that this time around, he is taking an even more proactive approach not only by cementing his company’s presence in that part of the world but by reaching out to clients beforehand to find other opportunities for South Asian investors in fields such as fisheries and energy deposits, especially in rural Alaska.

Your business solutions start here

While short-term rewards may come from the trip, long-term goals are more likely as these relationships continue to grow.

“Unless someone already has a deal in process and goes on this trip to sign the deal, we don’t usually expect to receive immediate results. I wish life were that easy,” Wolf says with a laugh. “Generally speaking, these trade missions are designed to either create new relationships or strengthen existing ones. This may eventually lead to the initiation of a business deal or the expansion of one. We’re not really expecting to arrive today, sign tomorrow.”

He notes that, while many people around the world know of Alaska as a tourist destination, many have never considered it a place to do business or as an investment opportunity.

“Sure, we’re known for our worldfamous seafood and oil, but in terms of our other businesses, we need to go out and make the business case for Alaska,” he says. “Besides being a beautiful place to take a vacation, we can do business with you—we can help fulfill those needs.” •

Welded in Homer

Bay Weld Boats grows with larger vessels, loyal customers

By Dimitra Lavrakas

Ba y Welding Services’ motto is, “We build custom aluminum vessels, with an emphasis on the custom, yet they all share the same DNA.”

That heritage dates back to 1974, when Allen Engebretsen started a mobile marine repair business out of a car trailer. The company expanded into manufacturing in 1996 with its first aluminum skiff.

For fifty years, Bay Welding has been assembling boats and barges in Homer for commercial fishing, passenger vessels, sports fishing,

landing craft, law enforcement, and oil spill response.

Success is reflected in its current 30,000-square-foot production facility that employs fifty-five people. Next year, its campus will expand to accommodate more employees and larger projects.

Understanding the Elements

Living and working in Homer means Bay Weld understands the environment its boats are launched into, hence the close attention to detail.

Secure welds are especially reassuring to any skipper heading out of

Homer Harbor into tiny rock-lined bays, or farther ou t to the open ocean.

“The welds take really good welders, and we think ours are the best in the state if not in the United States,” says Bay Weld General Manager Brad Conley. “Only welders with years of experience and who are talented and skilled are allowed to do the welds.”

The company has built boats for Alaska State Troopers for twentyone years. Aluminum hulls are the preference of Alaska Wildlife Troopers because of their longevity and low maintenance, according to Allen

Engebretsen’s son Eric, who took over the business in 2009.

Two recently completed 35-foot patrol boats offer ample deck space with aft controls and a helm outfitted with the latest tech from Garmin and Yamaha for a versatile and reliable tool for operating in challenging conditions, the company says.

Aluminum arrives on container ships from California, Eric Engebretsen explains, and Bay Weld buys it from Alaska Steel Company, a full-line metal distributor servicin g Alaska since 1982.

One decades-long fan of the company’s boats is my brother, Jim Lavrakas.

“For ten years I ogled and drooled at Bay Weld boats when they came to the Great Alaska Sportsman Show in Anchorage,” he says. “I loved the look of their aluminum boats, the sweeping gunnel, well-proportioned cabin, raked stern—and the teak ceiling was an elegant touch.”

First used as a pleasure boat for fishing in Kachemak Bay, his boat Skookum (“strong” in the Chinook language) also served as a fishing charter boat.

Alaska Expertise

“People think they have to go to Seattle to get a boat built,” Conley says, “but we’re doing it right here in Alaska.” He estimates about 300 boats have been built in Homer over the last fifty years.

One recent batch joins a small but growing fleet in Southeast. Huna Totem Corporation approached Bay Weld to make whale watching passenger boats for its cruise ship destination at Icy Strait Point.

“Their Alaska expertise is very apparent in their design process of

Huna

these vessels,” says Colleen Hickman, director of marine operations for the Hoonah village corporation. “They understand our waterways and the necessity of a tough vessel. The team is very dialed into what we need.”

The last of the eight passenger boats rolled out of the Bay Weld’s shop in April, joining the other seven for the 2024 cruise ship season. There are six 49-passenger vessels and two 149-passenger vessels in the Huna Totem fleet. With a total of 592 seats among them, the corporation expects to handle up to 2,200 passengers each day on whale watching tours.

The two 80-footers built for Huna Totem are the largest boats built in Homer.

This summer, Huna Totem will welcome 241 cruise ships from

all major cruise lines that sail in Alaska, with approximately 520,000 passengers expected to visit Icy Strait Point, a defunct salmon cannery that the corporation has revived as a tourist destination. Whale watching excursions are offered during the port calls. The two-and-a-half-hour tour travels through the Point Adolphus area, home to Alaska’s largest population of humpback whales in the summer. Whale sightings are guaranteed or the company refunds the ticket. Whales have been spotted on every tour conducted si nce opening in 2004.

Supporting an Alaska-based business was important to Huna Totem when it turned to Bay Weld.

“As an Alaska Native business, it’s part of our values to work with other Alaska

businesses when we can, and Bay Weld is a growing family business. They were hands-down who we wanted to work with,” says Icy Strait Point Senior Vice President Tyler Hickman. “If you walk around the Homer harbor, it’s jampacked with Bay Weld boats. They’re high quality and they’re gorgeous. They have great attention to detail.”

To match the scenery around Icy Strait Point, Huna Totem sought a fleet of boats to match the splendor of the setting.

Engebretsen also emphasizes the connection to the uniqueness of the Alaska experience. “We’re Alaskan through and through, and we’re protecting Alaska with development opportunities here,” he says. “We’re extra proud of our product, of what we build and who we are as a company.

Bay Weld boat owner Jim Lavrakas goes ashore in Little Tutka Bay by way of a handy custom ramp.

Dimitra Lavrakas

We take care of our employees, and we’re forward thinking.”

Bay Weld's growth is a result of Engebretsen and his father looking ahead.

“I’ve always wanted to pursue the next project of bigger, more complex builds,” Engebretsen says, but he notes that it rests on the limits of what Bay Weld can take on, whether it be manpower or work space.

For Conley, the pride in product grows every year with the latest order. “With bigger builds, we can show what we’re capable of constructing: custom boats with unique designs,” he says.

Customer Relationships

“Over the fourteen years we’ve owned Skookum, there have been times where upgrades and repairs were needed,” my brother says. “Eric was always responsive to my queries.” In his experience, Bay Weld doesn’t forget a boat once it’s out the door; the company continues to work with owners.

Hickman has seen the same attention with the Huna Totem

REAL ASSETS REAL PEOPLE REAL RESPONSE

fleet. “The Bay Weld team was so accommodating. They let us choose everything from the style of seats, how they’re laid out, the color, trim, everything. The design team gives you all of the options, and then they’re very open minded to changing things around,” she says.

The Bay Weld family also cannot pass up a good joke.

My brother tells me that he once walked into the Bay Weld office and noticed something was wrong. “We think we have a problem,” the Engebretsens told him. “We think we’ve under-powered your boat.”

Jim exclaimed, “But you said the Honda 250hp would push it fine!”

They took him into the shop to see Skookum up on blocks. “And on the stern, there hung a 15hp Elgin motor, an ancient thing all covered in barnacles and crud. I took a step back and then we all started laughing,” Jim says. “Allen said that Eric had pulled it in his crab pot and asked what he should do with it. Allen told him, ‘Well, Jim’s coming to town….’”

“People think they have to go to Seattle to get a boat built, but we’re doing it right here in Alaska.”

Brad Conley

Manager

General

Bay Welding Services

Ink meets the pages of this magazine on a printing press in Portland, Oregon. Years ago, Alaska Business grew to the point where no printers in our namesake state could deliver the quantity and quality needed monthly.

Thus, Portland-based Journal Graphics does the job. The vendor mails copies to subscribers hot off the presses, and the remaining bulk order rides north to Anchorage on a cargo barge (or, on a tight delivery deadline, by air freight). To reach readers’ hands, these pages travel far.

The transportation sector is, in a literal sense, enmeshed in these pages. In an even more literal sense, these pages describe the workings of the transportation and logistics businesses that keep Alaskans moving.

Landmark real estate & construction projects are represented by Schwabe.

We don’t just settle on knowing your industry. We live it.

Spotting trends and navigating turbulent waters can’t happen from behind a desk. The insights come when we put on our hard hats and meet our clients where they are.

My rust-coated Miniature Pinscher, Vin Vin the Min Pin (I call him Vinny), has traveled with me on airplanes four times—but only once in the cabin. During that first and only experience, Vinny silently chewed through his carrier, under the seat in front of mine. When the flight attendant—not me—noticed his head peeping out, she told me I must keep him down there. We both knew that Vinny was unlikely to comply.

“Fine,” she sighed, “hold him in his carrier on your lap.” The flight attendant ignored me for the rest of the flight. In my arms, Vinny relaxed. Later, walking in the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, struggling with my carry-ons and a dog held close to my torso in a carrier, I got looks of surprise. Mostly, people laughed at us.

Before Vinny, I had flown between Anchorage and Seattle with my silver Weimaraner, Clyde. On this flight when Vinny pulled his escape stunt, Clyde was in the plane’s baggage hold. Unlike Vinny, Clyde was calm while

Purrfect Journeys and Ruff Trips

Traveling with cats and dogs

By Sarah Reynolds Westin

flying, curling up in his kennel when I delivered him to the loading area. My cat, Millie, behaved similarly.

Vinny, Millie, and Moses, my honeycolored sled dog rescue, have caused me to learn more than I ever anticipated about traveling with pets.

It can be challenging, but one way to mitigate the stress is to connect with the right resources long before a trip begins.

Demand for Certificates

“Part of why I got my veterinarian degree is because it’s transportable,” says Dr. Ginny Kunch. “Once you have it, you can practice wherever you want.”

Until Kunch moved to Alaska, she was practicing in the United Kingdom, where she is a member of the Royal College. She returned stateside in 1997 and was accredited with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sign travel certificates.

“For Category I animals,” Kunch clarifies. “I’m only certified to do dogs and cats.”

Category II animal certificates cover all other animals. She calls them “exotic and pocket pets,” which range from hamsters to large zoo animals. “I have no idea what qualifies as ‘healthy and set to travel’ for an iguana or goat,” she says. People or organizations transporting those animals must seek different veterinarians.

Those certificates can be hard to obtain because of a labor shortage in the veterinary profession, which can lead to difficulties in setting a timely appointment to secure a travel certificate before leaving the state. According to Kunch, one reason is that, since the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has seen a 90 percent increase in pet owners. The last four years have not, however, seen a corresponding growth in people pursuing veterinary medicine.

Kunch recalls talking to colleagues in 2022 about how many pet owners were unable to secure travel certificates because of how busy the state’s veterinarians were.

Patricia Morales

| Alaska

Business

Their comments got her thinking. She wondered if a business that specialized in dog and cat travel certificates had enough of a local market. It didn’t take her long to realize that the demand was ample.

Specialty Shop

While Kunch signs travel certificates as part of her main job at Anchorage Veterinary Clinic, most of her dealings in that area stem from her side business, Alaska Pet Travel Certificates (APTC).

“One thing about pets’ travel certificates is that, after they get signed, they have to be filed with the right states,” Kunch says, “which can be very tedious and repetitive.” With no hint of sarcasm, she adds, “That alone appealed to me.”

This administrative component often discourages vets from offering this useful service. Kunch realized that she had the temperament to provide it for Alaskans’ pets. She could do it anytime, day or night. Plus, appointments would only require about ten minutes.

“All I have to do is a hands-on exam to make sure the animal is free of rabies

and infectious diseases and has its upto-date vaccinations,” Kunch says. She asks pet owners a couple questions related to travel, too.

Most customers have done this process “a million times” and simply need the signed and dated paper certificate. “You two are headed to Florida?” she says, mimicking a typical interaction. “You know about the fleas and ticks there? Okay, your cat looks great. Here you go.”

People find APTC through referrals from friends and veterinarians or online searches. “I do 45 to 50 certificates a month in off-season and 150 to 200 during the summers,” Kunch says, emphasizing that she doesn’t even advertise.

Appointments are available on Sundays, Thursdays, or “whenever we need to.” The only way to reach APTC is by email or online booking, which forwards the request to APTC’s email inbox.

APTC operates in a small rental space in Midtown Anchorage. The shop is unequivocally not a clinic. “Please reiterate that I only do travel certificates,”

“It might not seem like it, but it’s better for your pet to be anxious, panting, and barking than asleep.”

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Ginny Kunch Owner

Alaska Pet Travel Certificates

Kunch insists. “When someone says, ‘Fido has an ear infection…’ I tell them, ‘Nope, I don’t do that.’”

Start Preparing Early

Kunch used to think everyone traveling with pets was going on holiday. “The truth is,” she shares, “there are all kinds of reasons people travel with pets.” Those include bereavement, military and professional reassignments, seasonal work, pet reunification, and even domestic violence.

Kunch has some advice to make the process more painless. “The best thing you can do is plan ahead and get them used to their kennel,” she says. “The more you plan and the more they practice, the better.”

While the USDA Category I certification is required for every dog or cat traveling outside its state of residence, every state has its own regulations. Pet owners should check expectations for their destination.

International travel has more complexities. Kunch advises that traveling with a pet to another country entails a longer lead time at APTC because regulations and timelines vary.

“People ask me about airlines’ requirements,” Kunch says. “I don’t want to throw my clients under the bus, so I urge them to work directly with the

“I don’t want to throw my clients under the bus, so I urge them to work directly with the airline… The airlines want to work with their passengers, and I can say confidently they tend to take great care of the animals.”

Ginny Kunch Owner Alaska Pet Travel Certificates

airline.” Airline rules go beyond what the federal and state governments require. While jumping through these hoops may seem ridiculous, people comply because they want to use that airline and bring their pets.

“The airlines want to work with their passengers, and I can say confidently they tend to take great care of the animals,” Kunch adds. “Like Alaska Airlines, they have stickers so when you’re sitting in seat 14B, they give it to you and confirm Fluffy is safely stowed.”

Setbacks and Snags

Of course, people and their pets face setbacks sometimes. For instance, a passenger thinks an under-seat carrier is an acceptable size for an airline cabin, but it’s denied as too large. Snags like that can ruin an entire trip.

“I had a client call me from checkin,” Kunch recalls. “I’d signed and dated their travel certificate on a Sunday, but the customer service agent didn’t believe that could be completed on a weekend.” In this case, the vet vouched for her client.

To avoid problems in the future, she says, “Now, I tell everyone, ‘Try to get the most documentation you can before you start your trip.’”

Even when a travel certificate isn’t required, it never hurts to have one for backup. Another good option is going to the airport or ferry terminal in person with the pet and kennel while preparing for a trip. Staff can observe them and confirm whether the kennel is acceptable. Then, document

After examining the author's pooch, Moses, Ginny Kunch received a call from a client unable to find a certifying vet in Kodiak, ahead of a trip from Kodiak to Seattle via Anchorage.

Patricia Morales | Alaska Business

photo: one of our Petro 49 barges operating out of Ketchikan

everything in writing, including the names of people who helped and day the conversation occurred. Printing the travel companies’ rules or loading the document on a phone may help, too, in a pinch.

Kunch recommends making sure pets receive vaccines several days before travel to ensure they don’t have reactions, whether the dog or cat is being transported by plane, boat, or car. “The last thing any of us want is for the animal to have a drop in their blood pressure or become otherwise unstable,” Kunch says. The same applies for new medications.

APTC’s clients may need to see their regular vet before seeing Kunch. Her business doesn’t provide any shots and won’t prescribe anything new within two days of travel, including sedatives.

“I flew my dog from Oregon to Alaska once,” she recounts, “and said to the flight attendant he was calm because he had a little ‘something,’” The crew member put her hands over her ears and sang, “La, la, la, la…I didn’t hear that.” Kunch had been unaware that airlines prohibit sedation.

“Besides,” the vet continues, “It might not seem like it, but it’s better for your pet to be anxious, panting, and barking than asleep.”

Let My Sled Dog Go

Recently, I took my dog Moses on a trip, flying among many states over the course of several months. In the middle of our adventure, one morning before my plane departed, I was shocked to discover the airline refused to accept my 24hour online check-in because I was tra velling with a pet.

“I called the 800-number and was told the weather predicted the high temperature for the day, expected to peak around 1 p.m. the next afternoon, to be 1 degree above their cut-off for animal transport,” I relayed to Kunch.

“The airline could not be persuaded to allow Moses, even though my itinerary had us checking into the airport around 3:30 a.m. when it would still be about 15 degrees below their cut-off.”

“That definitely can happen,” she told me. “In those circumstances, there seems to be no consistency.”

For that reason, Kunch gives customers hardcopies of temperature acclimation certificates with APTC’s logo, verifying a specific animal is cleared to sit on a runway anywhere between 0°F and 85°F.

“Even still, one client called me and said the airport wouldn’t accept it,” she relates. The person’s cat got to

Millie, the author's cat, is delighted to find a vet specializing in travel certificates. A shortage of veterinarians makes appointments hard to schedule, and many vets would rather not deal with the extra paperwork.

Patricia Morales | Alaska Business

board the plane since it was traveling in the cabin, but their dog had to fly on a different plane.

Once at their destinations, travelers and pets can both breathe sighs of relief and stretch their legs. “Most dogs and cats won’t eat or drink on flights unless they’re experienced. So they might be jittery, but it won’t last long,” Kunch says.

“I mean, even I’m a little stressed and traumatized after traveling,” she adds with a chuckle. “If it takes me a while to get rested and feel like I’m back to myself, then it’s fair to assume the same for our pets.” Overall, though, animals are adaptable, Kunch emphasizes. While pet owners might overly worry about their comfort, the pets likely have moved on and forgotten any disple asures before we do.

Dogs’ and cats’ resilience and loyalty suit human needs as much as it does the animals’ themselves—or, at least, that’s how it seems to me. This fact likely underscores why, no matter how wonderful a greeting at a terminal is after a long trip, nothing quite compares to having your “fur baby” prance around and lick your face when you reunite. Which is why, I, for one, bring my pets along.

The First Choice to the Last Frontier

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Rural Supply Lines

Ingenuity and technology get Alaskans what they need

By Gretchen Wehmhoff

Fo r the retailers, wholesalers, and distributors who keep shelves stocked in rural Alaska, supply lines are long and thin, tying bush communities together like a lacy logistical web.

Begin tracing the path in Anchorage. The Port of Alaska, now the Don Young Port of Alaska, receives more than 4 million tons of cargo and fuel every year. The yearround port, owned and operated by the Municipality of Anchorage, is the major marine hub in the state and supports deep-water vessels. Two major carriers, Matson Navigation and TOTE Maritime Alaska, each bring container ships twice a week, originating from the Port of Tacoma.

Arriving cargo enters a cooperative system connecting to the Alaska Railroad via a rail spur, air cargo facilities at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and trucks moving freight to communities along the road system.

Outside of the road system, delivery methods must be more inventive.

The Rivers

Store owner Joe Huhndorf of Galena Hardware depends on summer barges. Ga lena is on the Yukon

River, downstream of its confluence with the Tanana River, two major rivers navigated by Ruby Marine.

“We rely on barges, when that's available, from about the first of June to about the end of August. And we try to get as much bargeable stuff as we can during that time,” Huhndorf says.

Huhndorf expects the first barge of the season at the end of May, usually a fuel run heading downstream. The barge may move on down the Yukon as far as St. Mary’s and Marshall. The next barge stopping in Galena might not be until the middle of July.

Ruby Marine is situated in Nenana, a junction of the Tanana River with the Alaska Railroad and the Parks Highway. The company operates several routes up and down the Innoko, Koyukuk, Tanana, and Yukon rivers.

What Huhndorf can’t get on a Ruby Marine barge, his supplier arranges to be sent by bypass mail.

Vital Lifeline

Bypass mail works to “bypass” the retail stations of the US Postal Service (USPS). There is a 1,000-pound

minimum for the program. The customer takes freight to one of the USPS-approved shipping companies to be processed, labeled, weighed, and (in most cases) placed on pallets and shrink wrapped. The shipping company contacts USPS with the details, and the post office directs the freight to one of several air cargo groups, often rotating air carriers.

When cargo arrives at an airport that can handle larger planes, such as Galena, the load is then separated and sent to smaller air carriers or bush services based on the USPS directions.

Bypass mail has been in use since 1972. Specific to Alaska, the program has been a controversial practice of the postal service, often threatened by budget cuts or claims that it costs USPS too much. Opponents see losses to the postal service, claiming private carriers are benefitting from federal largesse. Alaska’s congressional delegation often comes to its defense, such as in 2020 when the newly appointed US Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy considered eliminating bypass mail.

“Around about December, we pretty much find out that we depleted our inventory of beverages, for example, off the barge. Then we have to start flying it in.”

Mike McNally Nome Branch Manager Alask a Commercial Company

Local officials, legislators, and residents of Western Alaska jumped into action, educating media and lawmakers thousands of miles away from their small communities and defending the program. The delegation issued a statement reminding DeJoy that bypass mail is essential and equitable.

“We must be clear: the USPS is a vital lifeline to countless Alaskans, from our population centers to the farthest reaches of our vast state. Throughout the years, the Alaska delegation has defended mail delivery to rural Alaska. We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again. Simply put, the bypass mail program saves the Postal Service money and fulfills the USPS’ Universal Service requirement,” the statement said.

Huhndorf, who grew up in Galena, spent decades as a bush pilot flying for multiple air services, giving him insight on moving freight and goods to small towns and villages in the Yukon watershed.

Galena Hardware is the closest hardware store to most communities along the Yukon River. Huhndorf often gets orders from village customers for items as small as door hinges or power tools. He packages and labels the items, takes payment over the phone, and then drives it three miles to the air carrier the customer requested, usually Everts Air Cargo or Wright Air Service.

The small carrier puts the item on the next plane headed that direction. The airline then phones the destination customer, who pays for shipping at the carrier when the package arrives.

Huhndorf contrasts the bypass process to ordinary mail. “If you want to mail something to Kaltag, just 60 miles downriver, it goes from Galena to Fairbanks, then it is trucked down to the Anchorage sorting facility, then sent back to Fairbanks to be routed to Kaltag,” Huhndorf says.

Coastal Access

During the summer months, the Bering Sea ice opens to barge traffic.

Barges from Tacoma, Seattle, and other West Coast ports travel across the Gulf of Alaska to Kodiak, Dutch Harbor, and multiple ports along the Aleutian Islands and the west coast of Alaska.

Alaska Marine Lines provides barge service between May and October to Bristol Bay fishing communities like Dillingham and Naknek, as well as Nome, Kotzebue, and farther north to Arctic towns of Wainwright, Utqiaġvik, Prudhoe Bay, and Kaktovik. The company services sixty-five smaller communities along the way.

Nome is another hub with barge traffic in the summer, bound for Nome residents, surrounding villages, and Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait.

Just as Huhndorf sends products to smaller communities via bush planes, Nome businesses do the same.

Nome’s Alaska Commercial Company (AC) store, one of the larger AC stores in Alaska, responds to orders from nearby villages daily.

“We have an expediter who runs out to the airport a couple of times a day and takes the customer's orders directly to the airlines that fly up to their village. Do that every day, every day,” Nome AC branch manager Mike McNally says.

McNally says getting the order right for the summer barge season is important. There are items that cannot be shipped in airplanes, such as strikeanywhere matches or aerosol products like cooking spray. Those items must be packaged and shipped via barge.

Some barge items run out more quickly than others, like soda pop.

“Around about December, we pretty much find out that we depleted our inventory of beverages, for example, off the barge. Then we have to start flying it in,” McNally says.

Nome is also the staging area for supplies headed out to Diomede on Little Diomede Island. The only way to Diomede is via helicopter; ice that formerly served as a runway for airplanes in the winter has, over the past decade, become dangerously thin. Bering Air hopes to resume flights if the ice ever thickens. Until then, Pathfinder Aviation flies federally subsidized routes using its Bell 212 helicopters, more often deployed for firefighting or utility missions like aerial surveys rather than carrying freight or passengers.

The Galena Hardware store supplies tools and materials to villages up and down the middle Yukon River.

Joe Huhndorf

Feeding Far Afield

US Foods (USF) supplies food and restaurant equipment. The national company manages the statewide distribution of cargo out of a center in Anchorage. Twice a week, trucks drive through the Brooks Range on the Dalton Highway. For shipments north of the Arctic Circle, containers need insulated pallet covers for colder temperatures. Furthermore, trucks are equipped with special protection against calcium and dust on the haul road.

USF also flies cargo via air five days a week out of Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The most far-flung destination USF services is Eareckson Air Station on Shemya Island near the end of the Aleutian Chain.

In 2019, USF acquired SGA Food Group, which includes Food Services of America, a longtime distributor in Anchorage. USF believes the years on the job gives them an advantage when it comes to moving daily and weekly to remote parts of Alaska, thanks to relationships with air and river carriers.

“We have both the experience and people who know and understand intra- and interstate Alaska logistics to safely deliver quality multi-temperature food products and services anywhere in the state of Alaska,” says USF Area President Rusty Storjohann.

Smooth Passage

One part of Alaska relatively independent from the logistical web centered on Anchorage is Southeast. Coastal communities are linked by the labyrinthine waterways of the Inside Passage, and most have regular service from the Alaska Marine Highway System. State ferries form part of the supply chain in t he Panhandle region.

For example, recent landslides in Wrangell required heavy equipment to clean up. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities can drive most machinery onto its ferries, expediting essential help and supplies.

In Skagway, heavy snowfall closed the Klondike Highway just as a large snowblower broke down. The weather opened up in Upper Lynn Canal just

long enough to load a borrowed blower from Haines and sail it to Skagway, 20 miles north.

For more mundane household items, Southeast shoppers can order directly from Juneau stores. Online apps allow for delivery to an airline’s airport address. Alaska Seaplanes will fly those orders to smaller communities, arranging payment based on weight upon customer pickup.

Logistics are complicated at a glance, but moving things through Alaska to rural areas is a routine process for Alaskans who rely on barges, ships, cargo planes and small bush planes, snowmachines, and ATVs to get mail and supplies. It takes more than one company to get from a large hub to a village of thirty people.

It also takes Alaskans who understand the changing weather and seas, who have the experience to solve problems. The system started long before jets and helicopters. It’s local ingenuity with a touch of technology that advanced the network to a smoothmoving machine working to get all Alaskans what they need.

Delivering Anchorage’s Promise

New infrastructure for strategic logistics

By Jamey Bradbury

Every Alaskan has a shipping story: the package that never came, the item that cost more to ship than to purchase, the full online cart that was abandoned when the buyer learned the seller won’t even ship to Alaska. Domestic shippers seem to treat the 49th state like a foreign country, which is especially galling given Anchorage’s centrality to global air cargo.

Local and national carriers and retailers are working to change this. With Amazon’s first ground-based delivery station in Alaska now open, Anchorage and surrounding areas are already seeing faster delivery of packages. Investments and new infrastructure from FedEx Express and NorthLink Aviation also promise to streamline the flow of goods in and out of Alaska.

A Localized Approach

Amazon’s new delivery station opened in Anchorage last November as part of a network the retailer is creating to augment its ful fillment operations.

Prior to two years ago, Amazon relied on a nationwide fulfillment network. This meant that if a customer in Seattle ordered a skillet from Amazon, and the fastest way to get the skillet to that customer was to ship it from Delaware, that item would make a cross-country trek to arrive at the customer’s doorstep.

For Alaskans, this meant packages might come from anywhere— sometimes taking up to two weeks or more to arrive from far-flung origins. An order filled through Amazon’s nationwide model was diverted into the

greater shipping and receiving network, passing through one or more thirdparty carriers, including UPS, FedEx, or the US Postal Service.

That model shifted recently to a more regionalized approach, establishing delivery stations like the one in Anchorage. Amazon stocks these centers with a broad but localized selection of goods. As goods move from the regional fulfillment center to local delivery stations, the company keeps a package within its own shipping system, following an item all the way to the last mile.

This change in Amazon’s logistics strategy not only improves the company’s transportation costs and reduces environmental impacts—it translates to lower costs and faster deliveries for customers.

Anchorage’s Amazon Prime customers, in particular, benefit from their membership.

“One of the key aspects of Amazon Prime is that, on certain goods, you get free shipping,” says Easton Craft, economic development manager for Amazon’s Northwest Region. “And one of the challenges with Alaska is that shipping has been onerous over the years—you’d order something and pay basically equal value for shipping. With the delivery station, Amazon can provide a broader range of selection and faster delivery through the Prime membership.”

What Alaskans Want

Living up to the promise of twoday or even 24-hour delivery involves more than simple logistics. The establishment and operation of the new delivery station has involved heavy research into the high-demand goods specific to Alaskans.

“The things that are readily available in the Pacific Northwest in winter aren’t going to be the same items that you’re going to see in Florida,” explains

Leigh Anne Gullett, Amazon’s Pacific Northwest Region public relations manager. “Part of delivering packages on a consistent and predictable basis is constantly looking at and adjusting inventory in the regions to make sure that they have the right items as close to the customers as possible.”

Once Amazon’s algorithm has enough information to predict that Alaskans will want—waders in the summer or ice melt in the winter—the next step is ensuring those items are on site and readily available.

“When we talk about things like delivering faster for our customers, that speed is built into all our systems,” Gullett says. “I would say we’ve cut those delivery speeds in half on average, but over time, as the new facility gets fully ramped up, customers will see packages on their doorsteps even faster.”

That speed does not necessarily involve frenzied workers scurrying across vast spaces to fetch an endless list of items. Rather, inside Anchorage’s 66,000-foot delivery station, the process is mostly automated.

A conveyance system brings items to fulfillment associates, who use hand scanners to sort packages into zippered bags. The bags are sorted into carts organized by delivery route; when delivery trucks arrive, the carts are staged and loaded into the vehicles. Once trucks are loaded, they depart for their delivery routes simultaneously. The whole process happens in waves throughout the morning.

Craft says, “It’s a very wellorchestrated ballet.”

Repetitive logistics behind the scenes at the delivery station aren’t just about efficiency and speed. Craft adds, “Especially in a location like Alaska, where it’s very dark for a good portion of the year, the repetition in the process for moving a package from point A to point B helps guarantee that there is as little variability as possible to ensure those good habits of safe operations.”

Opportunities for Entrepreneurs

Even with advances in automation, none of this happens without boots on the ground. As part of the delivery

station’s gradual ramp-up to full operations, Amazon has been hiring and training local employees as fulfillment associates. While most jobs created by Amazon’s new facility have been entry-level, hourly positions, Gullett emphasizes that there are broad opportunities for growth within the company—as well as for independent entrepreneurs.

Through Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner program, individuals work with Amazon business coaches to create and operate their own delivery business. Once an entrepreneur is approved as a Delivery Service Partner, they begin serving Amazon delivery routes while receiving additional mentoring, vehicle maintenance, and other support.

“It’s a great opportunity, and anyone can apply. We also do outreach within specific groups like women, military veterans, indigenous people, and minority-owned businesses with the hope that they’ll take advantage of this program,” Craft says.

As the Anchorage delivery station reaches full operation, job opportunities and faster delivery will open up beyond Anchorage proper. Amazon plans to widen the service area to Wasilla; an additional delivery site is being developed for Fairbanks, as well.

Anchorage’s Logistics Potential

When Amazon moved into the vacant Sears warehouse in Midtown, the company tapped into an Anchorage workforce for the warehousing and shipping sector that has been developed over decades. That labor pipeline has supported Federal Express since 1989, after the company bought Flying Tiger Line to expand into international freight.

The world’s largest cargo airline rebranded as FedEx Express in 2000. To augment operations at its international hub in Anchorage, FedEx Express is building a Domestic Operations Center at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. That facility will allow the company to split its domestic sorting away from its international cargo.

“The new facility enables us to help ensure the optimal path for each package and increase efficiencies while providing the same reliable service and commitments to our customers,” says

A former Sears warehouse at Dowling Road and Old Seward Highway stood empty for years until Amazon converted it into its first Alaska ground delivery station. The company credits road improvements that made the property more useable.

Kerry Tasker

Dale Shaw, managing director for FedEx Express Alaska Operations.

With its existing international hub and eleven FedEx Express stations, plus the new sorting facility, FedEx is just one of several companies investing in logistics infrastructure at the airport. UPS is expanding its facility, too, while Alaska Cargo and Cold Storage has plans for a new warehouse.

As the fourth busiest cargo airport in the world (after Hong Kong, Shanghai, and FedEx Express headquarters in Memphis), Anchorage’s airport has the potential to deliver goods more quickly to consumers in Alaska and into the Lower 48—but not without additional infrastructure, says Sean Dolan, CEO of NorthLink Aviation, a new company constructing a cargo terminal on the airport’s 1 2-acre south campus.

“If you’re not FedEx or UPS, you can’t use Anchorage to its full potential as a logistics hub because there’s no infrastructure, there’s no customs clearance,” Dolan explains. “What we’re really trying to do is allow the other

carriers to do what UPS and FedEx are doing—without having to make that big capital investment themselves.”

‘Crawl, Walk, Run’ NorthLink’s planned terminal will include fifteen hardstands—parking spots for cargo planes—eleven of which will be “power through,” allowing planes to use their own engines to pull into and out of the spaces; the remaining four hardstands will be push-back. A 90,000-square-foot warehouse with cold storage and 40,000 square feet of office space will equip NorthLink to support carriers and facilitate customs cleared cargo coming into the United States.

When talking about Anchorage’s possibilities as a major logistics hub, Dolan uses a “crawl, walk, run” metaphor: By making small improvements to existing practices, NorthLink hopes to show carriers how they can save money and create environmental gains— enabling the company to eventually effect greater change.

Dolan provides the example of freighter aircraft that run auxiliary power units while on the ground. “That

creates an immense amount of CO2, NOx emissions, and creates a lot of noise,” he says. “It’s really economically inefficient because burning jet fuel to create electricity versus just plugging into the grid—that’s not a great trade.”

As NorthLink translates existing practices into more efficient operations, it will open the doors to additional improvements, like facilitating customs clearance so that foreign planes passing through Anchorage can transport cargo anywhere in the United States. Alternatively, portions of a non-US plane’s cargo could be cleared and passed on to the postal service.

“Instead of paying for an international parcel that’s got all this regulatory stuff associated with it, you’re now just taking a customscleared package and handing it to the post office,” Dolan describes. “As we transition from ‘walking’ to ‘running,’ that’s when we start to really unlock the full value of Anchorage.”

Alaska’s Strategic Role

Anchorage’s role as a major logistics hub isn’t just about items coming into

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the United States. Dolan points out that, as things are, high-value seafood from Alaska’s waters is currently routed through Seattle on its way to Asia.

“That is criminal, in my view, because it should come to Anchorage and fly out of Anchorage,” he says.

Instead, NorthLink’s warehouse, which will have cold storage, could allow for shipping directly to Asian markets. Dolan states that NorthLink air carrier customers currently often fly westbound 50 to 60 percent full; he sees a future in which those carriers could catch one of four or five daily flights to Hong Kong or an equal number of flights to Shanghai, Tokyo, and Seoul.

“These freighters are coming in and out of Anchorage on an hourly basis,” Dolan says, noting that making use of these flights is part of the “run” phase of building the airport’s capacity. “There’s a lot of work that we’re doing to get all those pieces together. [But] I think that if we can take a percentage of the international cargo volume coming through the airport and optimize how it gets to end users, we will have created a lot of value for the Alaska economy. And I think that it will open people’s eyes to the strategic importance of Alaska and Anchorage in particular.”

Supporting Small Carriers

NorthLink’s new terminal will allow smaller carriers to take advantage of the uptick in e-commerce, the biggest driver of the air cargo industry. Recent statistics suggest that e-commerce will continue to grow, potentially accounting for as much as 20 to 30 percent of total commerce volumes by 2027.

In addition to new infrastructure, NorthLink’s facility will provide dual-hydrant fueling systems and ground service equipment facilities, establishing an operations base where carriers can load and unload cargo and de-ice planes.

NorthLink is also developing a solution for the recovery and recycling of de-icing glycol for the entire airport. Currently, Dolan says, de-icing fluid flows through the storm water system and into waters near the airport.

“De-icing fluid is quite valuable,” Dolan points out. “With this solution,

NorthLink Aviation

we’ll be able to recycle it and restore it back to AMS 1424 Type I de-icing fluid that can actually go right back onto the planes—and can be recycled an infinite number of times.”

Recycling de-icing fluid, building new infrastructure, establishing local sorting facilities, supporting the growth

of small delivery businesses: The logistics of moving cargo through the state must balance all these elements. Thanks to investments by companies like Amazon, NorthLink, FedEx Express, and others, Anchorage is steadily growing its potential as a major international cargo hub.

One innovation at the NorthLink Aviation facility is plumbing to capture runoff containing glycol de-icing fluid, which can be reused indefinitely.

NorthLink Aviation’s new airport terminal will include 130,000 square feet of warehouse and office space and fifteen hardstands for airplane parking.

MCG Explore Design

On Alaska’s North Slope, the terrain, climate, and remote setting can make movement of supplies, equipment, and other cargo challenging. Lynden’s diverse family of companies offers a comprehensive solution. Lynden enables North Slope customers to access multi-modal transportation and logistics services from a single source, so they can ship freight efficiently, seamlessly, and safely.

Lynden has a vast fleet of company-owned equipment, including trucks, barges, landing craft, hovercraft, Hercules aircraft, PistenBully snowcats, specialized equipment, and trailers and containers. Whether by land, sea, and/or air, customers can use Lynden’s transportation options to ship almost any size and type of cargo.

Lynden tailors execution strategies to customers’ budget and timetable while advocating this pragmatic philosophy: pay for the speed you need. “You tell us when it’s ready to ship and when you want it delivered, and we’ll figure out the rest,” says Jacob Harrison, Corporate Account Manager for Lynden Transport, part of the Lynden family of companies. “On any given day, we’re combining barge, truck, and air capabilities

Lynden Extensive North Slope Logistics

to move freight to the North Slope as efficiently and effectively as possible.”

FINDING A SOLUTION

On the North Slope, Lynden’s customers are primarily oil field related, but they also include construction companies and local communities. Lynden’s multi-modal transportation capabilities give customers the flexibility to move a small 1-pound box or massive 200,000-pound haul. “We don’t say no; we say how,” Harrison says. “If we can’t do it, we will partner with someone who can. Our goal is to design the best solution for customers and earn their trust for additional future projects.”

For instance, Lynden can haul on the highway up to 74,000 pounds legally on its five-axle equipment. With

service centers in Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay, Lynden designs equipment that is lighter and can carry more weight and volume. This reduces load counts while helping mitigate the limited availability of skilled truck drivers prepared for Haul Road conditions. “We work to be as efficient as possible; we continually push to improve,” Harrison says.

When customers require routine expedited delivery, Lynden QuickTrans service can provide the economy of truck freight with the speed of air. QuickTrans offers teamdriver highway service between the Seattle/Tacoma area and Prudhoe Bay, Fairbanks, and other key locations in Alaska.

SUPPORT SERVICES

Lynden companies have provided support to Alaska oil and gas customers for decades,

by Lynden

and that assistance goes beyond just getting freight to the North Slope. Lynden Oilfield Services, based in Deadhorse, supports exploration, production, and oil field service companies. These critical services include support for drilling contractors, chemical suppliers, camps, construction, and various phases of resource activity. This entails water, fuel, and bulk liquid handling as well as handling materials in Lynden’s bulk tanks or on-site storage silos.

Additionally, Lynden supports customers with state-of-theart, online tools that provide real-time, in-transit shipment updates. “We are always mindful of meeting customers’ needs and delivery dates,” Harrison says. “We are focused on serving Alaska.”

Photos

Land, Sea, and Air Family

Saltchuk companies mark 49 years in the 49th state

By Hilary Reeves

In September of 1975, the containership SS Great Land , owned and operated by up-and-coming domestic shipping company Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE), left Seattle on her maiden voyage to Anchorage. Seven years later, a group of investors came together to form a new partnership to acquire TOTE and its ocean-liner service. They named their partnership Saltchuk, Chinook jargon for “saltwater.”

Saltchuk’s purchase of TOTE in 1982 was followed by the acquisition of a portfolio of Alaska-based operating companies, all integral to the state’s critical infrastructure and supply chain.

“It’s humbling and exciting to be a Saltchuk company in Alaska,” says Art Dahlin, vice president and Alaska general manager for TOTE. “If you live in Alaska, the car you drive, the food you eat, and the clothes you wear likely arrived on a TOTE ship. Once the ship is docked at the port, produce from a trailer on board can be on the shelves of your local grocery store within two hours. Our vessels also serve the oil and gas industry, the mining industry, and the military—vital segments of the Alaska economy.”

Those sentiments are echoed by Dahlin’s counterpart at Cook Inlet Tug & Barge (CITB), Jeff Johnson. “Saltchuk companies in Alaska all offer unique and necessary services to keep supplies, infrastructure, and the Alaskan way of life moving forward,” says Johnson, CITB president and a fourthgeneration Alaskan. “What we do matters because it’s our own families, friends, neighbors, and fellow Alaskans who benefit from what we do.”

From Dabbling to Diversifying

In 1956, Mike Garvey skipped his high school prom and graduation, instead driving from Seattle to Fairbanks and catching a bush plane to Nome to start work for the US Smelting, Refining and Mining Co., a gold mining operation.

Garvey grew up spending summers in Alaska, where his aunt and uncle lived. But that summer, when he looked

around Nome, all he saw was powdered milk, canned fruits and vegetables—and an opportunity.

In 1966, two years after graduating from the University of Washington’s law school, Garvey co-founded a law firm with classmates Bill Houger and Kenneth Schubert. Unable to find clients, Garvey began dabbling in the buying and selling of companies, eventually gathering investors to purchase the floundering TOTE—Bob McMillen, Ev Trout, and Len Shapiro were employed at TOTE in 1982; Stan Barer, Garvey, and Fred Goldberg were outside investors.

TOTE lost money for nine consecutive years before turning a profit. But as oil flowed through the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, the demand for goods from the Lower 48 grew and, with it, TOTE’s profitability.

In 2000, Saltchuk diversified into energy distribution, adding Delta Western Petroleum and, in 2005, Inlet Energy to its portfolio. One year later, Saltchuk’s first air cargo company, Northern Air Cargo, joined the family alongside sister company Northern Air Maintenance Services. In 2011, Saltchuk acquired CITB, followed by iconic Alaska trucking company Carlile Transportation in 2013, Alaska Petroleum Distributing in 2019, and Naniq Global Logistics in 2020. Bush freight carrier Ryan Air joined the Saltchuk family of companies in 2022, adding eight hubs and access to seventy-two remote, rural communities, “closing the loop” on Saltchuk’s end-toend supply chain in the state.

“Every day, we proudly meet our mission to raise the quality of life for the communities we serve,” said Ryan Air President Lee Ryan, whose grandparents started Ryan Air in Unalakleet more than seventy years ago. “We provide residents of the smallest villages in our state access to goods, but even more importantly, they’re able to receive the goods in the condition they expected when they ordered them.”

Much like Garvey witnessed in Nome, Ryan recalls his early childhood in a remote village almost completely devoid of fresh produce.

“When I was growing up, if bananas showed up at all, they were already ready for banana bread,” he says with a laugh. “The lettuce was crystallized; the tomatoes were halfway to tomato sauce.

PORT OF KALAMA CRUISE SHIP DOCK KALAMA, WASHINGTON

Nowadays, thanks in part to modern technology and the strengthening of the supply chain here, people can receive produce that’s fresh and ice cream that’s frozen. They’re able to support their subsistence lifestyle with Western food products like anyone living in a city. And that can make a big difference in people’s health and quality of life.”

In all, Saltchuk boasts thirty-four operating companies across the country, the Caribbean, and South America, spanning the freight, energy, and marine transportation industries. Nine Saltchuk companies serve Alaska, representing 47 percent of the company’s $2.1 billion worth of fixed assets and 30 percent of its 2023 $4.8 billion combined annual revenue.

Unique Umbrella

Although united under one corporate umbrella, Saltchuk has decentralized decision-making, somewhat uniquely in the transportation and logistics sector.

“Our strength is in our independence and our autonomy,” says Dave Karp, senior vice president and managing director of Saltchuk in Alaska. “Most of our thirty-four operating companies

retained their local leadership teams after joining our family of companies. Within a set of shared values and parameters, decisions are made by the people who know the market best.”

Saltchuk also sees some value in not vertically integrating all of its business lines.

“Since Saltchuk is not vertically integrated, we are better able to customize our services to what is best for our customers,” Dahlin explains.

“At times, this means a solution that involves sister companies. Other times, it makes more sense to use other key partners. In the end, our goal is to be best in class in the markets we serve. Saltchuk’s structure allows us to do that.”

One area where the company integrated only partially is its fuels distribution services. Saltchuk formed NorthStar Energy (NSE) in 2006 as its energy business unit overseeing Alaska Petroleum, Delta Western, and Inlet Energy in Alaska. Henry Palmer is the president of NSE’s Alaska energy companies.

“Recently, sizable market shifts and logistic constraints have become the norm instead of a rarity, and the

task of reliably delivering to remote communities on and off the road system has become much more challenging,” Palmer says. “Saltchuk’s decision to not vertically integrate allows our Alaska companies to respond quickly to significant shifts in customer demand by going to market and partnering with vendors best suited to meet the customer’s needs for the event duration. Saltchuk companies have the flexibility and agency to always do what is in the best interest of their customers.”

Ongoing Investments

NSE has made sizeable portfolio changes in recent years. Delta Western entered the Ketchikan market to expand services in Southeast and purchased a new barge to provide greater redundancy and flexibility for non-road-system customers. The acquisition of Alaska Petroleum in 2019 increased NSE’s presence on the northern road system. At Inlet Energy, NSE built a best-in-class bulk lubricant tank farm to ensure reliable access to its business partners.

Investments like these help Saltchuk companies ensure year-round stability. Another example is the TOTE fleet.

By revenue, Saltchuk ranks as the largest family-owned company based in Washington. About $1.4 billion of its $4.8 billion annual revenue comes from its Alaska business lines, such as Northern Air Cargo, established in 1956 and acquired by Saltchuk as its first aviation arm.

Northern Air Cargo

“TOTE’s Orca Class vessels were built for Alaska,” Dahlin explains. “They are ice-classed, have redundant systems, and hold freight that is not exposed to the weather during the transit between Tacoma and Anchorage. The purpose of this design is to consistently serve Alaska, which TOTE has been doing for forty-nine years.”

Meanwhile, since Anchorage and Cook Inlet experience the secondlargest tidal change in the world— up to 38 feet of tidal change in six hours—CITB invested in four state-of-the-art Z-drive “tractor tugs” and a floating facility along the Anchorage waterfront that allows the company to work yearroun d in severe weather.

“In the past five years, we’ve taken great strides to place ourselves as the supplier of choice for shallowwater capable vessels,” Johnson says. “We’ve acquired five unique tugs operating in Western Alaska and along the Arctic coastline, from Bristol Bay to the Northern Canadian border. Our tugs and highly skilled crews are uniquely placed and capable of helping the construction, mining, government, and oil and gas industries during the typically short ice- free summer season.”

Johnson adds that CITB recently renewed its commitment to the Port of Seward by retiring an older tug and chartering in a newer one to continue providing support to longtime customers in Seward. Last year, the company grew its Seward fleet and began operation of a specially built Pilot Boat, creating both a safer and more efficient way to transfer ship pilots to and from the cruise line vessels and cargo ships that arrive.

‘We Are Here’

Saltchuk companies perform vital functions for the supply chain and emergency services. For example, when remnants of Typhoon Merbok struck the coast in 2022, Ryan Air pilots were airborne as soon as the storm cleared, bringing pallets of water to remote villages.

“Our sister company [Northern Air Cargo] brought the donated water to Nome, but we know in a situation like that, we’re the only ones with the infrastructure to deliver to the bush,”

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Ryan says. “I got on the phone with Dave [Karp] while the storm was still raging. He asked, ‘What are the villagers going to need?’ and I told him they needed potable drinking water yesterday, not tomorrow.”

The responsibility goes beyond air cargo. “TOTE and the whole Saltchuk family of companies are committed to Alaskans in times of emergency,” Dahlin says. “With our dedicated terminals and purpose-built ships, we did not see the supply chain disruptions to Alaska during the COVID pandemic that major West Coast ports saw, with ships waiting weeks to unload. We worked with our employees, the heart of our company, to adapt processes to ensure we could safely serve the people of Alaska.”

With short fuel delivery windows between storm systems and freeze cycles, NSE is a lifeline to the families and communities of Alaska.

“Limited supplier options in many of our communities mean our operations must be reliable and resilient. Our teams operate around

the clock to provide access to quality fuel that sustains rural Alaskan life,” Palmer says.

Johnson agrees. “Being wholly Alaska-based and operated—we are here,” he says. “We cooperate with the Ted Stevens [Anchorage International] Airport to assure vessel support should there be a waterborne aviation incident, as well as with the Port of Alaska where, after the November 2018 earthquake, CITB provided a tug to survey the port and its terminals, providing a safe platform for engineers to assess the structure integrity for a quick resumption of port services desperately neede d for all Alaskans.”

To that, Ryan adds, “What people don’t understand is that there are a lot of people who want to help when disaster strikes. But it’s not just that we want to help. It’s that our team is from these villages. They are agents in these villages. We know the long-term impact of losing your camp, of losing where your grandparents lived. We feel that. We know that.”

Karp calls Saltchuk a “long-term investor in Alaska,” and Dahlin agrees. “From our first sailing in 1975 to our 5,000th sailing to Alaska earlier this year, we are committed to the State of Alaska,” he says.

And that goes for the component companies that have become part of the Saltchuk structure. “We’ve been a family company for more than seventy years,” Ryan says. “We know that, to have an impact beyond our current scope, we need partners. Fortunately, our new family, our Saltchuk family, is allowing us to prepare for the next seventy years of serving Alaska.”

Hilary Reeves, based in the greater Seattle area, is a staff writer for the Saltchuk Family of Companies. She has worked as a newspaper reporter and as managing editor of The Business Examiner, a newspaper covering south Puget Sound. She maintains the People of Saltchuk blog.

To refuel the generator for AT&T's cell tower atop Mt. Ripinski overlooking Haines, helicopter crews make multiple runs with a fuel bladder. Just part of the petroleum distribution services under the Saltchuk umbrella.

Delta Western

Buses and other critical cargo for life in Alaska are shipped to the state on TOTE's custom built, rollon/roll-off Orca Class vessels.

TOTE

In 2022, Saltchuk acquired Ryan Air, started in Unalakleet in 1953.

Melanie Kobuk | Ryan Air

Alaska Airlines Spreads Its Wings

New planes and routes take passengers farther

By Sarah Reynolds Westin

East Coast destinations have been part of the Alaska Airlines route structure since 2001, when the carrier acquired its first Boeing 737-900 that could fly from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Washington, DC. Further cross-country jaunts to Philadelphia, Orlando, and Fort Lauderdale were added in the following decade, all out of SEA. Today, Alaska Airlines connects to Baltimore, Boston, Newark, and other points east from both SEA and the company’s pre-1953 home base in Anchorage.

This month, though, is the first time Alaska Airlines is flying nonstop from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) to John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York City.

And what a flight! Alaska Airlines’ longest route had been from SEA to Nassau Bay in The Bahamas. However, the ANC to JFK flight is calculated to take seven hours and five minutes—which is nearly an hour longer than the carrier’s previous record holder.

One more example of “only in Alaska,” according to Marilyn Romano, Alaska regional vice president for Alaska Airlines. “We’re really excited to give Alaskans that,” she says.

Extended Range

The ANC-JFK route is the fourteenth nonstop flight from Alaska to places out of state, including Everett, Washington; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco; Los Angeles; San Diego; Honolulu; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Salt Lake City; Minneapolis; Denver; Chicago; and the airline’s original interstate connection between Anchorage and Seattle.

The inaugural flight to JFK on June 13 has a scheduled arrival time of 7:05 a.m. Eastern. The daily connection is being offered only through the summer of 2024.

“We operate new routes like this for a short period of time because it gives us an opportunity to see how the route performs,” Romano says. “Once we have enough information, then we can extend it or change the way we fly it.”

Trial routes and seasonal flight increases often occur in specific month ranges. Alaska Airlines has added twenty-two additional flights across North and Central America between May and September 2024, based on travel demands.

“Ramping up usually happens in summer because there’s more south and north flow,” explains Romano. “We’ll still have our yearly Fairbanks or Juneau to Seattle routes. Once passengers on those flights—or the Anchorage ones, for that matter— are at SEA, they can take advantage of all our other nonstop flights.”

She mentions that Alaska Airlines has added a new route between

Seattle and Toronto as well as Seattle to Nassau, Bahamas.

Technology is driving the new route options. “This flight is possible because we now have the 737 MAX 8,” Romano says.

The MAX series is Boeing’s upgrade of the 737 airliner. The MAX 8, in particular, corresponds to the most widely used model of 737-800. A fleetwide grounding in 2019 allowed for corrections to software implicated in two deadly crashes. The MAX 9 was the model involved in a notorious mid-air incident in which a piece of the fuselage blew out of Flight 1282 at 16,000 feet in January, which fortunately saw nobody seriously hurt. That incident put greater attention on Boeing’s manufacturing practices, and Boeing paid Alaska Airlines about $160 million as initial compensation for grounding all MAX 9s for inspection.

Alaska Airlines has orders for 80 new Boeing 737 MAX 8, 9, and 10 aircraft with options and purchase rights for up to 105 more. These aircraft open new route options.

Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, for instance, can fly extended ranges because their engines and shapes are optimized to maximize their

efficiency and aerodynamics.

“We expect this new route to stimulate demand to come to Alaska. People in the travel industry are excited for that very reason, and Alaska Airlines is proud to be the carrier to get tourists, businesspeople, and loved ones here,” Romano says.

Millions of people on the East Coast have the opportunity to board one nonstop plane and arrive in Alaska. And perhaps most importantly to Alaskans, this new route opens more possibilities for traveling to the East Coast by taking just one flight.

Airport Incentive

Route selections are based on complex calculations of passenger demand and operating costs. One expense that airlines must account for is landing fees charged by airports.

New this year, managers of the state-owned ANC launched the International Passenger and Cargo Service Incentive Program. Despite

Renata Tyburczy| iStock

the name, it applies to domestic service, as well. For airlines enrolled in the program, landing fees are waived for the first thirteen touchdowns on new routes that have not been tried in more than a year.

Thus, Delta Airlines is trying a new route from ANC to Detroit for three days per week, starting this month. United Airlines has also launched service this summer from ANC to its East Coast hub at Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC.

In addition to the daily flights to JFK, Alaska Airlines is also trying Saturday flights between ANC and San Diego.

Because Alaska Airlines is part of the oneworld Alliance, travelers who book with the carrier can extend their destinations. Whether SEA, JFK, or any other airport hosts their layovers, Alaska Airlines’ partners’ routes can take passengers to other countries. Plus, anyone with a frequent flyer Mileage Plan account can book trips by using miles to fly internationally.

Regarding international travel, Romano notes that Alaska Airlines “hasn’t had a lot of conversation around expanding routes.” In addition to the Bahamas and Canada, the airline flies to Belize, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Sunseeking travelers have also been able to reach Hawai’i on Alaska Airlines since 2007, and the 50th state might soon become an international gateway for the company named after the 49th.

Aloha, Alaska

Last December, Alaska Airlines announced an interest in acquiring Hawaiian Airlines, which would merge the fifth-largest and tenth-largest carriers in the country (by passenger load). Both companies determined that the $1.9 billion acquisition would allow for more service and more route options while combining loyalty programs.

“It just seemed appropriate,” says Joe Sprague, Hawai’i/Pacific regional president for Alaska Airlines.

Under terms of the acquisition, people with frequent flyer accounts will be able to redeem their miles on either carrier. Alaska Airlines passengers could also travel internationally with a single company because Hawaiian Airlines flies to American Samoa, Australia, Canada, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Japan, and South Korea—plus New

Inspecting a Boeing 737-MAX 9 door plug prior to the aircraft being returned to service at SEA in January 2024.

Ingrid Barrentine | Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines executives knew when they announced the proposed acquisition last December that the deal would be subject to regulatory review and potential lawsuits before it could be approved.

Alaska Airlines

Zealand, seasonally—and those routes will continue. Together, the carriers will service 138 destinations, 29 of which are international.

“Alaska and Hawai’i are fascinatingly similar,” Sprague says. “Sure, the climates are different, but there’s a lot of overlap.” He rattles off comparisons, like how neither state is part of the Lower 48, and both states rely heavily on air travel. He also praises Alaska’s and Hawai’i’s indigenous and thriving cultures as well as their intriguing geography and recreational possibilities.

“Those parts are more alike than people often realize,” he adds.

While Hawaiian would become a subsidiary, Alaska Airlines intends to celebrate and magnify the carrier by committing to three important elements. Alaska Airlines will retain Hawaiian Airlines' front-line, unionrepresented personnel; Hawaiian will maintain its brand; and the merged company will create a joint employee group and operations.

“Like us, they have very committed customers who appreciate their warm aloha spirit,” Sprague says of Hawaiian Airlines. “By maintaining their distinctions, people will experience both locales’ unique personalities

and conveniences. We truly want to bring the two together.”

On the Radar

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is in the process of formally reviewing the acquisition. Alaska Air Group and Hawaiian Holdings, the two carriers’ parent companies, must have approval before they can finalize the deal.

“The Department approves acquisitions that are pro-competitive and pro-consumer, and we’re confident our proposal aligns with those conditions,” Sprague says. “We have very little overlap in our customers and only ten overlapping routes.”

Not everyone agrees that the merger would be beneficial. In April, a group of eight plaintiffs filed a federal lawsuit. Claiming standing as Hawaiian Airlines passengers, the lawsuit argues that the merger would reduce service between the Islands and the mainland. The plaintiffs also warn of economic harm to Oahu if Hawaiian Airlines’ headquarters goes away, along with its support of local nonprofits.

Responding to the lawsuit, a statement from Alaska Airlines noted that such lawsuits are a normal occurrence.

Predicting when the acquisition might be finalized is difficult. Sprague says DOJ must decide if the acquisition violates antitrust laws. Currently, Alaska Airlines is gathering information DOJ requested to certify that the acquisition complies with its requirements. Once that documentation is submitted, a ninetyday DOJ review begins. When the period completes, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and all of its personnel and passengers will know more about next steps. Depending on the DOJ’s response, the complete process could occur as early as fall 2024.

“Right now, we’re all excited,” says Sprague, “our shareholders, our boards, our employees, and our passengers… and we expect excellent outcomes if approved.”

If the acquisition happens, there will be one other important change. Remember the longest-ever Alaska Airlines route from ANC to JFK? That distinction may be short-lived.

Hawaiian Airlines flies from Honolulu to Boston, which is the longest domestic route anywhere in the United States. It would become part of the Alaska Airlines structure, and the 49th state would cede the record to the 50th.

Alaska Airlines

Aloha, Alaska Style

Pacific Islander community groups and businesses

By Rindi White

Th e Tropics and the Arctic seem like polar opposites. Frozen darkness and ice dominate in Alaska, while pleasant temperatures and abundant sunshine bathe the Pacific islands.

Yet Alaska and Polynesian communities, separated by hundreds of miles of ocean, have been linked for generations. The Tlingit tell of pre-colonial meetups with ships carrying Hawaiian deckhands, and other accounts exist of Hawaiian or Polynesian crew aboard Gold Rushbound boats and whalers.

Both communities share a focus on foods from the land and an adventurous spirit. Ask Polynesian community members what brings them to Alaska and chances are the answer has to do with one or the other of those.

Double in a Decade

Polynesia refers to a triangle-shaped area of the Pacific Ocean from the Hawaiian Islands on its northern corner to Easter Island on its eastern corner and New Zealand on its southern corner. The region contains the Cook Islands, French Polynesia (including Tahiti), Niue Island, Pitcairn Island, Samoa and American Samoa, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Tonga, Wallis, and Futuna.

The term “Pacific Islands” is a little broader, containing two additional ethnogeographic groups: Melanesia (New Guinea and environs, including Fiji and the Solomon Islands) and Micronesia (the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Mariana Islands,

Nauru, Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands).

As an ethnic group, Pacific Islander is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Alaska population, increasing by 67 percent between 2010 and 2020 from 7,514 to 18,668 people. About 2.5 percent of Alaska’s population identifies as Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (NHPI), either alone or in combination with other races.

The Pacific Islander population is largest in Anchorage, where about 13,350 people, or 4.6 percent of the municipality’s population, identified as NHPI in the 2020 census. In 2010, the number was 5,297.

When Lusiana Hansen arrived in Alaska in 1985, the Polynesian community was small. Hansen is from the island of Ta’ū, one of the Manu’a Islands in American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States.

“I only knew of twelve or fifteen Pacific Islanders here. We’d all get together on Sunday for [church] services in a trailer home,” she says. “Now we have fifty-three churches, as of about ten years ago. That tells us our numbers are going up quickly.”

Hansen says there are many reasons Pacific Islanders move to Alaska.

“Alaska has a lot of things you can benefit from. There are good employment resources, good health resources here. Our employment is not good back home, our health[care] is not good— you have to be flown to Hawai’i or to California maybe,” she says.

Raising Flags and Awareness

Hansen is the founder and CEO of the Polynesian Association of Alaska (PAOA), one of the oldest groups focused on the Pacific Islander community in Anchorage. It started after Hansen taught a computer class about twenty years ago for Polynesian elders eager for an inexpensive way to communicate with loved ones back home. Before mastering email, the elders needed basic computer skills.

During the class, she says, elders said they wanted a place to learn about the benefits available in Alaska. Language and transportation barriers meant that getting basic information about Medicare and other benefits was difficult. To solve those problems, PAOA organized in 2004 and became a federally recognized nonprofit in 2006, with fifty-three members and seventeen board members. On July 30, 2005, PAOA hosted its first Polynesian Culture Flag Day in Anchorage, raising the flags of American Samoa, the Independent State of Samoa, and Tonga. Today the flag celebration has a new name: Asian and Pacific Island Culture Flag Day.

While she is proudly Samoan, Hansen says she wants the association to be a place of support for all Pacific Islanders. “We have so many Pacific Islanders here, we want to bring it all together,” she says.

For the past nine years, PAOA has hosted a health fair in partnership with the Z.J. Loussac Library. PAOA worked with local churches during the COVID-19 pandemic to bring vaccinations to the

community, combining vaccination drives with hot meals. The effort led to about 50 percent of the Pacific Islander community in Anchorage getting vaccinated, Hansen says.

Changing and Saving Lives

The focus on community benefits continues with quarterly discussions about a range of topics, from labor and immigration laws to homeownership classes and how to work with the Alaska Office of Children’s Services. PAOA started a scholarship program in 2022 for high school graduates, and grant funding from RurAL Cap and other organizations supports rental assistance, helping 386 people in 89 families in 2023.

Hansen also hosts Pasefika Voice of Alaska, a radio show broadcast at 10 a.m. Saturdays on Anchorage station KNBA. The show, which uses the Samoan word for “pacific,” focuses on the younger generation, asking them to tell their stories, or on scholars and entrepreneurs from the community. “I bring them out, I want them to tell their story. Their story might change someone else’s life o ut there,” she says.

Changing lives in Alaska isn’t Hansen’s only focus. When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted in January 2022, producing the largest underwater explosion ever recorded by modern scientific instruments, PAOA leapt into action, spearheading a relief effort.

The ensuing tidal wave and ash significantly affected Tongan residents, Hansen says, and families were left with no food, water, or medical help. PAOA, along with the Tongan Community of Alaska (an organization created to assist with relief) led a donation drive, shipping three 40-foot containers to Tonga filled with clothing, canned food, water, toiletries, tents, shovels, picks, and farming tools, along with other relief supplies.

In 2023, the community rallied again to help Hawai’i. When wildfire raged on Maui, PAOA donated $2,500 to help purchase generators to assist displaced families. The organization also recognized Lei’s Poke Stop, an Anchorage restaurant, for the immense effort its owners un dertook to send aid.

Sending Ohana Home

Tasha Kahele moved to Alaska in 2009 with her husband and children, joining her father, who already lived in Alaska. Five years later, they opened their first business, the Aloha Stop and Shop, selling poke (diced raw fish) and Hawaiian grocery goods difficult to find in Alaska. Three years later they shifted gears and opened Aloha Poke Stop in the Tikahtnu Commons shopping center in Muldoon.

With the business up and running, Kahele and her family were shocked

in 2018 when they became part of a lawsuit by Chicago-based Aloha Poke Co., which ordered them to stop using the words “aloha” and “aloha poke” in their restaurant's name, claiming to have exclusive rights to the words. The Anchorage shop wasn’t alone; even an Aloha Poke Shop in Honolulu was sent a cease-and-desist letter. Rather than fight a potentially costly legal battle, the Kaheles decided to change the name to Lei’s Poke Stop, named fo r her daughter, Lei.

The couple’s business model is all about family; their children, with help from Kahele’s mother, own and operate the Anchorage store and the spinoff Lei’s Poke Stop 2 in Wasilla as well as the Da Poke Man Express food truck from April to September. Kahele’s husband Shaun, finishing his culinary degree at UAA this year, is the chef and handles all the catering.

The Maui wildfire gave the family focus a new meaning. Among the residents of Lahaina displaced by the fires were Kahele’s relatives. Part of Kahele’s family owns a farm outside Lahaina, she says, and nearly eighty family members flocked there for safety but were unable to return home.

“We decided as a family to put together a community service project,” Kahele says.

She works part-time for Alaska Airlines, and her employer agreed to donate cargo services. A friend’s husband works for Hawai’i-based shipping company Matson, which donated two 40-foot containers. They collected donations at both restaurant locations over a weekend and were overwhelmed by the response: 75,000 pounds of goods to send to Maui. It was everything one could think of, Kahele recalls, from medical supplies and baby supplies to food and nonperishable items. Funded by the donation from PAOA and a sweetheart deal from Lowe’s, the Kaheles were able to buy twelve generators to ship as well. They worked closely with King’s Cathedral

in Maui, which has several branch congregations in Alaska.

The goods were shipped, but the family didn’t stop there; a group of nearly twenty traveled to Lahaina on donated tickets to distribute the goods. A smaller team flew back every weekend for nearly two months to continue to help, even building one family a small house on the farm.

Investing Locally

Until recently, another organization by and for Anchorage’s Pacific Islander community was the Hawaiian Civic Club. Kahele served on its board, and so did Hula Hands restaurant general manager Corinna Kanaina. The club hosted Hawaiian entertainers and offered classes to teach Polynesians skills that might be difficult to learn outside of the islands, such as how to make Hawaiian lau lau, a traditional dish of pork and butterfish wrapped in taro leaves and steamed. Other classes, such as weaving, tying ropes for fishing, and Polynesian traditional dance and music were also taught.

Kanaina says the club dissolved prior to the pandemic, partly due to board members having too little time to devote to it. Now she works through her job and with Hula Hands owners William Hoopai and Charlene Goeas, her aunt and uncle, to give back to the Anchorage community in other ways.

“From day one, the owners have supported the Anchorage community here. Their way of giving back is offering

positions to some of the people who are less fortunate, who have no place to stay and are looking for a job; we give them an opportunity to have a job and learn a skill,” Kanaina says.

The business finds other ways to support the Anchorage community as well, Kanaina says, from sponsoring sports teams to sponsoring a race car. Hula Hands frequently donates money or time to PAOA, and Kanaina has walked in the PAOA flag day parade, representing Hawai’i.

Another community focal point is the Aloha in Alaska music festival, organized by the Kaheles. Started in 2015, the festival held in June or July is a time for Pacific Islander-owned small businesses to come out and share products while visitors enjoy Island food and music. They’re taking a break from it this year, but the Kaheles plan to bring Aloha in Alaska back in June 2025 at Tikahtnu Commons.

Health Focus

Relatively new on the NHPI-focused community-support scene is Pacific Community of Alaska (PCA). Much of the work it does is health focused, in part because the group got started during COVID-19, addressing health needs related to the pandemic, as well as the underlying health factors that make the NHPI community more susceptible to illnesses like COVID-19.

“PCA was formed as a collaboration of those of us who are in the health sector and running in those circles,

At left, Tasha Kahele accepts a check from Polynesian Association of Alaska founder Lusiana Hansen for the Maui Relief effort Kahele organized. Over a three-day period, Alaskans donated clothing, money, and much more, dropping goods off at the Lei's Poke Stop locations in Anchorage and Wasilla. More than 75,000 pounds of goods were sent to Maui in two 40-foot containers donated by shipping company Matson.

Lei's Poke Stop

having conversations about COVID. There was a bigger need. We felt we needed to do more,” says PCA Director of Programs Mavis Boone.

Organizers found grants to support the effort, reached out to the NHPI community, and met community members wherever they were.

“Armed with NHPI Community Health Workers in its employ, PCA continued its assistance in navigating both social and health systems to provide leeway for NHPI families and individuals in need,” PCA states in its inaugural newsletter, posted at its pcalaska.org website.

Boone adds, “As we engage in this work, we note that, although there are many mainstream programs available to communities, regardless of subject matter, only a handful are culturally relevant and sensitive. And that is one of our biggest motivators— that approaches are implemented with consideration and respect for a community ’s cultural values.”

PCA hosted a dozen pop-up clinics, provided five COVID-19 health education sessions at NHPI churches, administered 361 COVID-19

vaccinations from Anchorage to Utqiaġvik, and distributed at-home COVID-19 tests and prevention kits throughout Anchorage. It hosts both virtual and in-person step aerobics sessions and hosted a three-part series focusing on managing blood pressure and creating healthy habits.

Great and Growing

Focusing on youth, some of PCA’s founding board members created the Nesian Lounge, a virtual space online to talk about culturally relevant topics. They also created a three-part video series called Bridging the Gaps featuring NHPI youth in Anchorage talking about growing up outside the Pacific Islands. It premiered at the Loussac library in June 2023.

With a focus on mental health, PCA hosted a “Let’s Talk About It” panel with NHPI mental health providers last year to address concerns in the community. Understanding that many of the NHPI community live in multigenerational homes, PCA created the Alaska Pasifika Safe Homes program for families with four or more members,

offering case management and shortterm housing for those dealing with domestic violence and sexual assault. The project has been extended to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Fairbanks, Juneau, and Utqiaġvik.

A newer area of focus is civic engagement, beginning with voting location assistance in 2022. In the 2024 Anchorage municipal election, the group helped with translating ballot language into Samoan and Tongan.

Boone says PCA has no plans to slow down. She feels the doubled numbers of NHPI residents in Alaska are an undercount; more who might have not filled out the census due to immigration concerns are likely, she says. The need is great and only growing.

“There are a lot of people, and there’s a lot of need for engagement and for the community to know we’re here to help, not judge,” Boone says. “Being part of the community, we understand their needs, and it is for that reason that we must find funding to continue on in the work and push through with the heart and compassion for the community.”

Truth Well Told - Ethics In Advertising

Good advertising combines visual and written components to present a compelling and persuasive message. If done well, it builds strong credibility for the advertiser and develops trust with the customer. Trust is only built if advertising is done ethically.

The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.

– Bill Bernbach

Bernbach should know. As a founder and creative director of DDB Worldwide, Bernbach was the advertising executive who pioneered a new way to tell the truth in advertising by using a subtle, low-pressure approach in such famous campaigns as the “Think Small” ad for the Volkswagen Beetle. Bernbach and his creative team capitalized on telling the truth by turning a negative into a positive by proclaiming in an Avis ad that “Avis Tries Harder” because the truth was they were number two behind Hertz. The “We Try Harder” slogan is so strong that Avis still uses it today.

By Janis Plume, Senior Account Manager

When working on your company’s advertising, stay truthful when your business aspires to be number one, two, or a rising star in the crowd. Examine closely what your competitors are saying in their ads. Chances are high that they are also telling the truth, so follow suit by examining the strengths that exist in your business that may not have been mentioned by the competition in their ads, and see if you can capitalize on a truth that hasn’t been brought up before. Keep your copy succinct while staying true to the facts; the audience gives little time to evaluate your message to get to the truth. If you need to back up the claims, do so with minimal jargon.

It’s clear that this short essay doesn’t draw on ad industry statistics but rather a historical perspective that we can rely on today. The truth worked well then, and it works today. As I write this, I am reminded of two mantras that I live by: “If you want good self-esteem, then do estimable things,” and the one I say to myself every morning, “Just do the next right thing.”

- SPONSORED CONTENT -

If you would like to discuss how you can use truthful advertising to your advantage, please email or call me. I guarantee truthful advice.

A smile is worth a thousand words

Before joining Alaska Business, Janis was a ‘jack of all trades’ in Alaskan advertising for over two decades, working at some of Alaska’s best ad agencies. While he is pretty capable with a camera and loves photography and graphic art, he’s quick to say, “I’m not a graphic designer, and I don’t play one on TV.” He is, however, pretty handy at working one on one with clients seeking advertising solutions in Alaska Business. Janis is a product of the UAA JPC program and believes the pursuit of knowledge and professionalism are lifelong endeavors. When not helping advertisers, Janis celebrates his love for fish and music with a guitar in one hand and a fly rod in the other.

JANIS PLUME

907-257-2917 | janis@akbizmag.com

Rough Seas Ahead

Radical reorganization in salmon processing

By Alex Appel

No t too long ago, Alaska’s salmon fishery was at a high. The record for the largest salmon run was set in 2018, and again in 2021, and again in 2022. It wasn’t just Bristol Bay; across Western Alaska, sockeye and pink salmon populations reached historic levels between 2021 and 2022, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But all good things must come to an end.

The sockeye salmon run in Bristol Bay is forecast to be millions of fish short of the 2023 season, although the run is still supposed to be above the ten-year average, according to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.

That’s not the only place in the state that will see lower numbers. A weak pink salmon run on Kodiak Island drove OBI Seafoods to close its seafood processing plant in Larsen Bay, according to CEO John Hanrahan. However, the company will keep its plant in the City of Kodiak open.

“The Kodiak town plant operates year-round and has the ability to process salmon in a greater diversity of product forms, making it better suited to respond to salmon markets in 2024 as we navigate this challenging time for the industry,” Hanrahan says.

In addition to the two processing plants in Kodiak, OBI has canneries in Petersburg, Cordova, Seward, Egegik, Naknek, and Wood River. All of those will remain open, according to Hanrahan.

Hanrahan wrote that OBI has “every intention to operate our Larsen Bay facility again in the 2025 salmon season.”

But there is something bigger at play that isn’t just about salmon. The industry is at a crossroads. Low seafood prices and high operational costs are squeezing processors, and the path forward is unclear.

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute

Goodbye Means Going Away

Peter Pan Seafood Co. reorganized under new ownership in January 2021, sold by a Japanese conglomerate to a group of investors with high hopes for broader offerings of fresh fish. Three years later, Peter Pan closed its King Cove cannery during pollock A season from January through April. The company fell months behind on payments to fishermen, according to court documents filed with the Third Judicial District of the State of Alaska. Then Peter Pan announced in April that its Valdez facility will be acquired by Silver Bay Seafoods, and Silver Bay will operate Peter Pan’s plants in Dillingham and Port Moller for the salmon season, with plans to acquire those facilities once the season is over.

Soon after, Peter Pan announced it would suspend operations indefinitely. Bold dreams of economic stability for coastal communities crashed into reality. Amid this rapidly shifting situation, the company could not be reached for further comment.

Peter Pan was not alone in its struggles last winter. Trident Seafoods

Alaska Owned & Operated Since 1979

www.chialaska.com info@chialaska.com

announced last December it would sell four of its eleven Alaska processing plants as a part of a “comprehensive, strategic restructuring initiative” aimed at “streamlining its Alaska operations and refocusing its global commercial strategy.” One of those plants is its operation in Kodiak, which, like OBI’s plant there, services multiple fisheries and is operating almost year-round. A Trident spokesperson declined to comment further.

The processing industry is changing, and those changes are rippling outward to every fishery.

Low Seafood Prices

While shoppers grumble about high grocery prices, seafood is a notable exception.

The year-over-year inflation rate from February 2023 to February 2024 was up 3.2 percent, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Seafood went in the opposite direction. The cost of seafood products decreased by almost 4 percent from February 2023 to February 2024, and the downward trend is expected to continue through the

“What’s making this more extreme for us in Alaska is not just market issues—supply and demand, exchange rates and inflation, things like that… In Alaska, the industry operates in remote places where costs are already high, and now costs are crushing.”

Julie Decker President

Seafood Pr ocessors Association

We work as hard as you do to provide great service and insurance protection to our clients. Let us show you how to control your Insurance costs. ph: 907.276.7667

Pacific

year, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Low costs correlate with the market’s appetite. There was an increase in seafood demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that did not last. A decline in seafood demand in late 2022 persisted into 2024, according to Julie Decker, president of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association (PSPA).

Meanwhile, on the supply side, Russian pink salmon flooded the market last August, undervaluing the price of salmon and causing prices to plummet.

Even though the United States officially sanctioned all Russian imports following its invasion of Ukraine, there was a loophole. Russian seafood sold to another country, usually China, could be reprocessed and then sold in the United States. President Joe Biden officially closed this loophole with an executive order on December 22, 2023.

But Russian fish hasn’t fully left the market. Contracts and orders from before December 22 continued shipping until late May, according to Decker. There was a bump in cod

prices, but other species, like pollock, have not seen any impact in prices, she says. Russian seafood will have to work its way through the supply chain before there is any positive change in domestic prices.

Furthermore, Russia isn’t the only foreign competition. More than 60 percent of seafood consumed in the United States is harvested by other countries, according to Sustainable Fisheries, an environmental research and advocacy group affiliated with the University of Washington. Many of these countries do not have the same labor or environmental requirements as their US counterparts, and therefore they are able to produce and sell at much lower cost, Decker says.

This is causing a unique problem for seafood processors.

“A lot of these processors are in a situation where they're holding on to a lot of products in cold storage,” says Terry Haines, a member of the Kodiak City Council and a fisheries reporter for KMXT, a public radio station in Kodiak.

Usually distributors will buy seafood in bulk to keep the prices down.

“The price is so low now that I heard that a lot of the customers are only buying what they need and then allowing the producers or the processors to go ahead and store it themselves. Which, of course, cuts into their bottom line,” Haines says.

Cost of Operations

Fishing communities like Kodiak have their own bottom lines to watch—or avoid watching. Haines says doesn’t look at the price of eggs when he goes grocery shopping. He says it’s “hair raising.”

Recently, there have been a lot of shipping bypasses in Kodiak, according to Haines. That means the vessels that deliver items to the island, from tennis shoes to oranges, will pass by and not return until another full rotation.

“As a result, we've seen our grocery shelves get alarmingly bare,” he says. “It's something we haven't seen since COVID days, and even then some of it wasn't as bad. And then, of course, the prices are remarkable. I know they are everywhere, but here especially in Alaska.”

At the same time that salmon harvest volumes began retreating from recent highs, federal law mandated a 28 percent rise in the prevailing wage for seafood processing workers.

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute

Alaska is already one of the most expensive states to live in, according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. Rural areas like Kodiak, Valdez, Bristol Bay, and King Cove cost more to live in—and operate a business out of—than the rest of the state. Being hubs for seafood processing helps the cost of living pencil out.

“Generally, in terms of major species, markets are down across the board. What’s making this more extreme for us in Alaska is not just market issues—supply and demand, exchange rates and inflation, things like that,” Decker says, but “the cost structure in the last couple of years has been dramatically increasing. In Alaska, the industry operates in remote places where costs are already high, and now costs are crushing.”

One cost that has increased significantly is labor. As a part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the federal government increased the prevailing wage. The hourly wage for seafood processors increased from more than $12 an hour to more than

$15—a 28 percent jump, according to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). This was the largest increase in the last decade.

In theory, the prevailing wage is an incentive to increase wages, not a requirement, but that is not always the case. Around one-third of workers in the seafood processing industry are guest workers in the United States on H-2B visas, according to ASMI. For H-2B visas recipients, the prevailing wage is the minimum. Therefore, for all intents and purposes, it is the minimum wage in the industry.

In recent years, Alaska seafood processors paid more than $600 million in annual wages, according to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s April edition of the Alaska Economic Trends

“We have over a dozen factors that are all coming together at the same time to create this crisis,” Decker says.

What Comes Next?

There is no clear way out. Industry downturns in the past were usually focused on individual fisheries.

“While we aren’t facing different economic conditions than other companies, prioritizing fisherman opportunity was the primary driver in our decision to expand operations and to address concerns from fishermen across the state who were facing loss of markets in 2024.”

Abby Fredrick Director of Communications

an d Investor Relations

Silver Bay Seafoods

“What makes this time different is that we’re seeing it across species. So that’s unusual and in fact could be more problematic because you can’t rely on the strategy of diversification to help you out,” Decker says.

Thousands of jobs are affected by processor closures. In July, the peak month for seafood processing employment, 15 percent of jobs may be affected, according to April’s Alaska Economic Trends “The potential disruption is not small,” the magazine warns.

Exact impacts will vary depending on the area.

Larsen Bay, for example, will lose revenue from sales taxes, but not lose jobs. There are only thirty-four full-time residents in the village, so OBI brings in outside workers in the summer. There will still be a small team on site to service OBI’s Kodiak Island west side fleet, according to Hanrahan.

That means that Larsen Bay will still make some money through utilities, water, and fuel. There is also a boat harbor, a power plant, hydro plant, and other sources of income for the city.

“We should be alright; we'll just have to cut down a little on spending,” says Mayor Bill Nelson. “We’re survivors out here.”

But there are some concerns elsewhere on the island. The City of

Kodiak, which is 60 miles from Larsen Bay and is not connected by roads, is preparing for hard times. Unlike Larsen Bay, the seafood processing plants in Kodiak are largely staffed by locals, according to Haines. Local fishermen also make a lot of money selling them fish.

“The city depends on sales tax for revenue, so if the economy goes down, then our sales tax revenue is going to go down too,” Haines says. “[If that happens] we're just going to have to reduce services. There's really no other thing that we can do.”

There are different philosophies on how to get through.

The City of Kodiak and the Kodiak Island Borough have a joint fisheries work group to address economic issues with the fishery. They are looking at taking marketing into their own hands, in addition to ASMI’s statewide efforts, and trying to promote Kodiak fish.

“We've always just focused on just the production end of it and let everyone else do the brand name, but it might be time for us to jump into that too,” Haines says. “If we can't develop the domestic markets, we're going to be stuck in this situation again someday.”

Silver Lining

While other companies are trimming assets, Silver Bay is expanding. In

Average annual employment in seafood processing had already been falling for a decade. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development counted a peak of 10,800 in 2014, dropping to 8,500 as of last fall.

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute

addition to taking over three of Peter Pan’s processing facilities, it will also acquire Trident's facility in Ketchikan.

“With the seafood market downturn, fishermen, processors, and communities are all feeling the impacts,” Silver Bay’s Director of Communication and Investor Relations Abby Fredrick says. “While we aren’t facing different economic conditions than other companies, prioritizing fisherman opportunity was the primary driver in our decision to expand operations and to address concerns from fishermen across the state who were facing loss of markets in 2024.”

Furthermore, PSPA has a list of actions it believes the state and federal government should take to address problems across the industry. Some of these actions include offering USDA low-interest loans to fishermen and processors to invest in new equipment and having the Office of the US Trade Representative further seafood trade objectives that empower and protect domestic fisheries.

“I think we have to look forward to at least another year of struggling,” Haines says. “And who knows, we might have to think about ways to reexamine our whole industry. We've always been focused on volume, and maybe we should be more f ocused on value.”

Over the Fence

Meet the transboundary neighbors

By Amy Newman

If British Columbia had its way, the Alaska Panhandle would’ve contained no mainland territory south of Glacier Bay. During a longstanding boundary dispute, the province asserted the maximum claim, leaving only the major islands of Chichagof, Baranof, and Prince of Wales for the United States.

For its part, the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom claimed somewhat less, leaving a fringe of mainland that would’ve excluded Juneau and Ketchikan from their dominion. And the United States claimed a deeper slice of the continent, to the eastern foothills of the coastal mountain ranges. The border settled by arbitration in 1903, five years after the Klondike Gold Rush, split the difference.

The temperate rainforest of the Pacific coast was first divided in 1825, when the Russian Empire agreed with its British rivals to demarcate their zones of influence along “the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast” until reaching 141 degrees west longitude, where a straight border through unexplored territory satisfied both parties. Vaguely defining which summits, exactly, led to the conflicting claims.

Since 1903, though, both sides have been friendly neighbors. Alaska does its business on its side of the border, and Canada keeps its affairs confined to its side. Except…

Just as coastal rivers don’t abide the imposition of the 1825 or 1903 border agreements, neither do the interconnected economies of the Panhandle.

Golden Triangle

Thirty-six years before the Klondike Gold Rush brought prospectors to the Yukon and Skagway, Alexander Choquette discovered gold in northwestern British Columbia. His 1861 discovery kicked off the Stikine Gold Rush, which led to more than a century of exploration and production in the area of not only gold but copper, silver, zinc, and nickel. Today the mineral-rich region, which came to be known as The Golden Triangle, accounts for 44 percent of British Columbia’s total exploration expenditures and 36 percent of drilling activity, according to the British Columbia Regional Mining Alliance.

Recent infrastructure improvements to the region, including construction of a $700 million high-voltage transmission line, three hydroelectric facilities, ocean port facilities for easier export, and improved road access, combined with higher gold prices, have attracted renewed attention from resource development companies. Now, The Golden Triangle is experiencing something of a new golden age, with companies eager to explore the region and begin production.

What, though, does a British Columbia mining boom have to do with Alaska? The answer lies in the province’s shared border and the waters that flow through it. The Salmon, Unuk, Stikine, Taku, and Alsek Rivers originate in Canada and flow across the border into Southeast Alaska, and the Stikine, Salmon, and Unuk watersheds lie partially or entirely in the Golden Triangle. Many of British Columbia’s current and proposed mines are located along or upstream of these transboundary waters, which makes what happens downstream a direct concern for Alaskans.

Neighborhood Watch

Mineral production in British Columbia, particularly gold, is a net positive for the United States. In 2023, the United States was the third-largest importer of Canadian gold. But the gold that US buyers want comes with an added cost in the form of waste that accompanies exploration and production.

In July 2020, the nonprofit environmental group Earthjustice filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC), which represents fifteen sovereign Southeast Alaska tribal nations. The petition requested that IACHR intervene in what it says are human rights violations. The SEITC argues that the British Columbia

mines “are likely to release harmful pollution that threatens the health and viability of salmon and eulachon, migratory fish that spawn in the waters of the Taku, Stikine, and Unuk watersheds,” threatening the tribes’ ability to practice their culture and maintain their livelihoods. The SEITC also argues that Canada is obligated to consult with tribal stakeholders and obtain the “free, prior, and informed consent” of tribes potentially threatened by water pollution or other adverse impacts of mining operations, an obligation the SEITC alleges the mines have failed to do. IACHR accepted the SEITC’s petition to hear its case last fall.

Alaska tribes aren’t the only groups monitoring British Columbia mining activity and its potential impact on the state’s environment. Under a memorandum of understanding and statement of cooperation plan with the Canadian province, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is part of a transboundary bilateral working group comprising Alaskan and

British Columbian officials who meet biannually to review and discuss environmental topics related to the two countries’ shared waterways; agency staff meet monthly to implement the group’s directives.

“DEC monitors and engages with British Columbia on projects within the transboundary regions,” says Terri Lomax, statewide water quality program manager with the DEC’s Division of Water. “That includes providing comments on proposed projects and reviewing activity related to active mines.”

In addition to sitting on the transboundary working group, the DEC reviews US Geological Survey data on transboundary ambient water quality and every two years prepares and issues the Alaska Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report, which determines whether bodies of water meet Alaska’s water quality standards, Lomax says. It also continues to advocate for the remediation of the historical Tulsequah Chief Mine, which sits on the Tulsequah River about 5 miles upstream from

its confluence with the Taku River, which flows south of Juneau. Active during the ‘50s and explored for possible redevelopment in the ‘00s, the mine was placed on care and maintenance status in 2015.

The state has several options available if a British Columbia mine harms Alaska waters.

“If there was a spill or catastrophic failure that affected Alaska’s environment, DEC’s Spill Prevention and Response team would pursue the responsible party for remediation and cost recovery of state funds expended,” Lomax says. “For Alaska transboundary waters that don’t meet Alaska water quality standards, we would follow our normal process.”

That process, Lomax explains, involves examining data to determine whether the source was natural or man-made. If the source of the contamination was man-made, DEC would list the water as impaired, develop a plan to address the issue, and work with British Columbia officials to identify any other actions needed to remedy the issue. What those actions

would be, she adds, is difficult to predict since impairment is case-specific.

Active Production

The border region has two active mines, and the Newmont corporation has a majority stake in both, having assumed ownership in November 2023 as part of its acquisition of Newcrest Mining.

The $66.3 million Red Chris mine is a 70/30 joint operation between Newcrest Red Chris Mining, a Newmont subsidiary, and Red Chris Development Company, an Imperial Metals subsidiary. The open pit copper-gold mine, which began operation in 2016 and has an expected mine life to 2043, comprises five leases and 12,703 acres along the Stikine Watershed on the eastern point of the Golden Triangle. In fiscal year 2023, Red Chris produced 39,000 ounces of gold and 18,000 tonnes of copper; 2024 projections forecast the mine’s production at 40,000 ounces of gold and 27,000 tonnes of copper.

Newmont has a 100 percent ownership interest in the underground Brucejack mine, one of the largest highest-grade operating gold mines in the world. In operation since July 2017, the mine produced 286,000 ounces of gold during fiscal year 2023 and is forecast to produce 310,000 ounces in fiscal year 2024. Brucejack has an expected mine life of eighteen years.

Revival and Exploration

Skeena Resources is looking to bring back production at the Eskay Creek Mine, which was the world’s highestgrade gold mine when it operated from 1994 to 2008. During those fourteen years, Eskay Creek produced 3.3 million ounces of gold and 160 million ounces of silver. A November 2023 definitive feasibility study estimated the mine will produce 431,000 ounces of gold annually. Construction on the mine, which has a twelve year expected mine life, is scheduled for 2025 with production to begin in 2026.

The Premier Mine is another old mine looking to make a comeback. Located about 1 mile northeast of the British Columbia-Alaska border, the Premier Gold Project produced 2 million ounces of gold and 45 million ounces of silver during its thirty-four years in operation from 1918 to 1952; it briefly resumed

“DEC monitors and engages with British Columbia on projects within the transboundary regions… That includes providing comments on proposed projects and reviewing activity related to active mines.”

Terri Lomax

The deposit, which also includes silver and molybdenum, will be mined in three distinct open pit operations plus some underground mining. Construction on the KSM mine, which has an expected working life of more than fifty years, includes the mine site and a processing plant about 18 miles northeast of the mine. Construction is expected to begin this year.

In northwestern British Columbia, the Galore Creek Mining Corporation, a 50/50 joint venture between Newmont and Teck Resources, is “working to advance one of the world’s largest undeveloped coppergold-silver deposits” at Galore Creek, according to its website. Its 2024 field program includes nearly 20,000 feet of geotechnical, metallurgical, and resource development drilling, surveys, and site-sustaining activities. The joint venture is currently working on an updated pre-feasibility study, which is expected to be completed in 2025, and optimizing its project design.

Conservation

Statewide Water Qua lity Program Manager Alaska Department of Enviro nmental

operations in 1989 and was moved to care and maintenance status in 1996. Ascot Resources, which acquired the mine in 2009, announced in an April 8, 2024, press release that it had introduced first ore on April 5 and anticipated first gold would be poured later that month. Its tailings storage facility, water treatment plant, tailings thickener, and pipeline systems are also ready for operations.

Other mines in the proposal or exploration phases include the KerrSulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) Project, which owner Seabridge Gold boasts is “the world’s largest undeveloped gold project as measured by reserves and resources,” located about 40 miles northeast of Stewart near the Unuk River, which flows north of Ketchikan. A preliminary feasibility study estimated proven and probable reserves at 47.3 million ounces of gold and 3.3 million tonnes of copper.

Also in northwestern British Columbia, Teck Resources and Copper Fox Metals are managing the Schaft Creek project, approximately 37 miles south of Telegraph Creek, the only permanent settlement on the Stikine River, which flows north of Wrangell. The Schaft Creek project is part of a 75/25 joint venture, with Teck as operator. At nearly 140,000 acres of mineral concessions, Schaft Creek has of one of the largest undeveloped porphyry copper-gold-molybdenumsilver deposits in North America, according to the project website. Its 2023 program included nearly 30,000 feet of geotechnical drilling, collection of geotechnical data, an environmental baseline data collection program, and an archaeology impact assessment study performed in consultation with the Tahltan Nation.

DEC notes that mining activities in Canada do not require any approval by the State of Alaska, of course. However, the state government does play a role in environmental assessments administered by British Columbia, if activities could affect water quality, fish habitat, or fishery resources across the border. These channels of communication help maintain friendly relations between neighbors sharing the coastal mountains.

WDownstream of the Pipeline

The journey of Alaska’s black gold

By Terri Marshall

h en oil emerges from the depths of the earth on Alaska’s North Slope, the journey has just begun. Transporting crude oil from 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle to its first destination in Valdez is only a portion of the process required to deliver this valuable natural resource to its final customers. The transport starts at Pump Station 1 in Prudhoe Bay, where crude oil enters the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS)—but it does not end 800 miles away in Valdez, which is not even halfway to the finish line.

Out of the Spigot

At the Valdez Marine Terminal, crude oil is loaded onto tankers for a voyage lasting between five and twenty days, depending on the refinery marked to receive the shipment.

Situated on 1,000 acres at the southern shore of Port Valdez, the Valdez Marine Terminal marks the

southern terminus of TAPS. Tankers have been loaded with Alaska’s black gold at this location since the first oil flowed through the pipeline from Prudhoe Bay in 1977.

Constructed at a cost of approximately $1.4 billion, the Valdez Marine Terminal’s elevation stretches from sea level to 660 feet up the Valdez mountainside. Fourteen tanks provide temporary storage for oil awaiting pickup. This eliminates the impact of any marine transport delays on North Slope production. The Valdez Marine Terminal also has a working inventory capacity of 6.6 million barrels of crude oil. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company generates its own electricity for the terminal through a power vapor facility, and it has its own emergency and fire response team.

Managing the loading of the oil into the tankers at Valdez is a fulltime process that Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s operations director, Melanie Myles, describes as simple yet complicated. Raised in Alaska, Myles is a mechanical engineer by discipline. “I did a stint with the State of Alaska managing the oil fields

and checking their production and development before joining Alyeska in the operations sector,” she says.

For Alyeska Pipeline, Myles oversees the organization and scheduling for transfers of the oil from the pipeline to the tankers. “All of the loads for the tankers have to be scheduled, and we typically know twenty-eight days ahead of time which tankers will be arriving when,” she explains. “Even with arrival information, there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle, and our team needs to be certain all the players are in the right places so that we are ready to deliver the oil when the tanker arrives.”

Oil is gravity-fed to the ships through hydraulically controlled metal arms. “Workers that monitor and manage the berth operations are responsible for the vessel getting docked and anchored properly and then connected to the loading arms,” says Myles. “They often refer to it as pulling up to the pump.”

Myles also receives information on the anticipated amount of oil arriving on any given day. “We get estimates

“There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle, and our team needs to be certain all the players are in the right places so that we are ready to deliver the oil when the tanker arrives.”

Melanie Myles Operations Director

Alyeska Pipe line Service Company

each month of what the oil companies anticipate they are going to produce,” she explains. “The numbers are forecasted predictions, and there can be variability but it’s typically not significant. If it is a bit lower than anticipated, it slows the pace a little.”

Valdez is where the dollar value of North Slope crude is monetized, according to Brad Keithley, an industry observer who keeps a close watch on oil shipments. “They are owned by the producers at that point and consist of whatever share of their oil has been shipped down the pipeline,” he explains. “Producers are able to sell their oil at that point. They are also able to designate the share of their oil to be loaded onto the tankers.”

A former business executive, lawyer, and consultant with more than thirty-five years of experience working on oil, gas, and fiscal issues, Brad Keithley currently serves as the managing director of Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets. In keeping an eye on the monetary value of Alaska’s greatest natural resource, he monitors the shipments out of Valdez Marine Terminal and notes the goings and comings of the tankers charged with delivering the oil to destinations beyond Alaska.

Tracking the Tankers

Tanker ships are owned by private companies and are chartered by the oil companies, Keithley explains. Those major companies in the Alaska market are Hilcorp, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Marathon Petroleum, which owns the refinery on the Kenai Peninsula at Nikiski.

“Among the key players, Marathon is a non-producer on the North Slope but has ships coming into Valdez to pick up oil for its Kenai refinery and additional refineries down the West Coast,” Keithley says. “Sales at Valdez are being made to Marathon, but there could also be other buyers.”

Note that much of Alaska’s crude oil remains in state and is refined into asphalt, jet fuel, turbine fuel, heating fuel, kerosene, gasoline, diesel, marine diesel, and ultra-low sulfur diesel. The refined product most Alaskans use comes from Nikiski or the Petro Star refineries in North Pole and Valdez.

Tankers leaving Alaska entirely are

“During COVID when there were all sorts of disruptions in the oil market, Asia became a bigger market for Alaska oil… But after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we’ve seen very little shipments from Valdez to Asia— especially in the last twelve months.”

Brad Keithley Managing Director

Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets

primarily destined for either the Puget Sound region of Washington or to a group of refineries in San Francisco and in the Los Angeles area.

“There is one refinery on the island of Oahu in Hawaii that occasionally receives a shipment of Alaska’s crude oil,” adds Keithley. “In the last twelve months, that location received just two percent of the oil from Valdez.”

Voyages to the refineries vary in length and cost. “It takes about five to six days to transport the oil from Valdez to the refineries in Puget Sound,” explains Keithley. “For San Francisco, the journey is six to seven

days and another day to get to the Los Angeles area. Tankers often make a stop at one refinery before going on to another to offload the remaining oil.”

Over the Horizon

An interesting player in the Alaska oil game, Asia also receives an occasional shipment. “During COVID when there were all sorts of disruptions in the oil market, Asia became a bigger market for Alaska oil, at 10 percent to 15 percent,” says Keithley. “But after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we’ve seen very little shipments from Valdez to Asia—especially in the last twelve months.”

The time, distance, and cost involved in shipments to Asia is significantly greater. “Usually when there’s some price dislocation on the West Coast and Asia is offering a better price, we’ll see more shipments,” says Keithley. “Big maintenance on the tankers is done primarily in Asia, so tankers may transport oil to Asia when going there for maintenance. It takes about fifteen to twenty days to get to Asia and unload the tanker. Then the captain will deadhead back to Valdez, so the entire journey can be anywhere from thirty to forty days.”

Historically, Alaska’s tankers were built and used solely for Alaska service. Through Keithley’s monitoring of the ships, he’s noted some recent changes. “One of Alaska’s ships looks like it has been redeployed to the US Gulf Coast,” he explains. The tanker sailed all the way around Sou th America to Texas.

Keithley suspects the reason for the redeployment may have been the recent decline in Alaska oil production. However, with two big developments in progress on the North Slope—ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project and Santos’ Pikka Project— production is projected to increase in the next few years.

“Alaska used to be the dominant supplier of oil to the US West Coast, but over the last several years we’ve declined, and Alaska only counts for about 20 percent of the West Coast supply. We’re still a significant force, but we don’t dominate,” Keithley says. “As production increases, I would anticipate we would take more of the West Coast market.”

Committed to Alaska for more than 50 years.

ConocoPhillips Alaska and the successes of its heritage companies date back to the greatest oil discoveries in Alaska history. Today we continue our tradition of developing, innovating and delivering value for Alaskans.

Alaska becomes the 49th state.

ARCO discovers oil in the Prudhoe Bay field.

Sinclair Oil Co. discovers the Kuparuk River field.

Alpine field production begins from wells drilled with horizontal well technology.

Final Investment Decision is made to develop the Willow project.

Learn more Richfield Oil Co. drills the first well in the Swanson River field and strikes oil.

Western North Slope, Alaska

Resolve Marine to the Rescue

Emergency response and cleanup, around Alaska and the world

By Alexandra Kay

Th e morning of February 8, workers in the Southwest village of Kwigillingok discovered a spill of diesel fuel from a tank farm. Nearly 9,000 gallons overflowed from a 10,000-gallon tank during a transfer operation, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

Four days later, US Coast Guard personnel arrived and determined that the spill posed a threat to the Kwigillingok River, about 500 feet away. The agency brought in a three-person team from Resolve Marine, an oil spill response contractor, to conduct on-site plume delineation, drone imagery, and sampling.

Over the next week, Resolve Marine mobilized recovery materials from its staging area in Bethel. The company had to create infrastructure for its specialized crews, who were handling the clean-up, to both work and stay in. Then the company had to move equipment to recover the fuel, but the nearest skid-steer excavator was miles away in Kongiganak. Some equipment was driven overland from

village to village, and some had to be flown in. For that task, Resolve Marine used cargo aircraft suitable for short takeoffs and landings because the village’s runway is only abo ut 1,500 feet long.

“We transported equipment from civilization to Bethel and then took it from Bethel to Kwig,” explains A.W. McAfee, the company’s West Coast regional manager.

Just a typical job for Resolve Marine, known worldwide as a leader in emergency response, vessel salvage, and specialized marine services. McAfee says the company’s excellence in logistics is key to its success in remediation work— along with its workers’ ability to solve complex problems.

Assets Around the World

Resolve Marine began in Florida and in the Caribbean in 1980 when founder Joseph Farrell Jr., a veteran of both the US Coast Guard and US Navy, began providing salvage services to coastal freighters and small vessels with his tugboat RESOLVE . This led

“Because we deal with outside-thebox problems a lot, they’re not foreign to us. Most of our clients are marine based and very process oriented, and they’re doing the same thing every day, so our same thing is their one-off.”

A.W. McAfee

West Co ast Regional Manager Resolve Marine

to his forming Resolve Marine, as it’s known today, in 1984.

Over the years, the company expanded from domestic operations to the global stage. Core services include environmental mitigation, compliance, demolition, marine civil works, drydock repairs, and welding. Clients range from global energy companies and government agencies to insurance companies and ship owners. The company even has an educational arm called Resolve Academy that

provides hands-on training in marine firefighting and safety.

Employees are experts in regulatory compliance for marine firefighting as well as shipyard repair, towing, aviation, and drydock services. Emergency response services include assistance to every type of vessel all over the world. Salvage and recovery have involved anything from removing sunken or floating vessels or the remains of offshore structures to taking pollutants from sunken vessels.

“In Alaska, we do ten to fifteen emergency vessel tows a year in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific,” says McAfee, who works at Resolve Marine’s Anchorage base. “We’ll get a phone call about a vessel that’s not able to be underway. We keep two salvage tugs in Dutch Harbor, and we’re able to go out and hook them up to a tow and tow them to a safe harbor or to our shipyard to do a repair.”

Alternately, McAfee says, if a ship ends up on the rocks and there’s a

Drydock repairs, machining, fabrication, salvage diving, and military port services kept Resolve Marine's team in Dutch Harbor busy with more than 330 jobs in 2023.

Resolve Marine

spill, Resolve Marine will go out and rescue the crew before containing and dealing with any environmental hazard. Size doesn’t matter: the company can handle ships of all sizes.

“We generally see anything from 40-foot fishing vessels to 500-foot container ships,” he says.

Resolve Marine maintains a fleet of marine assets—including tugs rigged for towing, emergency response, and moving equipment and people— and a fleet of barges and heavy-lift

BUILDING ALASKA’S RESOURCE INDUSTRIES

Our innovative solutions and experience in Alaska construction and maintenance are second to none. From the Kenai Peninsula to the farthest reaches of the North Slope, CONAM has been there and built that.

equipment for salvage, project work, and wreck removal. The company has twenty-one depots dedicated to salvage, marine firefighting, and environmental response. It also has eight worldwide warehouses at or near ports around the world in Anchorage; Dutch Harbor; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Ijmuiden, Netherlands; Mumbai, India; Singapore; Theodore, Alabama; and Tacoma, Washington. From these eight warehouses, Resolve Marine can immediately deploy equipment in prepackaged containers on cargo planes or trucks in the event of an emergency. Those packages can include pumps, patches, oil spill containment equipment, or any combination. The eighth warehouse opened last year.

Home Sweet Tacoma

In April 2023, Resolve Marine expanded its footprint with a 10,000-square-foot warehouse and operations facility in Tacoma.

“The expansion provides a platform for Resolve Marine to pursue business development opportunities with new clients in the region,” the company said in a press release. The location has facilities for ship husbandry, marine construction, emergency and

Dutch Harbor saw twenty drydock jobs in 2023, three more than the year before. Marine construction and general shipyard services increased by 32 percent.

Resolve Marine

One of Resolve Marine's newest depots is in Tacoma, Washington to serve the cargo ships and fishing fleets that work in Alaska out of Puget Sound.

Resolve Marine

environmental response, and salvage projects. Commercial diving and underwater welding and inspection are also a vailable in Tacoma.

Like other Resolve Marine locations, Tacoma is outfitted with equipment that can be deployed 24/7/365 by air, sea, or truck. Its location means Resolve Marine is able to save clients money and time when needed equipment and crews don’t have to travel as far to get to them.

“We opened the Tacoma facility because a lot of our Alaska clients are Pacific Northwest-centric, and we wanted to serve those clients better when they’re down south,” says McAfee. “We opened the office based on a need we saw from our Alaska business. Many of our clients are based there, and it gives us the opportunity to share resources betwe en the facilities.”

Right after the Tacoma facility opened, one of the company’s clients had an on-board fire just 5 miles away, so Resolve Marine was able to deploy Tacoma-based crews as first responders.

CIVIL

Environmental Remediation

Global environmental and marine casualty response are at the heart of Resolve Marine’s services.

“It’s mostly marine centric,” says McAfee, “but, generally speaking, because we have the people and the equipment, we’re happy to help with any environmental remediation. We have response depots strategically located around Alaska and the world and specialty crews ready to use those assets if there’s an oil spill or a diesel release.”

McAfee credits the company’s remediation and emergency successes to its highly skilled and dedicated team of oil spill experts, divers, marine firefighters, and more.

“We have experts in the West Coast region that are very interested in supporting our clients, and then if we have other issues that we can’t field locally in the region, we can tap into the rest of the experts inside of the company,” he says. “It’s the same thing with equipment: we operate regionally with an understanding that if we need more support, we have it,

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Assessments Environmental Impact Statements • Permitting & Regulatory Compliance

Wetlands Jurisdictional Determination Report

Wastewater Treatment System Design & Permitting

Drinking & Storm Water System Design & Permitting

Spill Prevention, Response & Site Remediation

Spill Prevention Control & Countermeasure Plans (SPCC)

and we’re not afraid to tap into that support when it’s needed.”

That deep well of experience is something to be proud of, according to Jennifer Schlueter, Resolve Marine’s senior manager for brand marketing and communications. “We’ve got salvage masters, marine architects, and marine engineers, and all of them are multi-disciplined and wear multiple hats,” she says. “No two incidents are alike, but our experts have usually seen something similar, and that experience is vital when clients are suddenly in an emergency situation.”

Expertise and equipment are part of the package deal. “We strive to be the ‘easy button’ for our clients,” says McAfee. “Because we deal with outside-the-box problems a lot, they’re not foreign to us. Most of our clients are marine based and very process oriented, and they’re doing the same thing every day, so our same thing is their one-off. Our crews are really used to ‘Hey, have you ever seen this before?’ and ‘No, but we’re innovative and we’re used to thinking outside the box and we have the resources to deal with that.’”

SURVEY / CIVIL SERVICES

As-built Plot Plans • Boundary Surveys • Road Alignments

Grading Design • Construction Surveying • Earthwork Quantities/Cross Sections

Cadastral Remote Parcel Surveying • Landscaping & Drainage Design

Water Sample Testing & Analylis • Septic System Design & Testing

Percolation & Sample Analysis • Commercial Site Development

Subdivision Design & Platting • Right of Way/Easements

SAFETY CORNER

Telematics and Transportation Safety Data tools protect fleets and drivers

By Sean Dewalt

In the transportation industry, the term telematics refers broadly to using computers in concert with telecommunications systems. The term has evolved to refer to systems used in automobiles that combine wireless communication with GPS tracking.

In 2010 the Association of Equipment Management Professionals standardized the use of telematics in equipment for the shipping industry. The Association of Equipment Management Professionals represents close to a thousand fleet professionals who work in construction, government, utilities, energy, mining, and any industry that requires the effective deployment of heavy equipment and is the heavy equipment industry's only professional organization for equipment managers and their teams. The adopted ISO 15143-3 standard “aims to create a universal data communication protocol, ensuring compatibility and interpretability across diverse telematics systems from various manufacturers. It outlines precise specifications for data types, transmission frequencies, and access methodologies.” This allows for a unified, comprehensive view of all operational metrics across the organization.

2010. The use of this technology has become best practice. A recent survey showed that 93 percent of companies with more than fifty power units are using telematics.

Black Gold Standard

The transportation industry is booming in Alaska. As a result, Alaska is experiencing a driver shortage. This has led to many opportunities for drivers to make up to $150,000 annually. The push for transportation logistics is partly driven by the boom in mining and oil production that is ramping up once again. The Dalton Highway is seeing up to fifty trucks at a time on the 414-mile haul road, with

companies delivering commodities, steel pipe, machinery, and other goods to operators on the North Slope.

Along with increased oil production on the Slope, mining operations are increasing investment in the state too. Gold prices have been rising since 2022, and the push for extraction is steadily increasing. The Kinross Manh Choh gold mine in Tetlin is one of those newly opened mines. Kinross is contracting an Alaska trucking company to move gold ore 250 miles to Fort Knox Mine near Fairbanks for processing.

Black Gold Transport of North Pole has already

The trucking industry took note, and the use of telematics for fleet risk management took off in

Black Gold Transport

hauled 100,000 tons of material more than 1.2 million miles altogether using B-train configured trucks that can each hold 50 tons of ore. This operation supports 200 good-paying jobs, including highly experienced truck drivers, mechanics, and support personnel, with most of these jobs based in the Fairbanks area. According to its website, Black Gold was selected “because of our sterling safety record; we understand how to operate safely in tough weather conditions, and we have many years of experience transporting ore in Interior Alaska.”

Black Gold started trucking in Alaska in 1987 and feels that the best-inclass safety standards of the trucking operation are the key to the overall success of the company. This started with a fleet risk management program that was driven from ownership down. The use of telematics in the operation is extensive and includes the use of artificial intelligence to monitor driver behaviors, including fatigue and distracted driving.

At the company’s command center in North Pole, Black Gold Transport utilizes telematics beyond monitoring safety of the trucking fleet. In addition to monitoring the location, these units can show and record speed, braking dynamics, fuel usage, sudden changes in steering, and acceleration. It even uses risk assessment tools to alert drivers when school busses are running along the route to enhance awareness for drivers. The command center operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, live monitoring all vehicles on the road. The communication between the Center and the fleet allows for a continuous flow of information that enhances operational safety. This information can allow management to become more operationally efficient, reduce risks for increased traffic and tracking, and inform driver coaching and liability defense.

Witness for the Defense

Driver exoneration is a key benefit from telematics and vehicle-mounted cameras. Black’s Law Dictionary defines exoneration as “to lift, remove the stain of being called out for blame, liability, or punishment. It is more than just freeing an accused person of the responsibility for a criminal or otherwise illegal or

wrongful act. It is publicly stating that this accused should never have been accused in the first place.” When an operator of a commercial vehicle is involved in a collision, an onboard camera showing the drivers’ actions prior to the collision becomes crucial to defending the driver.

Under Alaska law, a driver at fault for an accident may be liable for damages, including property damage, medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. The amount of damages awarded to the injured party will depend on the extent of their injuries and the severity of the accident. Alaska is a pure comparative fault state, where a plaintiff can recover damages even if found to be partially at fault for the accident, if their percentage of fault is less than 100 percent.

“Nuclear verdicts,” those judgments that generally exceed $10 million dollars, have raised commercial auto insurance losses by $30 billion over a decade. Litigation is still a significant factor influencing the rise in insurance premiums with defense costs being a large part of those costs. With the increase in both nuclear and smaller verdicts nationally, “incurred losses for insurers rose by about 50 percent between 2015 and 2019,” according to a PowerFleet study. Those costs are often translated throughout the insurance industry, due to factors such as social inflation, or the claims costs that are increasing above general economic inflation. Telematics can help mitigate these costs. And programs that help avoid or mitigate fleet risks can lower the claim frequency and severity, which in turn lowers annual premiums.

Investment Pays Off

"Telematics is a game-changing tool that empowers our clients to leverage cutting-edge technology, demonstrating their commitment to safety and risk management. By harnessing the power of telematics, we provide underwriters with tangible evidence of our clients' utilization of advanced tech, instilling confidence in their proactive approach to safety,” notes Dax Lauwers with Marsh McLennan, an insurance broker with a large presence in Alaska and the transportation industry.

Daniel Hoffman, HSE/QC specialist at Black Gold Transport, adds, “Working

to establish a world-class safety culture at the newly formed Black Gold Transport has been a very rewarding endeavor. From the company's executive leadership, down through our operational managers, and ultimately residing within the cabs of each company driver, conducting operations in the safest manner possible is considered a normal part of Black Gold's day-to-day business."

One additional benefit is that the data can also be used for fleet optimization and preventative maintenance scheduling. Fleet optimization refers to a company’s ability to monitor, manage, and assess the location of the vehicle, area traffic, and the driver’s routing. This can have an added benefit for preventative maintenance programs by allowing the company to see real-time data from the engine systems, which helps planning for maintenance intervals.

Telematics is a proven risk reduction tool that can be used to increase operational efficiency, improve safety, and reduce transportation business costs. Whether it is the use of vehicle tracking, vehicle-mounted cameras, or an integrated, real-time data format system with artificial intelligence, the use of this technology is considered best-in-class. The ability to manage fleet safety effectively depends on having a good number of tools in the safety toolbox.

Telematics can help add another level of protection for trucking companies. Combined with a formal written fleet safety program and management commitment to good risk management, the investment made in this technology could have a total cost of risk reduction far beyond driver exoneration or the cost of maintenance—it could save a life.

Sean Dewalt is a Senior Loss Control Consultant for Umialik Insurance Company in Anchorage. Dewalt has been working in safety and risk management in Alaska since 2000. This column is intended to be informational and is not intended to be construed as legal advice.

INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS

Alaska Power & Telephone

A utility that serves remote communities across Alaska is moving its headquarters back into the state. Alaska Power & Telephone chose Ketchikan for its new administration offices. The employee-owned company has been based in Port Townsend, Washington, but decided to relocate closer to the forty communities where it provides electricity, phone, and internet services, from Metlakatla and Wrangell to Tok and Bettles. aptalaska.com

Alaska Precast Solutions

Alaska Precast Solutions is breaking ground in Nikiski on Alaska’s first precast hollowcore concrete manufacturing plant. The 35,000-square-foot facility will be equipped with customizable panel casting on 400-foot beds to make extruded hollowcore plank, precast deck panels, and partialdepth precast concrete deck panels used in roads, bridges, coastal protection, and vertical construction. The company’s president, Seth Kroenke, anticipates production will begin next summer. Alaska Precast Solutions is part of the Remote Alaska Solutions family in Palmer. precastak.com

Alpha Media

A decade of deviation from its Adult Standards format is over for Anchorage radio station KHAR 590 AM. As of April 1, the station dropped the CBS Sports format carried since 2013 and returned to a music mix of pop, R&B, and easy listening. Nikki Hilton, market manager for the Alpha Media cluster of stations, says the “Gold Rush Radio” format “brings back memories for all of us here at KHAR and will connect with those listeners who want a feel good, safe listening experience." Program Director Joe Campbell calls it “music that is not heard anywhere else” and an escape

from “information overload." alaskagoldrushradio.com

ASCI Federal Services

A component of Anchorage-based Advanced Supply Chain International (ASCI) won a contract to support the Naval Air Systems Command Fleet Readiness Center East in North Carolina. ASCI Federal Services is partnering with a local subcontractor, D2 Government Solutions, and Virginia-based Spectrum to provide transportation support such as flight line assistance, mule train services, forklift operations, delivery via tractor-trailer, specialized transportation solutions, and equipment maintenance. The one-year contract with four oneyear extension options has a total potential value of approximately $26 million. "This contract win highlights the dedication, expertise, and hard work of our team in effectively meeting the intricate demands of our military," says ASCI President and CEO Christine Hopkins. ascillc.com

Costco

The former Toys “R” Us next to the Costco warehouse store in South Anchorage reopened to customers in April as a new Costco Home Showroom. The store is a physical extension of Costco’s e-commerce website, where member-customers can sit on sofas, dining chairs, or patio furniture and peek inside refrigerators, dishwashers, and laundry appliances. For now, customers cannot take merchandise away; purchases are for delivery only, and currently only within ZIP codes close to the Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau warehouse stores. The Kirkland, Washingtonbased retailer’s first showroom was opened in Puerto Rico, and Anchorage is the second. Costco has been using the 58,000-square-foot Toys “R” Us building for years as a shipping center; adding a showroom involved fencing off the stock areas

from the front end, creating aisles for shoppers to browse. costco.com

Huna Totem Corporation

The village corporation for Hoonah acquired a stake in Chukka USVI, owner of Cruise Ship Excursions in the US Virgin Islands. This is the first joint venture for Huna Totem Corporation and Chukka since they announced a partnership last year to develop, promote, and expand tourist attractions throughout the Caribbean and Alaska, since both have an interest in the responsible evolution of port development to destination development. “We struck a partnership with Chukka for many reasons, but one of the most important is the perfect alignment of our values and our commitment to the communities we serve,” says Huna Totem Corporation President and CEO Russell Dick. hunatotem.com

New Pacific Airlines

Scheduled flights are on hold for the sister carrier of Ravn Alaska. New Pacific Airlines will try to make money with its 757 fleet by chartering instead. The company ended its only routes—weekly circuits out of Ontario, California to Reno, Nevada and Nashville, Tennessee—in March and April, announcing a partnership with Elevate Aviation Group, an aircraft management company in Miami Beach, Florida. "At New Pacific Airlines, we are dedicated to redefining the standards of aviation services,” says CEO Rob McKinney about the pivot to charter flights. Adds Elevate Aviation Group’s president Randy McKinney (no relation), “We anticipate unlocking innovative possibilities and redefining the experience for sports, entertainment, corporate, and other large group charter clients." TransPacific flights through Anchorage remain the company’s long-range goal, as described on its website. np.com

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RIGHT MOVES

Northrim Bank

· Joe Schierhorn, a charter employee of Northrim Bank since it started in 1990, passed a couple of leadership titles to a successor. The board of parent company Northrim BanCorp selected Mike Huston as the new President and CEO. Huston also takes on Schierhorn’s duties as Chief Operating Officer, while Schierhorn remains Chairman of the Board. Before coming to Alaska, Huston was executive vice president and chief banking officer at First Interstate Bank in Billings, Montana. He joined Northrim Bank in May 2017 as Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer of Northrim Bank. He was appointed President and Chief Lending Officer in March 2022. Huston earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Arizona State University and is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School.

Alaska Community Foundation

· An executive at the state’s largest charitable funder hopped over to lead another philanthropic asset manager. Alexandra “Alex” McKay is the Alaska Community Foundation’s choice for President and CEO. McKay most recently served as vice president of strategies and impact at the Rasmuson Foundation. A graduate of East High School in Anchorage, McKay holds a bachelor’s degree in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, is a graduate of Stanford Law School,

and earned a Master of Law from the University of Washington. “The board launched a nationwide search last fall to ensure we had a pool of qualified candidates for this important role,” says board chair Gabe Kompkoff. “Among the many well-qualified individuals we interviewed, Alex’s skills and experience stood out.”

Catholic Social Services

· Another former Rasmuson Foundation exec slides over to Catholic Social Services. Kris Palmatier is the Anchorage charity’s new Chief Financial Officer. Born in Palmer and a graduate of West Anchorage High School, Palmatier earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance from Alaska Pacific University, followed by completing his MBA at Western Governors University. His career has spanned positions with the State of Alaska, Cornerstone General Contractors, Kimura and Associates, and the Rasmuson Foundation, where he was director of finance from 2016 to 2022.

Wayland Baptist University

· Don Ashley, executive director of Alaska campuses for Wayland Baptist University (WBU), becomes the first Executive Director of Global Initiatives for the multi-state network of Christian colleges. He has held the position part time for years, and now the office becomes a

standalone entity. Ashley has led WBU’s Anchorage and Fairbanks campuses since 2023. He was previously an academic advisor at the Anchorage campus from 1995 to 1997. After earning a doctorate, he returned in 2001 as a professor of Christian ministry and education.

Alaska Communications

· The new Chief Operating Officer for Alaska Communications has experience at several tech companies where the telecom’s new CEO used to work. Jeff Vogt has held leadership positions at Comcast Corporation, Level 3 Communications, and point-of-sale technology maker Cantaloupe, Inc.—same as the CEO hired last year, Matt McConnell. Vogt most recently served as executive vice president and general manager at Actif.AI, an artificial intelligence software company serving the telecommunications industry. Vogt earned a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech and a master’s degree from The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, DC.

NMS

· NMS, a subsidiary of NANA Regional Corporation holding company NANA North, appointed a new Strategic Account Manager, Bradley Berberich. In this new role, Berberich focuses on enhancing customer loyalty and satisfaction while driving new

RIGHT MOVES IS BROUGHT TO YOU B Y NORTHERN AIR CARGO

Huston

McKay

Vogt

Palmatier

Ashley

Berberich

business development in Alaska’s resource sector. Berberich brings a wealth of experience in construction management, marketing strategy, and business growth. He has worked at New Horizons Telecom, United Way of Anchorage, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, and AT&T.

PND Engineers

PND Engineers recently promoted four staff at its Anchorage office to the position of Senior Engineer upon their successful completion of the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam.

· Cameron Klatt was hired at PND in October 2020. A graduate of South Anchorage High School, Klatt received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Montana State University and his master’s degree in geotechnical engineering from the University of Washington. He has been involved in projects ranging from waterfront facilities in Southeast Alaska and the Lower 48 to oil- and gas-related projects on the North Slope.

· Another geotechnical engineer to earn a PE is Kannon Lee. Hired in April 2019, Lee focuses on stability, seismic engineering, and frozen ground engineering. Lee has a bachelor’s degree in history from Dartmouth College, a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UAF, and a master’s degree in geotechnical engineering from UAA.

· Taylor Mortensen was hired at PND in May 2019 and has provided marine structural engineering and bridge design/ inspection services throughout Alaska. A graduate of West Anchorage High School and a Montana State University alumnus,

Mortensen is a former flight engineer with the US Navy and a certified Federal Highway Administration Team Leader and IRATA International Level 1 Rope Access Technician.

· With PND since November 2023, Jared Kinney has more than five years of professional civil engineering experience in Alaska. His primary practice at PND is hydraulic and hydrologic engineering projects, especially site improvements, drainage, and sewer/wastewater utilities. Kinney graduated from Chugiak High School and went to UAA.

Optima Public Relations

Optima Public Relations is carrying on after the recent passing of its co-founder, former state legislator Tom Anderson, by promoting some senior leaders.

· Becca Koonce takes over as CEO and Managing Partner, shortly after being elevated to Chief Operating Officer. She serves as the primary point of contact for the firm’s services of media and public relations strategies, marketing, and political campaign consulting. Koonce joined Optima in 2022, coming from MSI Communications. She previously held management roles at the Anchorage Daily News and the Resource Development Council for Alaska.

· Sarah Paulus steps in as COO, after a brief term as Chief Technology Officer. Prior to joining Optima nine years ago, Paulus served as a lead web manager for

the federal court system in Alaska and as a lead web technician at Alaska Pacific University. Paulus is an Alaska Air National Guard veteran with military police experience.

R&M Consultants

A pair of Survey Technicians joined R&M Consultants in the Geomatics Department, supporting the firm’s surveying and mapping teams in Anchorage and Fairbanks.

· Laron Thomas began working with R&M seasonally last summer and became full-time at the Anchorage office over the winter. He has performed boundary, design, topographic, as-built, and hydrographic surveys, and he has experience with land ownership and boundary research. Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in linguistics (Yup’ik) from UAF and has a master’s degree in teaching (secondary education) from UAS. He is proficient in the use of Trimble GPS, total station instruments, and AutoCAD Civil 3D.

· At R&M’s Fairbanks office, Lauren Hurst has developed custom web applications, geodatabases, dashboards, and cartographic products for federal and state clients. Hurst earned a bachelor’s degree in geography from Western Washington University and a master’s degree in geospatial technologies from the University of Washington. She is experienced in ESRI mapping products, GPS surveying methods, and LiDAR. She is certified as a Wilderness First Responder and a GIS Specialist for Incident Management through the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.

Kinney

Lee

Koonce

Klatt

Mortensen

Paulus

Thomas

Hurst

ALASKA TRENDS

Abad day of fishing is supposed to beat a good day at work, or so the saying goes. When the work is fishing, however, a bad day is even worse. Buffeted by market forces, seafood processors are taking drastic measures this season, with great consequence for Alaska’s coastal communities.

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development reported in April that processing facilities slated for sale, closure, or temporary shutdown represent about 15 percent of seafood jobs during the peak of the season in July. For further perspective in this issue, “Rough Seas Ahead” by Alex Appel describes some of the effects for communities and seafood processing companies.

To place these developments in a broader context, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) recently updated its biennial report on the economic value of Alaska’s seafood industry to include data from 2022 and 2023. Among the topline findings are that the industry contributes about $6 billion to Alaska’s economy and employs more than 48,000 people annually. Many of those workers are from Outside; the industry employs about 17,000 Alaskans, and about 13,000 of those are licensed harvesters.

ASMI notes that processing facilities add value to the harvest, turning $2 billion worth of 4.8 billion pounds of seafood into $5.2 billion worth of 2.3 billion pounds of finished product. That makes seafood processing the largest manufacturer in the state, double the size of every other manufacturing type in Alaska, by employment numbers. Furthermore, Alaska’s seafood harvest supports more than 81,000 jobs nationally, larger than any other state's by far. The ASMI findings explain why changes at a handful of processing facilities this season are so deeply concerning.

This edition of Alaska Trends hooks into more of the industry data, picks out the bones, scrapes off the scales, and serves up some ready-to-digest numbers. Fish on!

149 Facilities

reported seafood processing employment. This included 141 shore-based facilities and 8 floating processors.

142 Communities

were home to seafood industry employees in 2021/2022.

Effect of Plant Changes on Jobs

53% of Skippers and crew were Alaska residents in 2022.

SOURCES: Alaska Economic Trends, April 2024; The Economic Value of Alaska’s Seafood Industry, 2024.

42 Communities with Processing Plants

Local Revenue

The seafood industry was the largest source of municipal tax revenue for 11 municipal governments in 2022.

The industry paid more than $161M in tax, fees, and self-assessments in 2022.

Processing Employment

reached its decade high in 2014 with more than 10,800 employees.

What book is currently on your nightstand?

Dog Man by Dav Pilkey. Kids’ comic books. I read to my son every night. What charity or cause are you passionate about?

Local youth sports. I coach two hockey teams, and soccer in summertime.

What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?

Get a glass of wine and decompress for a little bit before making dinner for the kids.

What vacation spot is on your bucket list?

I would like to play golf in various locations… I’d love to go to Ireland and play there.

If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?

It’d probably be a wolf. I don’t think I can deal with a bear at the house.

by Sarah Lewis

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OFF THE CUFF

Josh Norum

Movement defines his life and career, yet Josh Norum is part of a century-old fixture. Sourdough Express has stayed put in Fairbanks since the Klondike Gold Rush, and his family has owned the transport company since 1923, from his great-grandmother Schlotfeldt’s father-in-law through two generations of Gregorys on Norum’s mom’s side.

“I’m definitely very proud of our family’s legacy with our company,” he says. “We’ve transferred ownership through five generations, and I’m the fifth.”

In January 2022, Norum became company president, but that wasn’t always the plan. “I had aspirations to run a large business, but one of my own creation,” he recalls.

He started Fairbanks Lawn King in high school, but by college he returned to Sourdough to work as a mover. “I got my CDL at 18 and drove trucks for a little while. I went through dispatching and mid-level managing. I’ve seen every aspect of the business,” he says.

Whether he’s shuttling among the company’s Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Kenai locations, roaming across wild hunting grounds, snowmachining up the Iron Dog trail, or traveling the globe, Norum is constantly on the move.

Alaska Business: What do you do in your free time?

Josh Norum: I snowmachine a lot in the wintertime. In the summertime, we go boating to our cabin. In the fall, we hunt a lot.

AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn?

Norum: Getting better at golf.

AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?

Norum: I raced Iron Dog for four years… I also raced an Iron Man [triathlon] during that time… That was, physically, extremely challenging.

AB: What are you superstitious about?

Norum: Our joke when we were racing was that we weren’t superstitious, we were just littlestitious. We would always do stuff the same way.

AB: What’s your favorite local restaurant?

Norum: Fiori D’Italia in Anchorage... In Fairbanks, I enjoy The Pump House.

AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert?

Norum: Chris Stapleton.

AB: What’s your greatest extravagance?

Norum: We are fairly bougie hunters... We have a very well set-up boat and camp.

AB: What’s your best attribute and worst attribute?

Norum: I believe I’m very good at connecting the dots between people, making sure collaboration is happening. My worst attribute is I’m very obsessive about stuff, over-analyzing and obsessing about details. It’s stressful.

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