Meeting Alaska’s
specialty hauling needs By Rindi White
SmithCo
T R A NSP O RTAT I O N
Truck and Trailer Tailors
S
pecialty truck and trailer suppliers are not short on ingenuity. In a state where hauling needs are as unique as snowflakes and nearly as abundant, the skill to recognize a problem and engineer a solution is rarely far away. Need a refrigerated storage facility to preserve a community’s whale meat? No problem. Massive snowplow/ grader/sanding vehicle? Easy-peasy. Trailer that can handle 70 tons of mining waste and dump it in precisely the right spot, every time? Can do. Take, for example, Bob’s Services. Its “BSI” logo is visible on mud flaps of commercial vehicles all around Alaska. The company predates statehood: it’s been in business since 1952, when founder Bob Brown started moving houses for people. Sales manager Kate Forster says it wasn’t long before people started coming to Brown to see if he could help them create a custom truck. One conversion at a time, Brown built a reputation on bringing people’s truck dreams to life, whether that was adapting pickups to drive on the Alaska Railroad or outfitting trucks with snowplows and sanders for the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) crew to use to keep roads clear. While Bob’s Services is now in its second generation of Brown ownership and operations, the commitment to getting the job done—and done well—remains the same.
46 | June 2022
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
