Transportation companies operating in the Alaska-Washington trade are as diverse as the shipping needs of their customers. The sector boasts carriers such as Lynden Inc., the Alaska Railroad Corp., Pacific Alaska Freightways, Alaska Air Cargo and Bowhead Transport and specialists like American Fast Freight, TransGroup Inc., Pacific Northwest Equipment Inc. and Kenworth Alaska.
Staying power
Seattle-based Pacific Alaska Freightways has provided freight transportation services to Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, Kodiak and Southeast Alaska business and consumers for more than a half-century. Rex and Dorothy Sears began PAF in a small office in the Coleman Building in Seattle in 1961. The family owned corporation recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Initially a consolidation business known as Pacific Alaska Forwarders, the company served many of the wholesale plumbing and electrical suppliers in Alaska, utilizing break bulk barge and shipping companies. Pacific Alaska has grown over the years to offer an array of shipping services to a wide customer base that includes major national retail accounts, commercial fishing companies, construction companies, and oil and gas industry suppliers, while remaining a leader in electrical and plumbing wholesale distributors shipping programs. In 2007, the company changed its name to Pacific Alaska Freightways to better reflect current services.
Today, Pacific Alaska owns and staffs its terminals in Washington and Alaska, including locations in Alaska’s major fishing communities. It also operates a fleet of trucks and trailers in both states and uses a state-of-the-art computer system that gives customers real-time tracing, rating and tracking abilities along with computerized loading and manifesting, assuring clear and concise documentation.
In January, Southern Alaska Forwarding of Kodiak completed a friendly merger with Pacific Alaska that retained the entire Southern Alaska team but expanded the firm’s services to Anchorage and the Lower 48.
Readers of Logistics Management voted Pacific Alaska Freightways a “2011 Western LTL Quest for Quality Winner,” (PAF scored higher than any other Alaskan Carrier), along with Lynden Transport and several others, and praised the company for not only developing a sustainable business model, but also for being the best in servicing its particular region. The industry term, “LTL,” refers to less than a full truckload of cargo.
Logistics heavy hitter
New to Alaska is TransGroup Worldwide Logistics, a fast-growing global juggernaut with a single mission: To bring tomorrow’s supply chain technologies and best practices to business clients today. Since its formation in 1986, the company has grown to more than 90 stations spanning five continents with a staff of 1,200-plus logistics professionals and a global network of more than 150 “Worldwide Alliance Partners.”
TransGroup attributes its success to an emphasis on client/provider partnerships, global reach, powerful logistics systems and easy-to-use software tools with programming support. The company also cites as an important factor the involvement in the supply chain of everyone at the company, from shipping clerks to suppliers to C-level executives.
Transgroup noted on its website that its customers have voted it among the world’s top 100 supply chain partners according to SCB Magazine as well as a “Great 100 Logistics Company” by Inbound Logistics magazine for seven consecutive years.
The company recently entered the Alaska market by opening TransGroup-ANC, a full-service freight forwarder and logistics provider located on Postmark Drive near Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
The station is managed by Vanessa Keyes, regional director - Alaska. Keyes is an industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience. She began her career in 1976 with Northern Airfreight in Seattle, before transferring to Anchorage in 1983. Very familiar with and experienced in handling the unique challenges of moving freight into, out of and within the state, Keyes said she is excited to be offering air, ocean, FTL (full truckload), LTL and project-related services to Alaska customers through TransGroup.
Container gurus
PNW specializes in leasing shipping containers to businesses in Washington State, Oregon, Alaska and Hawaii with a focus on providing equipment that meets the needs of common carriers as well as the unique requirements of clients such as Boeing, Waste Management and the military. Founded by Terrence R. Thomas II in 1980, PNW got its start serving the Alaska-Washington trade with the containerization of the barge industry.
“We built Northland Services’ first 20-foot-by-8-foot-by-9.5-foot ‘High Cube’ containers for Jim Hagen, (the owner) back in 1980,” said Mathew Patrick Thomas, vice president of PNW. “Those were the first 20-foot High Cube containers in the world. Jim wanted to be able to ship canned salmon two pallets high. Thus, the 20-foot High Cube was born!”
Thirty-two years later, the family-owned business is still offering its services from headquarters in Kent, Wash., and refining the designs of its containers for the Alaska market.
“A typical container on the international scene may be used four times a year, but Alaska containers turn twice a month,” Thomas said. “Because of the harsh environment, they have to be built stronger to handle the extreme environment in which they operate. For example, we build our containers with beefed-up fork pockets and extra-high bottom rails to facilitate fork lift operations in the snow.”
The company has developed a variety of intermodal equipment for its clients’ use in Alaska-Washington commerce, including the 6,800-gallon ISO tank (UN Portable tank) container for which PNW has a patent pending.
“We built this UN Portable tank with fork pockets at the bottom. You won’t see this type of tank container anywhere else in the world,” Thomas said.
PNW also provides custom-built containers to customers. “We pride ourselves on being problem solvers for people,” he said. “With all the different pieces of gear that we operate, we can formulate a plan to satisfy the shipping needs of our clients. We haven’t been stumped yet!”
Thomas added that the big news at PNW these days is that his brother, Lt. Col. Terry Thomas III, home from active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps, has joined the team operating the family business.
Full-service dealer
Kenworth Alaska is Alaska’s premier full-service Kenworth truck dealer. As part of the Kenworth Northwest dealerships, owned by the Cymbaluk family, Kenworth Northwest and Kenworth Alaska have been serving the transportation needs of the Northwest and Alaska since 1967.
With five dealerships in Washington and two in Alaska – Anchorage and Fairbanks – Kenworth offers professionally staffed parts, service, new and used trucks, and lease and rental departments with capabilities to handle all makes of trucks and trailers. The company also maintains good inventory of new and used class 6, 7 and 8 trucks at all times.
Adds Kenworh Alaska: “If we don’t have it, we can find it!”
