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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Versatility, experience and high standards pay off for Sourdough Express Steady business expansion and an emphasis on customer service enable company to continue its long history Alan Bailey Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
There can’t be too many companies with histories that go back more than 100 years in the Alaska. Founded in 1898, Sourdough Express Inc.’s family-owned transportation business has survived everything from the gold rush and the Great Depression to the ups and down of the oil era.
For many years the company operated a fleet of Studebaker trucks in Fairbanks, Dave Ogden, Sourdough Express’s vice president of operations told Petroleum News.
“They used to do a lot of home coal and other fuel deliveries in Fairbanks,” Ogden said.
In recent years the fourth generation of the Gregory family that owns the company has been steering the company through some significant expansion and diversification. Sourdough Express now runs depots in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Cordova and employs 80 to 100 people. Prudhoe Bay During the development of Prudhoe Bay and the trans-Alaska pipeline, Sourdough Express became heavily involved in hauling goods for the oil industry. Trucking for the oil industry has been a company mainstay ever since that time — continuing drilling operations in the oilfields require a constant supply of materials such as drill pipe.
“From Fairbanks to Prudhoe we haul pipe and other drilling related equipment for Prudhoe Bay and the outlying fields,” Ogden said.
The company also hauls oilfield equipment and materials from Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula.
Although conventional tractor-trailers and bulkers can handle most of the company’s oilfield work, some assignments call for specialist handling. For example, a recent pipeline job on the slope required 40 loads of 80-foot lengths of coated pipe.
“We have a 25 pipe dollies (for that),” Ogden said. “You don’t haul that stuff on a trailer.” Challenges of the Haul Road Running heavy trucks up and down the Haul Road involves some unusual challenges. Winters bring severe cold and blowing snow while the summers bring dust and rocks.
“Some of the guys, they like to drive in the wintertime,” Ogden said. “It’s harder on the equipment in the summer time because the road is rough — there’s dust and rocks that knock things off.”
Sourdough Express maintains its fleet of vehicles in its own shop in Fairbanks. The company requires a thorough vehicle inspection after each return trip to the slope. In addition, the maintenance shop modifies new vehicles for use on the Haul Road.
“When we buy a new truck ... it takes about two to three weeks in the shop to get it prepped to go north,” Ogden said.
Modifications include extra wheel flaps and the elimination of bottom-located crossover fuel pipes between the fuel tanks. Mechanics also secure the electrical cabling under the vehicles to prevent a buildup of ice from overloading the cabling.
Sourdough Express prefers to buy trucks with what’s called inside-outside air — a system in which the air flowing into the engine warms up in a pipe running under the hood. Without this system blowing snow can block the air cleaners and the drivers have to resort to putting thin-mesh nylon over the air intakes to keep the snow out. Construction support As part of Sourdough Express’s expansion and diversification from the oil industry in recent years the company has built up its support services for the Alaska construction industry. Company trucks carry anything from construction equipment to guard rails and sheet rock.
“We haul a lot of cement to various places,” Ogden said. “We have a fleet of 18 bulkers and we try to keep them as busy as possible.”
Some customers hire trucks and drivers for a week or two at a time to haul equipment and materials for their projects.
One of Sourdough Express’s drivers came from the construction industry and specializes in this type of construction project support. He knows, for example, how to start up and load the equipment that a customer wants moved from one site to another — the truck crew may have to move the equipment without assistance from the construction crew.
“(The construction crew) may not be there until the next morning ... they want the piece of machinery ready to work when they get there,” Ogden said. Freighting fish Sourdough Express has also diversified into freighting fish, both within Alaska and to destinations in the Lower 48. It’s possible to transport fish south more quickly by road than by sea. And road freight costs less than airfreight.
“If it loads here on Monday it’ll deliver there on Thursday morning,” Ogden said.
Outside Alaska, other companies truck the fish under contract — Sourdough Express’s fish freighting specialist knows which companies can handle the fish correctly and promptly, to get the product to market in prime condition.
“You’ve got to know the people you’re dealing with,” Ogden said. Removals and storage Sourdough Express has established an exemplary reputation for moving and storing household and office goods. The company handles a lot of the household moves for military personnel.
“We have three military-approved warehouses in Anchorage and three military-approved warehouses in Fairbanks,” Ogden said.
Military approval requires regular inspections to ensure that the warehouses meet the military standards, such as compliance with fire codes.
Sourdough Express’s relationship with international forwarders has allowed them to amass substantial experience in both national and international moves — the company packs crates and loads trailers in Anchorage and makes all the necessary arrangements to have the trailers shipped to Seattle and then forwarded to their destinations.
The company also carries out complete office and corporate moves, packing and freighting office equipment and furnishings as well as moving employee household goods.
All of these services require careful packing of anything from chinaware to computers. So, in addition to fielding a team of experienced packers, Sourdough Express trains new recruits in packing techniques.
“We have a training center here (in Anchorage), so when we hire new people we actually run them through their paces,” Ogden said. “We have certain criteria and the military especially has certain things that they will and won’t allow.”
Sourdough Express also sells and rents shipping containers that people use for storage and other purposes. High standards for customer service Throughout all of its services Sourdough Express takes great pride in the high standard of its work.
When hauling pipe, for example, the company uses a loading technique that significantly exceed the Department of Transportation standards.
“If we get a new guy we’ve got to make sure that he understands (our technique),” Ogden said. “... it’s tried and proven and we’ve been doing it for years and we know that the pipe won’t fall off.”
And by taking good care of its employees Sourdough Express keeps a cadre of staff with extensive experience in the company’s services.
“We don’t have a large (employee) turnover,” Ogden said. “It’s a good company to work for.”
High standards and committed employees all translate to a high level of service. Our level of service keeps us going, Ogden said.
“Our people are very customer oriented and they understand the importance of getting people’s stuff there,” Ogden said. “These people will jump through hoops to do whatever they have to do to get it there.”
And with the company’s history of carefully managed diversification in past few years, Sourdough Express expects to continue to thrive in the future.
Editor’s note: Alan Bailey owns Badger Productions in Anchorage, Alaska
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