By Mayowa Aina, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage
Flanked by representatives of various levels in the supply chain at the Port of Alaska on Sunday, Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said there’s no need to worry about any potential breakdown in the supply chain that puts products on shelves of Alaska’s stores.
“The ships are arriving today, they will arrive later in the week. They will do it again next week, twice, and they will continue to do that,” Berkowitz said. “That is business as normal.”
Across the state and the country grocery stores have been struggling to keep up with skyrocketing customer demand for products as people stock up in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. People in Anchorage and across the U.S. are being asked to stay home and away from others as much as possible.
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https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/03/22/anchorage-mayor-urges-panic-shoppers-to-stay-chill-goods-are-flowing-into-the-state-without-problems-shippers-say/
Anchorage Daily News
Author: Matt Tunseth
The late comedian Bob Hope was well known for visiting military bases around the world and his namesake ship is currently making a call on Anchorage.
The USNS Bob Hope, a vehicle cargo ship operated by the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command, recently arrived at the Port of Alaska in Anchorage to redeploy equipment and supplies to bases in Alaska. According to port records, the ship moored at around 5 a.m. on Wednesday and will depart Saturday night.
Port of Alaska Director of External Affairs Jim Jager said large military redeployments of equipment are common at the port, which is only a stone’s throw away from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
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https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/military/2020/03/20/usns-bob-hope-in-anchorage-to-unload-military-supplies/#8797
KTUU News
By Derek Minemyer
Two of Alaska’s major maritime cargo companies, Matson Inc and TOTE Maritime say they are confident the coronavirus will not disrupt shipments.
This should come as relief both for Alaskans who have been stockpiling supplies and for those frustrated over finding empty shelves at grocery stores.
"We're following all federal, state, and local guidelines, and taking all necessary precautions to ensure a resilient supply chain," TOTE Maritime Alaska General Manager Alex Hofeling said.
These companies send two container ships with hundreds of thousands of pounds of cargo from Port of Tacoma to Port of Alaska (POA) every week, on Sunday and Tuesday, according to the POA website.
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https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Alaska-maritime-cargo-companies-confident-coronavirus-wont-disrupt-shipments-568822911.html
By: Elwood Brehmer
Alaska Journal of Commerce
After nearly six years in court, a lawsuit against the federal government worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Anchorage currently hinges on whether or not a commonly invoked working pact can constitute a binding agreement.
Attorneys for the Municipality of Anchorage and the U.S. Maritime Administration spent Feb. 18-19 in a San Francisco courtroom sparring over the enforceability of a memorandum of understanding officials for the city government and federal agency signed in 2003 to coordinate work on the since-failed Port of Anchorage Intermodal Expansion Project.
Department of Justice attorneys representing the Maritime Administration, commonly referred to as MARAD, argued that Congress tasked the agency with managing the project through language in a February 2003 omnibus federal spending bill that allowed MARAD to accept and spend state and local money on the work, according to transcripts of the proceedings.
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https://www.alaskajournal.com/2020-03-04/court-hears-marad-case-dismiss-port-lawsuit
John M. Doyle, Seapower Correspondent
Unlike the South China Sea and other contested areas, the U.S. Navy does not have the capability to conduct freedom-of-the-seas operations in the icebound waters of the Arctic, a key Pentagon official conceded.
With only one heavy and one medium icebreaker and no Navy ships with hulls hardened against ice, “We do have limitations in the Arctic right now,” James H. Anderson, assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, told a readiness subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 3 during a hearing on U.S. military readiness in the Arctic.
The subcommittee chairman, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), said he doubted the Navy could today follow the route across the Arctic that Allied supply convoys took to the Soviet Union in World War II. Sullivan noted that previous Defense Department Arctic strategies called for protecting “our sovereign territory, our sea lanes through Freedom of Navigation operations (FONOPS).”
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https://seapowermagazine.org/u-s-lacks-ice-hardened-ships-repair-and-refueling-ports-for-arctic-ops/?fbclid=IwAR3fZjHfN-VnBF5n0JoiHE4caDQlKr6JQF3PH_S50PSK26BK4Ld03ZJ_vvk
American Journal of Transportation
New grants will provide critical infrastructure support
Washington, DC – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Maritime Administration (MARAD) today announced that it has awarded more than $280 million in discretionary grant funding through the new Port Infrastructure Development Program. This funding is designed to improve port facilities at or near coastal seaports.
“Ports are gateways to the world and port infrastructure investments will improve the regional economy, increase productivity and economic competitiveness, and create more jobs,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.
The Port Infrastructure Development Program supports efforts by ports and industry stakeholders to improve facility and freight infrastructure to ensure our nation’s freight transportation needs, present and future, are met. The program provides capital financing and project management assistance to improve port capacity and efficiency. Of the 15 projects that were awarded grants, six are located in Opportunity Zones, which were created to revitalize economically distressed communities using private investments.
“We are very excited to have the opportunity to work more directly with America’s ports to enhance their facilities,” said Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby. “The grants awarded will ensure that these facilities are operating at their highest, most productive capacities.”
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https://ajot.com/news/maritime-administration-announces-more-than-280-million-in-grants-for-us-ports
Anchorage Daily News
Author: Aubrey Wieber
The city of Anchorage landed a $20 million grant to further cut into the cost of rebuilding the Port of Alaska’s cement and petroleum terminal.
The grant, given by the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration, was announced Tuesday. Port spokesman Jim Jager said Alaska’s congressional delegation helped in securing the grant.
In-water construction of the new terminal will start this spring and finish in fall 2021. It’s expected to cost a little more than $200 million, according to Jager.
In November, the city announced a $25 million grant toward the project, also from the Transportation Department.
With the new grant, there is a roughly $35 million deficit for the terminal rebuild. The port will bond for that money and pay off the bonds with tariffs, Jager said.
“This absolutely reduces the need for customer money, tariff money,” Jager said. "It’s money that Alaskans will not be paying for the dock.”
The port’s aging infrastructure was damaged during the November 2018 earthquake. The new terminal should withstand a more powerful earthquake than the 1964 Good Friday earthquake.
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https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2020/02/14/feds-give-anchorage-20-million-for-port-of-alaska/
Dan Sullivan
United States Senator for Alaska
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded a $20 million Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grant to the Port of Alaska, located in Anchorage.
“I want to thank Secretary Chao for recognizing the dire state of one of Alaska’s most important pieces of infrastructure and heeding the call of Alaskans by approving this much-needed PIDP grant,” said Senator Sullivan. “The Port of Alaska not only serves the most basic needs of a broad swath of Alaskans – including fuel, food, construction materials, and other goods – but also America’s security interests as an Arctic nation. The Port of Alaska is the only Department of Defense strategic seaport near the Arctic—a fact we cannot overlook as sea ice recedes, traffic accelerates and our country’s adversaries, particularly Russia, grow their maritime capabilities in the region. This grant will help restore the Port of Alaska’s status as a safe, cost-effective, reliable and resilient piece of infrastructure."
“Our ports are an integral component of our Nation’s economic success,” said Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao. “As the Administration continues to invest in America’s infrastructure, this program will further modernize and improve the efficiency of our waterways.”
BACKGROUND:
In August 2017, Senator Sullivan hosted Secretary Chao in Alaska and facilitated a meeting between Port of Alaska Director Steve Ribuffo and the secretary to make an appeal for funding the port.
In May 2019, Senator Sullivan held a hearing on the state of our federal maritime agencies as a build-up to the reauthorization of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD). Witnesses included Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby, administrator of MARAD.
In July 2019, Senator Sullivan met with Admiral Buzby, TRANSCOM Commander Lyons, and senior officials in the Department of Transportation to discuss the needs at the port and the new program at MARAD.
In September 2019, Senator Sullivan wrote Secretary Chao in support of the Port of Alaska’s MARAD Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) grant.
On November 6, 2019, the Department of Transportation awarded a $25 million Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) Grant to the Port of Alaska.
KTUU Channel 2 News
By Matt Leseman
ANCHORAGE (KTUU) The US Department of Transportation Maritime Administration announced Tuesday that it will award the Port of Alaska with a $20 million grant to aid in the construction of a new cement and petroleum terminal.
The grant comes on top of another $25 million dollar grant from the DOT in 2019, as well as various other sources of state and federal funding funding the construction, which is estimated to cost just over $200 million. The final puzzle piece of the terminal's funding comes in the form of a tariff, recently passed by the Anchorage Assembly, set to fund roughly $42 million of the terminal.
How this new grant will affect the tariff is currently unclear. The tariff is set to increase yearly until 2029, and will see its final adjustments after the terminal is complete and the total cost is known. The terminal is currently slated to be finished in 2021. Whether the costs exceed or go under the estimate will be the truly deciding factor in the tariff.
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https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Port-of-Alaska-announces-new-federal-grant-567791351.html
KTVA News
By: Joe Vigil
Anchorage municipal manager Bill Falsey called Tuesday a "good day" after it was announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a $20 million infrastructure development grant to the Port of Alaska.
Municipal leaders say the Port Infrastructure Development Program grant is on top of a $25 million Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development grant DOT awarded last November.
The grant will go toward the port's modernization project, which includes construction of a new petroleum and cement terminal. The Municipality of Anchorage estimates the terminal will cost more than $200 million.
Jim Jager, the external affairs director for the port, said the port instituted new fuel and cement tariffs in the beginning of January that will be used to pay the remaining petroleum cement terminal construction costs.
Municipal officials expect the terminal to be functional by the end of next year; in-water construction is expected to start in the spring.
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https://www.ktva.com/clip/15003809/dot-awards-dollar20-million-infrastructure-development-grant-to-port-of-alaska
