KTUU News
By Mary Kate Burgess
A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol notice about the Anchorage Port of Entry had some Alaskans concerned about the transfer of goods through the Port of Alaska.
For those Alaskans worrying, the Port of Alaska is not closing. The business office of the Port of Entry of Anchorage, which is run by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is closing for two weeks.
Jim Jager with the Port of Alaska said the USC&BP closure does not affect the airport's customs operations, nor does it affect the Port of Alaska, where many of Alaska's goods arrive in the state.
Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz also confirmed that the port is open and the goods are streaming through on his community radio show, Hunker Down Anchor Town on April 2, 2020.
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https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Port-of-Alaska-staying-open-despite-confusing-notice-569336781.html
By KTUU News
Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and officials from shipping companies gathered at the Port of Alaska to deliver a reassuring message to an anxious public: Alaska's supply chain is resilient and so far is continuing uninterrupted.
"Those goods are going to continue to arrive," Berkowitz said, surrounded by representatives from the Port of Alaska, Matson, Tote, Marathon Petroleum, Saltchuk, and Port union workers. "I will point out, in those 600 containers are containers include the toilet paper that people seem to be hoarding. You don't need to do that any longer!"
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https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Anchorage-Mayor-and-shipping-officials-say-supply-chain-resilient-so-stop-hoarding-569010801.html
KTVA News
By: Joe Vigil
As Alaskans continue to see empty grocery store shelves for some items in some stores, KTVA recently asked some major Alaska shipping companies if there are any supply chain issues right now due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"The supply chain is healthy. It is working. The goods are coming to market," said Matson Alaska Senior Vice President Bal Dreyfus.
Some shippers and Port of Alaska officials say what people are seeing at grocery stores right now is a "demand-driven" change. They say goods are making it into Alaska just fine but people are simply buying up some products faster than usual right now.
"I think it's an understandable reaction. But I also think we don't need to panic," said Dreyfus.
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https://www.ktva.com/story/41923217/frontiers-shipments-continue-arriving-in-alaska-market-despite-covid19
Anchorage Daily News
Author: Aubrey Wieber
On Sunday morning, Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz stood on a third-story deck overlooking the Port of Alaska, where workers were unloading 1,200 shipping containers of goods.
In two days, another 1,200 will arrive on Anchorage’s shore.
Berkowitz was intentionally addressing news media with a busy port as the backdrop. He wants to dispel rumors that the coronavirus has disrupted the supply chain, which has prompted residents to make a run on grocery stores, clearing out pasta, rice, meat, baking ingredients and cleaning products.
Every Sunday and Tuesday, about 600 containers each from Matson and Tote shipping companies arrive in Anchorage and are unloaded. The goods supply local stores, but are also ground- and air-shipped throughout the state, reaching some of the most rural communities in the country. That supply line has not been interrupted, and is expected to remain intact for the foreseeable future, the mayor and shipping executives assured the public Sunday.
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https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2020/03/22/stop-hoarding-anchorage-mayor-shipping-companies-assure-alaskans-the-supply-chain-is-intact/
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
