Alaska Public Media
By: Zachariah Hughes
The Port of Alaska is getting $25 million in federal funds to help improve and modernize. The money was announced Wednesday by Alaska’s congressional delegation. It was awarded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Though it’s only a small piece of what’s needed for essential upgrades, officials in Anchorage are pleased.
“It was a very competitive process, but we are happy to receive the maximum award,” said Anchorage Municipal Manager Bill Falsey.
The municipality and its partners put together the extensive grant application, and the money will go toward financing upgrades to the cement and petroleum terminal at the port, a critical component in delivering fuel and construction material to the state.
Read Full Story Here:
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2019/11/06/us-dept-of-transportation-awards-25m-for-port-upgrades/
KTVA News
By: Joe Vigil
Alaska's congressional delegation is announcing a $25 million grant that will help offset the costs of the Port of Alaska's $2 billion modernization project.
“The Port of Alaska – which provides the vast majority of the food, construction materials, fuel, and other vital goods that Alaskans rely on – is in danger from crumbling infrastructure,” the delegation wrote in a news release Wednesday.
U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan plus Rep. Don Young say the grant is coming from the U.S. Department of Transportation and is called the Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development Grant.
“Alaskans have been sounding the alarm about the critical state of Alaska’s primary import terminal for years and, thankfully, the Trump administration and Secretary Chao have listened and are taking action to help us," said the delegation.
Read Full Story Here:
https://www.ktva.com/story/41284696/dollar25-million-grant-awarded-for-port-of-alaska-project
Anchorage Daily News
By: Aubrey Wieber
The city of Anchorage has been awarded a $25 million federal grant to help pay for fixing the damaged Port of Alaska.
The money will be used to construct a new petroleum and cement terminal, a $214 million project, Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said Wednesday.
"This enhances Anchorage and Alaska’s resilience in the face of any disruptions such as earthquakes,” Berkowitz said.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation helps offset an $80 million funding deficit on the terminal project.
The remaining $55 million can be generated from tariffs at the port, municipal manager Bill Falsey said. The grant allows the project to start this summer. It’s projected to be completed in the summer of 2021, he said.
Read Full Story Here:
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2019/11/07/anchorage-lands-25m-grant-for-construction-of-cement-and-petroleum-terminal-at-port/#_
Juneau Empire
By: Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse (Opinion)
Alaska has an opportunity to become a major supplier of copper at a time when global demand is on the rise, as more innovations like electric vehicles, alternative energy and battery storage are developed to lower the world’s carbon footprint. The world needs copper and Alaska needs infrastructure to deliver it; the Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project or AMDIAP is part of the solution.
It takes an estimated five to 15 times more copper to build and deliver carbon-free alternative energy such as windmills and solar panels than fossil fuel-based energy. Miles more copper is required for each one of the millions of new electrically vehicles (EVs) being sold — five times as much as in internal combustion engines. The new battery technologies needed to store energy in EVs, homes and industry need copper to function as do cryptocurrencies, cloud computing and AI. The demand for copper will continue to grow for as far as the eye can see.
Read Full Article Here:
https://www.juneauempire.com/opinion/opinion-investing-in-alaskas-infrastructure-will-benefit-all-alaskans/
By Derek Minemyer
KTUU News
Repair work to earthquake-damaged piling at the Port of Alaska is wrapping up ahead of winter, and port managers are looking at what comes next.
Engineer inspections performed after the 2019 snow melt revealed more damage than port managers could see in the aftermath of the earthquake. They found that 20 percent of piles holding up POL2, a dock receiving petroleum, oil and cement imports, had failed. This failure was so severe that the port had to de-rate the loading capacity of the dock while making repairs.
“We didn’t have to shut the dock down entirely,” said POA External Affairs Director Jim Jager. “But it did reduce the amount of goods brought in through the dock.”
POL2 piling repairs consisted of wrapping custom fit metal “pile jackets” around about 60 structurally compromised supports, according to Jager. The piling was already well beyond its lifespan before the earthquake and had been weakening due to corrosion.
Read Full Story Here:
https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Upgrading-seismic-resiliency-at-the-Port-of-Alaska-563763351.html
By Kristen Durand
KTUU News
The Port Commission voted on a plan to finance a project that would bring part of the Port of Alaska - which handles about half of all Alaska inbound marine cargo - to fully operational status. The $81 million project would be partially funded by a raise in tariffs.
The current tariff at the port will be expiring at the end of the year, so Wednesday the commission met to discuss those changes, as well as how to move forward with funding the remainder of the Petroleum Cement Terminal.
The Petroleum Cement Terminal has been in a state of disrepair since before the Nov. 30 earthquake, and on Wednesday the Port Commission looked at options anywhere from basically 'keeping the lights on,' all the way to funding a fully operational facility.
Read Full Story Here:
https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Port-Commission-votes-to-increase-tariffs-to-support-Petroleum-Cement-Terminal-completion-project--563749241.html
By: Elwood Brehmer
Alaska Journal of Commerce
The traditionally mundane process of updating the fees charged to use the Port of Alaska has turned contentious as city officials search for ways to pay for repairing the ailing docks.
Anchorage Municipal Manager Bill Falsey told the Anchorage Assembly’s Enterprise and Utility Oversight Committee Oct. 17 that port managers had come up with four basic options for updating the tariffs levied on the goods and materials that cross the docks at the port.
“Before the year’s end we have to have something in place. That means big decisions have to be made,” Falsey said to Assembly members, noting the current tariff schedule is set to expire Dec. 31.
Read full story here:
https://www.alaskajournal.com/2019-10-23/port-commission-tackles-tariff-schedule-year-end-deadline
By: Darren Prokop
Logistics in Alaska can be both amazing and frustrating. Alaska is the most expansive and diverse logistics laboratory in the United States. Take the largest state in the nation, yet the third least-populated, spread the people throughout the state, support them with only basic infrastructure having little to no redundancies, separate them from the rest of civilization by the vast Northern Pacific Ocean and the expanses of the Yukon Wilderness, and toss in the prevalence of bitter winter cold, earthquakes and volcanoes. Considering all this, one is amazed at the creature comforts Alaskans have access to and have grown used to.
Read Full Commentary Here:
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/commentary-port-of-alaskas-resiliency-puzzle
KTUU News
By Derek Minemyer
Outlining a path to the future for the Port of Alaska -- a recent Municipal report revealing how long improvements could take, how much they'll cost … and who's going to pay for them.
The price tag has gone up almost 300 percent since 2014: Originally estimated at $485 million, the cost of the Port of Alaska Modernization Project is now $1.932 billion. But, authors of the new Municipal report say costs for upgrades to Alaska's largest cargo port will eventually pay for themselves in money saved.
"When the program cost was presented as increasing from $485 million to $1.9 billion this year, it raised widespread concern about how can we afford this program?" said co-chair of the Anchorage Assembly Enterprise and Utility Oversight Committee Suzanne LaFrance.
The question of "How much will I, the consumer, have to pay for these repairs?" changes with every new analysis. But, LaFrance makes it clear that if this project is to be properly financed it’s going to take support from residents, port users, businesses, state and federal funders.
Read Full Story Here:
https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/New-report-outlines-path-forward-for-Port-Modernization-Project-561938901.html
ARCTIC WARRIOR
By Senior Airman Jonathan Valdes Montijo
The 673d Logistics Readiness Squadron tested a tanker truck offload facility at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, July 25, 2019.
The purpose of this facility is to provide a secondary means to receive JP-8 (aircraft fuel) in the event JBER’s fuel pipeline is out of service due to maintenance, damage or natural disaster.
Prior to 2018, JBER had only one means to receive fuel and a pipeline from the Port of Alaska to JBER.
Read Full Story Here:
https://www.frontiersman.com/arctic-warrior/tank-truck-offload-facility-gives-more-readiness-to-jber/article_ba1ef1d6-b95f-11e9-b826-03803955d2bd.html
