Port of Alaska in Anchorage
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Port of Alaska in Anchorage
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Port of Alaska in Anchorage

Port of Alaska is a Municipality of Anchorage owned facility that serves all of Alaska and the nation. It is Alaska’s most versatile port that handled 5.2 million tons of fuel and freight in 2022, including containers, liquid bulk, dry bulk, break bulk, and cruise ships too.

About half of all Alaska inbound cargo crosses Port of Alaska docks, about half of which is delivered to final destinations outside of Anchorage – statewide, including Southeast. It leverages hundreds of millions of dollars of public and private infrastructure, including more than 125 acres of cargo-handling yard, 3.1 million barrels of liquid fuel storage, 60,000 tons of cement storage, gantry cranes, RO-RO trestles, and a large, skilled workforce. It is located on upper Cook Inlet, adjacent to Alaska’s population center and primary road, marine, air, rail and pipeline cargo distribution systems.

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Alaska’s Primary Inbound-Cargo Port

Anchorage-owned and operated facility that handles half of all Alaska inbound freight – more than four million tons of fuel and cargo annually.
New Petroleum Cement Terminal

Modernization Program

Port of Alaska’s Modernization Program is a dock replacement program that aims to replace aging docks and related infrastructure before it fails.

PAMP will:

  • Replace aging docks and related infrastructure
  • Improve operational safety and efficiency
  • Accommodate modern shipping operations
  • Improve resiliency – to survive extreme seismic events and Cook Inlet’s harsh marine environment
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Big Anchorage Tides

Upper Cook Inlet has the highest tides in the United States and range almost 40 feet.

NOAA tide predictions for Port of Alaska typically range between low tides down to minus five feet and high tides that exceed plus 33 feet, with a mean daily tide range of 26.2 feet.

Anchorage’s extreme tides are driven by Upper Cook Inlet’s constricted geography and the configuration of northern hemisphere land masses. Local weather conditions intensify Anchorage’s tide fluctuations.

Click on these video link to see how tides influence Port of Alaska operations.

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What's new at the port . . .

Upcoming Anchorage Port Commission Meeting

November 15, 2023 – noon-2pm: This meeting will be virtual and held via Microsoft Teams. Please send an email with the words “Port Commission Meeting” in the subject line to PortOfAlaska@anchorageak.gov before 5 pm on Tuesday, November 14, 2023 to request an email meeting invitation with call-in phone number and log-in information. Meeting agenda and packet will be posted before the meeting.

Panel recommends renaming port after Don Young and reverting to ‘of Anchorage’

“The Don Young Port of Anchorage.” That’s what a panel recommends renaming the city-owned Port of Alaska. There are two changes there: An honorary thing for the man who represented Alaska for 49 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, and a reversion to the place name historically attached to the port – Anchorage, not Alaska.
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Anchorage Assembly OKs Port of Alaska cargo terminal design and user fees to finance project

Anchorage officials took two big steps forward Tuesday toward rebuilding the aging and vulnerable cargo lifeline almost the entire state relies on. 

Most of the state’s incoming freight, fuel and consumer goods flow through the city-owned Port of Alaska, built in 1961. Corrosion and age are wearing down the sections used for cargo, which don’t meet modern shipping standards.
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Future of Port of Alaska discussed at work session

If major revitalization isn't done to the Port of Alaska, major portions of the dock will be taken out of service in as soon as seven years.
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Small Port, Big Challenges, Extreme Flexibility

Building to satisfy current and future public needs and market demands
By Steve Ribuffo, Director of the Port of Alaska
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Port of Alaska tops 5 million tons in 2022

A record 5,167, 935 tons of fuel and freight moved across Port of Alaska docks in 2022. This business increase continues a five-year trend that is driven by shippers taking advantage of supply chain efficiencies available in Anchorage and nowhere else in Alaska. Port of Alaska is state’s primary inbound cargo facility that handles half of all inbound freight and fuel that is delivered to final destinations statewide. Port of Alaska cargo handling logistics and efficiency are driven by:

  1. Location (proximity to markets) –54 percent of state residents live within a one-hour drive of Anchorage docks
  2. Infrastructure / workforce – Port of Alaska leverages hundreds of millions of dollars of public and private cargo-handling infrastructure and a large, skilled work force to move cargo to final destinations statewide
  3. Intermodal transportation connections – Anchorage docks connect Alaska’s primary cargo distribution networks to economically move cargo to final statewide destinations via marine, road, rail, air and/or pipeline systems
    View Ten-Year Dock Tonnage

Port of Alaska User Group Meeting

January 12, 2023: Port users met with Municipality of Anchorage officials to discuss Port of Alaska Modernization Program’s (PAMP) plan of finance and proposed Port of Alaska tariff surcharge concept to help finance program.
Download PAMP Plan of Finance presentation – pdf
Download PAMP-related tariff surcharge discussion – pdf

Statewide and Port of Alaska Long Range Fuel Forecast

Download Statewide and Port of Alaska Long Range Fuel Forecast, Nov. 20, 2020 – pdf

Port of Alaska logistical and economic advantages report

Download Port of Alaska logistical and economic advantages report – pdf

Port of Alaska Fact Sheet.

Download Port of Alaska fact sheet – pdf

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