Port of Alaska in Anchorage
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Port of Alaska in Anchorage

Petroleum and Cement Terminal Construction

Port of Alaska expects to complete construction and initiate operations of its new Petroleum and Cement Terminal (PCT) this year.

The PCT will be a pile-supported dock located south of existing terminals and adjacent to ABI’s cement-storage dome. It will replace Petroleum Oil Lubricants Terminal 1 (POL1), Port of Alaska’s primary petroleum terminal and Alaska’s only dock equipped with a pneumatic, bulkcement unloading and transfer system. POL1 opened in 1965, is severely corroded, and suffered significant structural damage during the Nov. 30, 2018 magnitude 7.1 earthquake.

The PCT is the first phase of the Port of Alaska Modernization Program (PAMP) and must be completed before POL1 fails or is demolished to ensure that Port of Alaska maintains capacity to economically meet Alaska fuel and cement needs. . . ➤Click Here To Continue Reading

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About the Port

About The Port

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 tsunami-proof upper Cook Inlet, adjacent to Alaska’s population center and primary road, marine, air, rail and pipeline cargo distribution systems.

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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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Modernization Program

Modernization Program

Engineers estimate that Port of Alaska’s aging docks will start closing due to corrosion and loss of load-bearing capacity in as few as five years if they are not replaced, possibly sooner if there is another big earthquake. Port of Alaska’s Modernization Program (PAMP) aims to replace Anchorage’s aging docks:

  • Improve operational safety and efficiency
  • Accommodate modern shipping operations
  • Improve resiliency – to survive extreme seismic events and sustain ongoing cargo operations

The final PAMP plan is still being determined based upon user needs and available funding. The new Petroleum and Cement Terminal was completed in 2022. Workers will perform shoreside stabilization work in 2023-24 before starting new cargo terminal construction in 2025. The entire modernization program is expected to take 10 years to construct.

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What's new at the port . . .

Upcoming Anchorage Port Commission Meeting

April 5, 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, April 4, 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.

Bronson backs expanded port design that could add more than $200M to modernization project

With support from the mayor’s office, the Port of Alaska is moving forward with an expanded design that could add hundreds of millions of dollars to its already substantial price tag.

Under the new concept, the terminals would be identical: same width, same contiguous tracks, laid down for cranes considerably more capable than the outdated ones currently serving a single terminal. It was approved in a 3-2 vote at a Dec. 20 meeting of the port project’s Design Advisory Board.
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Port of Alaska Director Named Chair of IAMPE Advisory Board

The Advisory Board of the International Association of Maritime and Port Executives (IAMPE) named Steve Ribuffo, Director of the Port of Alaska, the new Chairman of the IAMPE Advisory board at its most recent annual meeting. Capt. Kevin Kiefer, Chief for the U.S. Coast Guard Office of Waterways and Ocean Policy at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC, was named as the Advisory Board’s Vice Chairman at the same meeting.
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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

Boiler fire on vessel at Port of Alaska

A ship docked at the Port of Alaska experienced a boiler fire on Friday night, creating a loud boom and brief billowing smoke. According to a press release, the oil tanker Atlantic Lily was offloading Jet A-1 fuel at the port when the blast occurred at 10:08 p.m. on Friday.
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$112 Million Announced for Alaska Ports And Ferry Terminals

Office of Dan Sullivan, United States Senator for Alaska
Office of Lisa Murkowski, United States Senator for Alaska
Joint Release: 10.26.22

U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (both R-Alaska) today announced that four Alaska coastal communities will receive a total of $112 million in investments this year for critical port-related infrastructure and ferry terminal projects, marking the first wave of these type of investments attributable to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). 
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Anchorage to get $69M for port repairs as part of federal infrastructure bill spending in Alaska.

Congressional and local officials this week welcomed news that the Port of Alaska is set to receive $68.7 million in grant funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The money is part of a larger bundle of federal spending on “port-related infrastructure and ferry terminal projects” approved under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that passed last year in Congress, according to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office.
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Port of Alaska Employment Impacts report

Download Port of Alaska Employment Impacts report - 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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