SEATAC MARINE SERVICES
MARINE TERMINAL i BARGE TRANSPORTATION BULK LOGISTICS i CARGO OPERATIONS 6701 Fox Avenue, South Seattle, WA 98108 Tel: 206-767-6000 Fax: 206-767-6015
email: info@seatacmarine.com
a marine railway at Wrangell’s marine services center have allowed 300-ton vessels to be hauled out and worked on. Petersburg, near Wrangell, has a large commercial fishing fleet and two hydraulic lifts that can also haul out 300-ton vessels for maintenance. Not to be left out, the smaller community of Hoonah, to the north, has a 220-ton lift. An example of the benefit of having maintenance work done in the state was a case of a tug from Juneau which had its annual maintenance done in Wrangell: avoiding a trip south to Bellingham or Port Townshend, in Washington state, saved $20,000 in fuel, according to the state commerce department report. The future looks good, too. “With Alaska state ferries under construction in the state for the first time, a rebounding tourist sector, and expected increases in 2015 seafood harvests, the outlook for the maritime economy is for continued growth,” the Southeast Conference said. The demographics of the Alaska fleet, in which many vessels are aging, will mean work for regional ship builders and repair facilities. By 2025, in the Alaska small vessel fleet, of those sixty feet or under, 3,100 vessels will be fortyfive years old or older. The smaller Alaska ship maintenance facilities will be ideal for work on these smaller vessels. Today new maritime opportunities are emerging across Alaska, the Southeast Conference report said. “Retreating sea ice has increased the accessibility of the Arctic, generating new economic opportunities and an increasing US Coast Guard presence,” the report said. Even though the Arctic is far from Southeast Alaska the region’s maritime support industry as well as the Coast Guard, which has its Alaska headquarters in Juneau, will likely be engaged in vessel maintenance and other support work that may eventually develop. It has been a surprising turnaround for a region that once had a strong industrial base rooted in the forest industry, with pulp and saw mills, but is now looking to a bright future in its oldest industry, the ocean. R
Mike Bradner is publisher of the Alaska Legislative Digest. 60
Alaska Business Monthly | June 2015 www.akbizmag.com