The Port of Seward, which serves a coastal Kenai Peninsula town that is a tourism hotspot in the summer, has received a $45.7 million grant to develop a system to cut air pollution from visiting cruise ships.

The grant, from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports Program, is for shore-based power and battery storage systems to be used by the cruise ships that sail in and out of Seward. Those systems will allow cruise ships to switch to electric power from the emissions-spewing diesel fuel they burn while making port calls.

The systems are planned as part of a redeveloped cruise facility expected to be operating in 2026. The new facility is designed to have a floating pier to replace the current fixed dock, accommodating more and bigger ships.

The port project is led by The Seward Company, a public-private developer with the Alaska Railroad, Royal Caribbean Group and Turnagain Marine as partners.

The EPA Clean Ports grant will help Seward meet its environmental goals, the city’s mayor said in a statement.

“The Port of Seward’s shore power project will place Seward among the forefront of sustainable ports in North America. By reducing reliance on diesel generators, we are not only cutting emissions but also enhancing the resilience of our local electric grid,” Mayor Sue McClure said in the statement.

Seward is the smallest community among those with ports that received the 55 EPA Clean Ports Program grants announced last week.

Most of the grant-receiving ports are in major population centers. The three biggest grants went to the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Virginia in Norfolk and the Port of New York and New Jersey. The Port of Alaska in Anchorage, the state’s largest city, was another grant recipient, getting $1.9 million for an emissions inventory and clean-energy transition study.

Seward, in contrast, has only about 2,500 full-time residents within city limits and a roughly similar number in areas just outside of the city boundaries, said Kat Sorensen, the city manager.  

But in summer, Seward’s numbers swell. Seasonal workers bring the population to about 7,500 to 10,000, Sorensen said, and tourists add several thousands more each day, she said.

Cruise travel has grown in Seward, just as it has grown in the state in general, Sorensen said.

Alaska’s cruise business has hit all-time highs, bouncing back from the halt caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, a record 1.65 million cruise passengers visited the state, and this year’s totals could wind up being even higher, according to industry reports.

While most cruise passengers’ travel in Alaska is in Southeast Alaska, Seward — in the state’s Southcentral region — got about 190,000 cruise passengers last year, according to industry experts. Between April and October of this year, there were 104 scheduled cruise ship stops in Seward, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.

Sorensen said the cruise companies need to keep their ships powered when making port calls in Seward.  

“A fishing boat can come in for a week and just shut off. But the cruise ships can’t,” she said.

Along with building onshore power and battery storage systems, the plan includes a workforce-development program focused on the Seward-based Alaska Vocational Technical Center, she said.

“I think it’s just a win-win-win,” she said.

Alaska’s capital city, Juneau, was the first to develop a shore-based power system for cruise ships. While Seward is on track to be the second Alaska cruise destination to develop such a system, shore-based power is now available for cruise ships in several major ports along the U.S. West Coast and around the world.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Multiple rooms were full Saturday with wares from the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Indigenous Arts and Crafts Fair. From ivory carvings to fish skin art, there was a chance to delve into the deep culture of Alaska Native peoples.

The fair is slated as an annual happening on the first Saturday in November, says Roberta Miljure, Volunteer Coordinator at the Alaska Native Medical Center. The arts and crafts fair is intended to encourage Alaska Native artists to continue practicing their traditional artistry and crafts and provide a market to sell them.

“Alaska Natives made their own garments, their own clothing, out of the things that they harvested from the land and from the sea and the air. And that’s how this started. It was actually the clothing and things, the things that they made out of their traditional materials, became art. And so that’s why we want to support the artists and make sure they have a market to continue the traditional activities,” said Miljure.

Audrey Armstrong, a fish skin artist who makes baskets and jewelry, says when she creates art she’s preserving her culture.

“Art to me, explains my identity,” says Armstrong. “Art is living our traditional way, learning our traditional way. And I think when we make a piece of art, it gives us such sense of pride in our culture and that we’re able to continue it. And my biggest thing is for art, for the artists to continue it, but also to be a teacher, to teach the younger generation, so this will continue for more generations to come. So it just doesn’t disappear.”

Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.

The First Hawaiian Airlines Flight On The Chopping Block After The Alaska Airlines Merger

by Gary Leff on November 3, 2024

I don’t like airline mergers, but I was a big proponent of the idea that the Alaska-Hawaiian merger was about as reasonable as they come. Neither airline dominates the mainland-Hawaii market (neither was even the largest player before the merger, and United, Delta, Southwest and American all offer significant service). Alaska doesn’t overlap on any other routes flown by Hawaiian.

Any degradation in Hawaiian Airlines flying we see post-merger may have happened anyway. The carrier has struggled for the past five years. The Alaska acquisition is a lifeline.

If anything, Alaska overpaid. There’s no real moat in Hawaiian Airlines markets. Alaska really just acquires knowledge of flying to Pacific destinations and some route authorities which are mostly replicable. And they gain a fleet of overwhelmingly Airbus planes for long haul and Hawaii – mainland service, right after finally getting rid of the last of the Airbus fleet acquired in their deal for Virgin America.

Today, Hawaiian Airlines serves:

• Auckland and Sydney
• Fukuoka, Tokyo Haneda and Narita, and Osaka in Japan
• Seoul
• Papeete, Pago Pago, and Raratonga

Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330 First Class

It’s clear that we’re going to see some long haul flying move to Seattle. That means some Hawaiian Airlines widebodies leave Honolulu. There will be fewer widebodies operating between Honolulu and the West Coast, perhaps, and fewer Honolulu – Pacific destinations. But it’s not just those markets that will see planes shift around.

It turns out that this merger is likely to be personally negative for me, because my prediction is that one of the first Hawaiian routes that Alaska Airlines drops is Honolulu – Austin.

1. Alaska wants Hawaiian widebodies for Seattle international long haul flying
2. The Austin flight has never performed especially well
3. It was a pandemic add to begin with when many markets were closed and they needed to find a place to send their planes. Orlando was already axed, but Austin remains.

Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330 First Class

Trying to figure out how quickly this decision might be made, I wondered about service obligations that might flow from subsidies Hawaiian received for the route.

For a few years before the route started, the Austin airport was looking to hand out money for someone to fly to Hawaii. They were also pitching incentives for Amsterdam, Beijing, Dublin, Paris, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo.

• Amsterdam was supposed to commence right as the pandemic started, and was delayed. KLM flies this route 3 times weekly.
• Norwegian was supposed to offer Paris service, but ceased transatlantic operations with the pandemic.
• There were rumors of the Delta-Korean joint venture starting Seoul at the time, but the KLM add went first and the pandemic intervened. Austin has no non-stop flights to Asia.
• China flying is certainly off the table at this time. The big Apple presence in Austin made it seem farfetched but not insane back in 2019.

KLM Boeing 787 in Austin

Austin airport, however, tells me that “Hawaiian Airline’s incentives expired in 2023” so there are no requirements for Hawaiian to maintain service.

I’ve taken the Austin – Honolulu flight a few times. In August I had no problem getting five first class award seats using partner miles on the flight for my preferred dates. That’s not a flight that’s doing well! For what amounted to 16,000 Bilt points (transferred to Virgin Atlantic with 150% bonus) apiece I got a great deal, but my bet is not a sustainable one.

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