News-Miner opinion: If you visited a Fairbanks grocery store in the last two weeks you may have noticed something. Or, that is, a lack of something: groceries. Milk, meat, produce, bread, paper goods, and other household staples were either in short supply or nowhere to be found.
This was largely due to mechanical issues which sidelined one of the cargo ships in TOTE Maritime’s fleet for two weeks. TOTE is one of the major commercial shipping enterprises that transports goods to Alaska from the Lower 48. To TOTE’s credit, they worked with one of their competitors, Matson, to get some of the stalled freight to Alaska while their ship underwent repairs. However, the shelves were still alarmingly bare. Granted, local shoppers prepping for Memorial Day weekend and an influx of summer tourists may have helped deplete store inventories, but it is also true that this is not the first time that our ability to buy food and other necessities has been sharply curtailed. This most recent incident serves as a stark reminder of Alaska’s precarious position at the end of the supply chain.
The unfortunate reality is that Alaska has a shipping problem. This is nothing new, and many factors contribute to the issue. Extreme weather, distance from manufacturing hubs, the occasional labor dispute, natural disasters, and global crises such as the Covid pandemic conspire to make the transportation of goods to Alaska a logistical headache. Ocean-going vessels are the most cost-effective carrier for these goods. Airline shipping is cost-prohibitive due to weight limits and fuel prices, though companies can, and do, use that method. Overland truck transport has its limits, with travel time and seasonal road closures being major constraints. Railroad shipping is perhaps the most economic way to move freight, but we currently lack a rail system connecting Alaska to Canada and the Lower 48. As such, Alaska’s shipping and supply issues are not likely to change unless a new and far more efficient, reliable and inexpensive form of transportation is developed.
What, then, is the solution? The fact remains that Alaska needs more ports with more dock space. A full 50% of Alaska’s freight and fuel arrive via the Port of Alaska in Anchorage, and although the port is set to move forward with a massive multi-year modernization project, this does little to help us in the short term. We need to fully develop Port MacKenzie and take advantage of its deep water capacities and existing access to the road and rail corridors serving our major population centers. Alaska also needs to institute stronger policies to encourage and support in-state food production and general manufacturing. This requires legislative action and robust investment. In addition, companies that used to maintain large warehouses for the storage of extra inventory, thus enabling them to keep local stores stocked when shipping was interrupted, need to revisit their short-sighted decisions to end that practice. To do less leaves local merchants vulnerable to competition such as Amazon.
Until and unless these things happen, Alaska will continue to be plagued with bare shelves, prohibitive prices and a continued lack of the goods and services that those in the Lower 48 take for granted.