High-tech transportation: last frontier leading the way in worldwide shipping innovation

Alaska Business Monthly, August, 2006 by Nicole A. Bonham Colby

"As offshore development leads to larger structures headed to deeper, more remote locations, the need for barges to transport topsides, jackets, and associated equipment to these locations creates an opportunity for Crowley to continue our traditional leadership role in the large barge market."

--Tom Crowley, Jr. Chairman. President and CEO Crowley Maritime Corp.

The process of moving goods from one place to another has become an exercise in high technology and intricate security, as transportation requirements worldwide change to fit a highly scrutinized transport infrastructure. Goods shipments to Alaska are no different, transiting a highly technical network offering the customer both a high level of accountability and an increased sense of deadline delivery. Transport companies operating in the Great Land have responded promptly to new federal and international requirements for cargo and freight transportation, at times leading the industry in Pacific Rim and worldwide shipping innovation.

Location, Location, Location

Alaska's unique geographic location has likely lent to its faster-than-average response to transportation innovations. In contrast to common misperceptions that Alaska is remote and not easily accessible, the opposite is actually true. Because of the state's pivotal--albeit sometimes challenging--location at the top of the world, separated from its native country by international borders and the North Pacific, the state is wrought with high-tech transportation infrastructure, both water and airborne. Because the state was already well tested in the mechanics of moving goods long distances reliably, the heightened security measures of the post-9/11 business culture were already in play.

Companies were already developing and testing measures and products to track and account for goods shipments with increased accountability and reliability--simply due to a natural business effort to answer increased customer demand. After all, despite its distant geographic location from the world's financial and political centers, Alaska has long been connected technologically and via its role as a key player in the world's natural resource and construction industries. The state has long played host to some of the largest and savviest multinational companies of global industry--customers who naturally require the latest and greatest level of technical support, especially in the delivery of critical cargo and freight.

Innovation: Products and Plans

In a recent issue of TotemNews, the customer newsletter for Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc., the company details several new improvements coming online. Included is the installation of Real Time Location System (RTLS) infrastructure that allows for improved tracking methods. "Infrastructure has been installed in Alaska and Tacoma," according to the newsletter. "The location antennas, access points, and whereports ... have been installed at the ship ramps and inbound and outbound lanes of the gates. Equipment is in the process of being tagged and will include trailers, chassis and refrigerated trailers."

In the newsletter, TOTE Inland Transportation Manager Bill King talks of some larger-scale operating advances. "As part of TOTE's commitment to enhance our e-commerce capabilities, our Inland Transportation Department is currently in the process of increasing the visibility and tracking of shipments originating throughout the Lower 48 destined for Alaska," King wrote.

In addition to innovative Web tracking, other aspects of the company's innovation include a new transportation plan. "TOTE has embarked on a new inland transportation plan, creating a more efficient and streamlined approach to moving intermodal traffic throughout the Lower 48. The new process and method will enhance TOTE's ability to improve quote turn-around times, as well as open up new areas and more equipment options from inland points," King wrote.

"TOTE is in the beginning stages of setting up a matrix for the source loading of different equipment types from various points throughout the Lower 48. As we grow our matrix, quoting these off-line points will become increasingly more efficient and faster for our customers," he continued. "This inland transportation project is a company-wide team effort, which includes the Inland Transportation, Lower 48 and Alaska Pricing, Lower 48 and Alaska Sales, Lower 48 and Alaska Customer Service, Lower 48 Fleet Management, and Alaska Equipment Control departments."

Electronic Innovation: Not a New Topic

Both security and technology have long been a topic of conversation in the transportation industry. That theme has been reflected throughout the years in coverage of transportation innovations.

It was a year ago that Alaska Business Monthly spoke to Horizon Lines LLC about its position as the world's largest American ocean carrier, as proclaimed in company literature. At that time, company spokesman Eric Britten commented on the importance of security: "Obviously security has been a huge factor this year," he reported. "It's expensive." The company had been spending a significant amount of money on security measures, not just because of the obvious tightening of worldwide security, but also because of Alaska's role as a key port for the Stryker Brigade.