Alaska Railroad and Alaska Railbelt Marine receive Argus Media’s annual Win-Win Award
Argus Media is proud to announce that its 10th annual Win-Win Award has been presented to Alaska Railroad and Alaska Railbelt Marine. The annual award is given to railroads, shippers and transportation companies that develop innovative partnerships leading to better service, better rates and other mutually beneficial improvements.
Launched in 1998 by Argus Rail Business, the annual award celebrates partnerships between rail carriers and customers that result in significant cost or service benefits. The latest award recognizes how the railroad and barge company preserved and revived freight deliveries to Whittier, Alaska, for several customers.
"We're excited to receive this award and even more excited how our partnership with the Alaska Railroad has blossomed," said Alaska Railbelt Marine President Mike Halko.
Alaska Railroad has offered rail-barge service between Whittier and the Lower 48 states since 1962, bolstered by development of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System in the 1970s.
By the 1990s, a changing marketplace and maturing oil industry worked to reduce demand for freight traffic while growing steamship service offered another competitive option for customers. Alaska Railroad considered terminating its barge service.
Barge shipment offered one of the most economical ways to transport railroad rolling stock to Alaska, so the shortline tried to preserve the service. The carrier focused on building up freight shipments of commodities that made the most economic sense to move by rail.
The shortline teamed up with the newly created Alaska Railbelt Marine to work with on redeveloping the rail-barge business. The two companies designed and constructed three new barges to handle the rail traffic it hoped to move back onto the water. Each barge, which have eight separate rail tracks, can hold up to 50 railcars.
The new barges allowed the two companies to offer regular service out of Seattle. Barges now leave the city every Wednesday, which has created consistency in what was a haphazard schedule. That consistency, combined with newer barges, also helped reduce transit turn times from roughly 20 days to 17 days. The barge company’s ability to use Whittier, rather than Anchorage, as its Northern terminus also saves two days sailing time and cuts fuel costs.
The rail-barge operation has added a new option for customers who would otherwise have used faster but more expensive steamship service. In particular, the service has been attractive to companies moving heavier, hard-to-handle loads.
As business has grown, Alaska Railbelt Marine has expanded the service by adding overhead racks designed to hold containers above the railcars, increasing the company’s overall transport capacity.
To accommodate the wide range of customers depending upon consistent service Alaska Railbelt Marine recently launched a fourth barge to be available for back up during dry docking and periods of heavy traffic.