Alaska's Ports.

A look at some of Alaska's busy and not-so-busy ports.

From Naknek to Nome and beyond Alaska's coastline looks windblown and dark about now. But come late May, when the sea ice moves the offshore, and the breezes run heavy with budding alder the first tugboats appear on the horizon, their barges laden with trucks, groceries, fuel, construction materials and other supplies. Thus begins the seasonal surge of some of Alaska's ports.

Naknek/King Salmon

In October Peggy Saia, Naknek's port director, watched the last of the summer's come-back catch of 26 million sockeye salmon pull out of town en route to Seattle. Some of the fish departed in cans packed tightly into container vans, which had been secured to the barge in tall stacks. The canned sockeyes will ultimately be distributed to East Coast markets in time for Lent, while the frozen versions will be either consumed through domestic sales or transshipped to Japan.

With catches running at a respective 13 million and 10.7 million fish in the two preceding years, bankers sat on the edge of their ergonomically correct chairs while the City of Naknek, which derives nearly all of its income from tariffs on the freight moving across the docks, also had much at stake. Many of the area's salmon packers (there are about a dozen companies), meanwhile, discontinued shipments of freezing and canning supplies because they had leftovers from the runs of `97 and `98.

This summer the fish hit with such vigor that they left processors shorthanded on labor and canning supplies. When it was over, revenues were on par with years past, said Saia. "At least there were fish here again," she said, her voice jubilant. "It was fun and chaotic. We're back to pre-'97 thinking."

That means barges will return with canning and construction supplies next spring. The sentiments of the town, meanwhile, have also been restored to the years when you could bet on fish, says Saia. "You've got to plan for the bad and go for the good," she says.

Naknek and nearby King Salmon (12 miles inland by road) are the hubs for many in the salmon fishery. Air services keep their planes dotting the skies during the long daylight hours of summer as they haul the transient population of diesel mechanics, electronic communication and refrigeration specialists, seafood company heads and cannery workers from point to point. Or to floating processors anchored off the "Y" of the Naknek and Kvichak Rivers.

Local roads are also abuzz with vendors shuttling goods between the airport at King Salmon and Naknek. When it comes to hauling boats out of the Naknek River as it starts to freeze, most fishermen opt for the city's cranes, the largest of which lifts 140 tons. Fuel suppliers include Crowley Marine Services, Delta Western and Worldwide Fuel.

Dillingham

Farther north, in Dillingham, residents, transient fisherman and visitors have only begun to appreciate improvements that include repairs to the north end of the boat harbor. Other riparian changes include lights around the harbor and a new bulkhead and erosion control between the city dock and Snag Point. The city put out a request for a new bath-house near the harbor, but the bid came in too high, so the city plans to redesign the project and put it out for bid again in 2000. A new landfill goes out for bid this winter and should be complete in 2000. Among other projects, the city's cold storage facility will see repairs to its docks in preparation for hunting down a leasing agreement.

Though Dillingham is the hub for salmon fisherman during the summer and the herring fleet at Togiak in April and May, the harbor doesn't have slips like its deep-water counterparts farther south and east. "We run a float system and people raft off of that," said Pat Durbin, the town's harbormaster. (Boats float parallel to the dock and tie to each other.) Durbin and his crew pulled the floats out of the small boat harbor in the middle of October.

As for the port's services, the Pacific American Fisheries Boatyard will haul and store boats and large boat trailers, as will Squaw Creek Boat Movers and Storage. During summers the PAF yard is the site of numerous vendors offering services that range from electronic and diesel engine repair, to fishing nets, metal and fiberglass fabrication. Delta Western, Alliance Fuel and Bristol Fuel are the town's fuel suppliers.

Bethel

Far up from the Kuskokwim Delta, Bethel, a city of about 6,000, serves as the freight hub for surrounding villages. As for incoming general cargo, the port has been served by Northland Services and Alaska Marine Lines. They are also served by Crowley and Yutana, which delivers fuel to Bethel's tank farm and then transships it to villages upriver on the Kuskokwim and its tributaries.

"They take stuff up as far as McGrath and Nikolai, which is 500 miles upriver," said Howard Elliott, Bethel's port director. The immediate facilities at the port include a 150-ton crane, which comes in handy for plucking small boats from the water and storing them for the winter. But the town resorts to the tried-and-true method of greasing wooden skids and using Caterpillar tractor power to remove barges of up to 150 feet and larger.

Elliott notes that in today's environmental awareness, boat haulers don't grease the skids with grease anymore. "We use edible fat and lard now," he said. Not all of the barges are hauled ashore during winter, added Elliott. Steamboat Slough remains a popular place to moor barges over winter.

The immediate port facilities at Bethel include a small boat harbor, which is a section of floating dock moored along the city's breakwall, as is the petrol harbor, which connects to shoreside manifolds to supply various fuels. These are seasonal fixtures, Elliott said, and the city hauled them out when the river began freezing in October.

Unalakleet

Unalakleet, the coastal community of 800, bustles in summer when the local fishing fleet plies the water for salmon. The approach to the town's port is the Unalakleet River, which begins running slush ice in mid-October, freezes tight by November, and doesn't open to marine traffic until late May or early June.

"Most of the general freight comes in by air," said Tim Towarak, the town's city administrator. Alaska Cargo Express and Northern Air Cargo haul most of the big stuff while the rest comes in on Alaska Airlines. As for fuel deliveries to the town, Towarak said Nenana-based Yutana Barge Lines keeps the town's tanks full.

The city built a ramp into the river about 10 years ago, said Towarak, and barges can tie up there. The Coast Guard shows up every summer to set out navigational markers to aid skippers picking their way through the shoals near the entrance of the river. Traffic into the town is mostly small boats, said Towarak. The city has a boat trailer capable of hauling boats of up to 40 feet.

Nome

Nome, located on the north shore of Norton Sound, has seen changes in the way it gets its goods. If you stand at Nome's Front Street in March waiting for the winning musher of the Iditarod and notice that the new Dodge truck (part of the winner's prize) couldn't have rolled off the production line in time to catch the last barge north, you've basically got an idea of how the air cargo industry has expanded its services to most Western Alaska towns.

Northern Air Cargo flies into the coastal villages regularly, with its swingtail DC-6s. Lynden Air Cargo, Air Cargo Express and Alaska Airlines are other common carriers.

But most people prefer to ship vehicles and other dry goods north on barges during summer, said joy Baker, Nome's harbormaster. Crowley Marine Services discontinued general cargo service to northwestern ports last year, but has continued hauling fuel while Northland Service hauls the town's general cargo.

Besides a half dozen vehicles on each of seven sailings this summer, Baker said construction materials comprised about half of Nome's freight. When it comes to hauling equipment for coastal construction projects, some construction companies have their own freight lines. Knik Construction, for example, is owned by Lynden and relies on its barge line, Bering Marine Corp., for non-scheduled deliveries of earthmovers and the like. The high cost of shunting machinery from village to village has made for shared services among carriers.

"You can see just about anything going just about any direction," said Dave Haugen, vice president with Lynden Inc., in Anchorage.

Nenana

But in Nenana, where the Railbelt and the George Parks Highway meet the Tanana River, the goods all go down-river. Yutana Barge Lines, a holding company for Northland, hauls the fuel and general cargo to Yukon River and coastal villages while Inland Barge Co. hauls general cargo to Holy Cross and back. In all, the port handles an average 66,000 tons of freight per year, said Bob Knight, Nenana's mayor and member of the town's port authority. Much of that is propane tanks, which are distributed to Yukon River villages and coastal locales such as St. Michael, Unalakleet, Sheldon Point and Alakanuk through Coghill's Store.

Ty Duggar, assistant manager of Coghill's, said that beside some 3,700 propane tanks shipped downriver each season, other goods include lumber for buildings or cabins, hardware, and supplies of all kinds. "A lot of people in Alaska don't realize that this is really a freight hub, an inland port," said Duggar. "But all the trails meet here."

When it comes to the number of ice-free days for the port, Nenana is the home of the fabled Nenana Ice Classic, which sells tickets for $2 then splits the spoils among those who guess the correct day and minute the ice goes out in spring. Which is to say that Nenana remains ice free from about mid-April to early May until freezeup, which usually comes in November.

As for amenities, the town boasts of a public boat launch and a 30-ton crane. Yutana offers stevedoring and welding service, said Knight.