Inside Alaska Business
Bay Welding

Homer-based Bay Welding launched the Goldbelt Seawolf, commissioned for Goldbelt Transportation. The 74-foot catamaran was engineered by Anchorage-based Coastwise Corporation to provide transportation to and from the Kensington Mine, as well as to provide Goldbelt Transportation with the flexibility necessary to explore other business opportunities.

The project took eleven months, and the Seawolf is the largest vessel ever built in Homer. Two cranes operated by Alaska Crane were necessary to launch the vessel. For this entirely-Alaska project, all of the companies involved are based in Alaska and employ a local workforce. Each business sources materials and services in-state wherever possible, doing their part to keep business in the state and continue to grow Alaska’s economy. bayweldboats.com

Homer-based Bay Welding

Bay Welding | Alaska Crane | Goldbelt Transportation

UAF

The reindeer research herd at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm has moved to a bison and reindeer farm near Delta Junction. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which owns the animals, approved the transfer. The university’s Reindeer Research Program has maintained a herd at UAF since 1997 for research on range management, nutrition, and feed rations.

Milan Shipka, director of the UAF Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, says the transfer reflects a shift in program goals. The new emphasis will focus more on outreach, as well as developing range and business plans for communities interested in establishing a reindeer herd. uaf.edu

Colville
Colville’s Deadhorse Crew

©Judy Patrick Photography

Colville made a cutting edge barge delivery of 3.5 million gallons of diesel fuel ahead of another busy season in the oil fields. Crews offloaded the fuel into storage tanks at Colville’s Deadhorse tank farm, completing what is believed to be the largest-ever delivery of fuel to Prudhoe Bay by barge. This year’s barge delivery is equivalent to 350 deliveries by truck, significantly reducing congestion on the Dalton Highway and wear and tear to the fleet. colvilleinc.com
BBNC
Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) acquired Blue North Fisheries and Clipper Seafoods, two leading operators in the sustainably-managed freezer longline cod sector of the Bering Sea fishery. Blue North and Clipper Seafoods will be organized under Bristol Bay Alaska Seafoods, a newly-formed subsidiary of BBNC. The freezer longline cod sector of the Bering Sea is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as a well-managed and sustainable fishery. Blue North Fisheries and Clipper Seafoods have been leading the industry for decades, pioneering many of the fishing practices and technologies that have made this one of the most environmentally sustainable commercial fisheries in the world. bbnc.net
Alaska Railroad
The Alaska Railroad (ARRC) is taking the next step in pursuing a public-private partnership to develop the rail-marine terminal in Seward into the southcentral tourism industry’s lynchpin infrastructure. ARRC is advertising a Request for Qualification (RFQ), asking interested parties to describe their capabilities and concepts for replacing an aging passenger dock and cruise terminal facilities in Seward. ARRC plans to identify potential partner(s) by the end of 2019 and to negotiate project details in 2020. akrr.com
Cook Inlet Housing
Cook Inlet Housing Authority (CIHA) has completed a new family-oriented housing complex in Mountain View. Ch’anikna Commons features twenty-one townhouse-style apartments, the latest development in CIHA’s decade-long revitalization of this north Anchorage community.

Ch’anikna Commons features one-and three-bedroom apartments ranging from 521 to 1,726 square feet. cookinlethousing.org

Department of Labor
The Alaska minimum wage will increase from $9.89 to $10.19 in 2020. Alaska law requires the minimum wage to be adjusted using the Consumer Price Index for urban consumers in the Anchorage metropolitan area (Anchorage CPI-U) for the preceding calendar year. The Anchorage CPI-U increased 3 percent in 2018; as a result, the minimum wage will rise 30 cents per hour to $10.19 effective January 1, 2020.
labor.alaska.gov