Port Director Bill Sheffield told business leaders at the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce May 5 the $700 million expansion project is worth the money for Alaska's future.

“We are going to see military expansion of 15,000 troops in the Interior, and 15,000 here in Anchorage. Those military deployments require more room,” Sheffield said.

Sheffield defended the rising cost of the project by pointing out the rising costs of steel and materials.

“Consider this: We only have a seven-day supply of food here in Alaska, and we have only a seven-day supply of fuel, even the fuel for your car,” he said. “All the fuel for Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Elmendorf (Air Force Base), and fuel oils for rural Alaska, these all come through this port. That fuel comes from Flint Hills on the railroad and the Tesoro plant via pipeline to the Port of Anchorage.”

This buildup is for future commerce and safety, said Sheffield. He added that a disaster, like an earthquake, could devastate the current facilities.

The expansion will offer vast opportunities for future growth, he said.

“This is a strategic national port,” said Sheffield. The port serves the state's military, a force that is growing, and so the port needs more space to accommodate.

Sheffield also discussed the possibility of changes to the shipping industry if Arctic Sea routes change due to global warming. Should an Arctic shipping route open up, Anchorage would be in a prime position to dock ships moving between the U.S. and Asia.

More than 5,000 ships a year are now passing through Unimak Pass, along the Aleutian Islands. With the advent of a northern shipping route to Europe, traffic could triple if a shorter route were available between Asia and the current Panama Canal route.

“We are not just throwing money down a rat hole,” said Sheffield. “We are building up a 60-year-old infrastructure that will last for 100, maybe 200 years.”

Sheffield said the project will push the docks 400 feet out farther than the existing dock and will be 1.8 miles long. The work is creating 500 local jobs.

Due to the use of just-in-time-delivery, the port will need more storage areas for food, vegetables and cars that take the place of warehousing currently used by retailers, Sheffield said.

The dock and storage yards require 40 acres of gravel, which is being moved by trucks from either end of the North/South runway on Elmendorf Air Force Base.

Sheffield also pointed out the port is sensitive to environmental challenges through studies and observation of beluga whales and salmon migrations. The port is working with Alaska Pacific University students to observe beluga whales.

“We have observers and if they spot belugas, we stop construction a half-hour before they swim by, to a half-hour after,” he said.

Construction also stops for salmon in the area.

“Twice a year, we stop pile driving for two runs of salmon yearly from the Ship Creek fish hatchery,” Sheffield said.

In 2010 the port will receive new cranes that will reach across the length of 16 containers on ships. The new cranes will arrive after the docks are in place.

Sheffield also discussed how the Port of Anchorage will aid in the building of a gas pipeline from the North Slope to the Midwest states.

“If there is a gas line, there will be a Panamax-sized ship with 2,700 pieces of pipe on it that needs 10 acres of ground to lay it down on and a road and rail access,” he said. “That will take the railroad six trips to get it all to Fairbanks every three weeks. That ship will be coming in for two years.”

Sheffield ended by saying that the Port of Anchorage project is the largest that any municipality in the U.S. has ever taken on.

“We are trying to get this thing built up to last for generations to come,” said Sheffield.