RV on a ship

joe b. wrote:
Yes, Clear AFS is still operational, just south of Anderson. Not sure why it is, but it is. It is being run more and more by civilians working for DoD or contractors that work for the Air Force. Many of the small Air Force Stations through out the state have been closed and abandoned, due to satellites being able to do the job cheaper and as well, Clear just keeps ending up in the budget cycle every time. Roughly 300 personnel there, half military as an estimate. Giant radar domes scanning the sky of Alaska for aircraft. The Alaska Airmans Manual warns not to get within one half mile of the domes as they may damage your aircraft radios. My radios were the least of my concerns so I stay a long ways out when flying in that area.

Bill, forum member Trackrig, grew up in Anderson, as his father worked at Clear AFS. We have a mutual friend that just signed a two year extension of his contract to work there as an electrician.
Shipping out of Texas doesn't make sense? Doesn't have too,as we are talking about a government operation, and a military one at that. LOL

To add to Joe's comments:

The base became operational about 1960, my Dad started working there in early 1961. This was in the days before the Parks Hwy went through from Fbks to Anch. In Nenana, the car bridge hadn't been build across the Tanana River yet. In the summer there was a ferry that usually ran from 6:00AM to midnight. (If the boys decided they wanted to shutdown early and go to Moocher's bar you could have spent the night on the side of the river until they started up again in the morning.) During the fall when the river was freezing over you didn't drive to town. During the winter you drover the ice. In the spring you again didn't go anywhere until the ice was gone and the ferry started running again.

In the beginning Clear consisted of three large slightly curved radar screens. Considering that most of you were watching football today, these screens, if laid flat, are larger than a football field. There are three of these sites, Clear, Thule, Greenland, and one in England, but I don't know where. Between the three sites and nine screens, they cover all of Russia and China for ballistic missals. They were originally called BMEWS sites - Ballistic Missal Eearly Warning Sites or System, I'm note sure on the S. What they basically did was very simply send out two radar waves over Russia and China. When anything broke the two beams, such as missiles, they could tell how fast the missile was traveling and where it was going to hit. They could also track satellites. Later they added a large "golf ball" antenna.

After satellite technology became an every day occurrence, there was talk of shutting the three sites down because the satellites could do the same tracking and give earlier warnings. Then a strange thing happened - the Chinese learned how to shoot down satellites with a jet fighter and missals. When the fighters and rockets carried on the fighters became high performance, you aim a fighter straight up and when it gets as high as it can go, you launch a missal at the satellite. They shot down at least one of our satellites doing this but of course claimed they knew nothing about it. The US developed the same technology.

After this became easy to do, the US rethought shutting down the BMEWS. It's one thing for China or Russian to deny shooting down our satellites way out there in outer space. It would be another thing for them to take out our ground based missal and satellite tracking radar sites and claim they had nothing to do with it.

So the sites have continued to live and often receive upgrades. They've added new radars, additional back up power supplies, updated housing for both the military and civilians and a lot more. I don't know what all they're doing this year and next, but it's well over $1B worth of work. I saw in today's paper a help wanted add placed by one of the contractors for a Project Manager.

And speaking of diesel back up generators. I remember seeing the original one in the power house. It had thirteen cylinders and was the size of MH. Because of all the new equipment they've added at the base, they had to install new back up power, but I haven't seen it yet.

And by the way, I'll have to put in a plug for the little town of Anderson. There's not a lot there anymore, no stores or fuel, but at the end of they road they do have an RV park. There's about 8 sites with power and rest are just open spots. I think the cost is $5 per night. There's a shower house with two showers that you have to buy tokens for. There's a dump station and water also with the best tasting well water I've ever had. You can continue a short distance past the campground to spots they have down on the Nenana River. Or, drive out on the sand bars on the river and it won't cost you anything. I'd caution you to watch where you go out there because there's a lot of dry channels that will get water in them if it rains heavy, but the river doesn't rise all that quick. I see people out there with TC and smaller TTs all of the time. I wouldn't take a large 5er or MH out there.

Bill

Spleenstomper wrote:
I guess I'm not ever using the ferry with my 37 foot RV and f350 long bed dually!!

If you say this because of your rig size, it shouldn't be a problem. We've put 40' DPs on and off without a problem. They could certainly take larger ones. They also load and unload tractor trailers with 45' reefer and cargo vans in every port. I don't know if do 48' cargo trailers.

The Ferry crew is very good and very careful about guiding you and off of the Ferry's. This do this up to a hundred times a day.

Bill

winnietrey wrote:
Quite a number of cargo ships run between Seattle and Alaska. And they do ship cars and RV's. I could not say for sure, but it does seem plausible that you may be able to find a line that would allow you put it on the deck, and allow you to live in it.

Going to be cheaper southbound than northbound, as less demand from AK to Sea than the reverse

There are two scheduled ships that run twice a week between the Seattle area and Anchorage. TOTE (Totem Ocean Trailer Express) is a RORO shop - roll the trailers on and roll them back off. They do ship cars, but they they're below decks so that waves can't wash them off of the ship and while the below decks are high enough for tractor trailers, they won't let you live in your RV down there.

The second carrier is Horizon Lines who bought out the former SeaLand and Maersk lines to Anchorage. They're a container ship taking 20' to 53' boxes on board. I don't believe they'd take an RV and certainly wouldn't let you stay in it.

Both ships run twice a week to Anch. Each leg, up or down is about three days and they don't stop anywhere in between.

Then there are several barge lines. There's AML (Alaska Marine Lines) which is part of the Lynden Transport companies. They'd transport your RV, but it would be lashed down up on top of the containers. You couldn't travel in them. Also the barges take about 14 days to make it from the States to Anchorage because they stop in all of the various ports to load and unload cargo. If you were to ship an RV to Alaska on a barge, don't do it in the winter. They'd have barges snap loose from the tugs in Gulf of Alaska during winter storms. They loose containers off of the barges every winter and they can secure them a whole lot better than they could an RV sitting way up there in the wind.

The Alaska Rail Road bought out the Crawley Maritime barge service to Alaska a number of years ago. These were double stacked barges whereas the railcars were loaded on the lower deck and trailers or other oversized loads were loaded on the top deck. They'd probably take RVs on the top deck, but they wouldn't allow you to stay in them. They dock in Whittier and road the trailers to Anchorage through the railroad tunnel. About a 14 day sailing time. I think the barge originates in southern Canada, but I may be thinking about the old AHT - Alaska Hydro Train, or maybe that was just the name Crawley used for their Alaska service because they also ran barges from the west coast to Hawaii and had a barge service in the Caribbean.

Then I believe North Land Services combined their barge operation with someone else, but I could be wrong on that. Basically the same as AML's operation.

I don't know of anyone except the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system that will let you stay on board the same ship as your RV, but they won't let you stay in it.

Some of my info may be slightly out of date since I've been out of the freight game for a couple of years.

And freight is cheaper going southbound because almost all of the containers and trailers are empty, but all of those empty trailers and containers still have to go south to be filled up again. If your RV doesn't fit inside of one of them, there might not be much of a savings.

Bill

Yes, Clear AFS is still operational, just south of Anderson. Not sure why it is, but it is. It is being run more and more by civilians working for DoD or contractors that work for the Air Force. Many of the small Air Force Stations through out the state have been closed and abandoned, due to satellites being able to do the job cheaper and as well, Clear just keeps ending up in the budget cycle every time. Roughly 300 personnel there, half military as an estimate. Giant radar domes scanning the sky of Alaska for aircraft. The Alaska Airmans Manual warns not to get within one half mile of the domes as they may damage your aircraft radios. My radios were the least of my concerns so I stay a long ways out when flying in that area.

Bill, forum member Trackrig, grew up in Anderson, as his father worked at Clear AFS. We have a mutual friend that just signed a two year extension of his contract to work there as an electrician.
Shipping out of Texas doesn't make sense? Doesn't have too,as we are talking about a government operation, and a military one at that. LOL

Depends upon how much has to be shipped. Moving 30 vehicles is a big logistics effort, even via rail.

Not really cheaper to transit across the US and load on the west coast rather than from the Gulf coast. Labor costs for the extra unload and load might eat up any savings from a shorter shipping distance.

There are ships which move stuff from the Gulf to Alaska. Not like they were going to charter a ship for a one-off move.

Really they would ship something out of Galveston to Alaska? Wouldn't it be easier to transport it to the West coast rather than taking it all the way down to the Panama Canal and back up again?

RoyB wrote:
...I know some of our DOD groups that went to CLEAR AIR FORCE STATION, ALASKA for required inspections in my working years had to take their own GOVT own vehicles with them. This is located in about the center of Alaska near Anderson,AK.

Roy Ken

Not sure if Clear is operational anymore. Never heard anyone speak of it... Location wise, it is on the highway system south of Nenana. If the shipment of those vehicles was anything like it is now, they get shipped out of Texas - Galveston, maybe? - and arrive in Anchorage 6 weeks later. Someone would then have to drive them to Anderson, AK, or I suppose a company could be hired to transport them. Gov't alternatives to shipping the vehicle from TX include accompanying the vehicle on the ferry (does not pay for private cabin) or driving to AK from your current duty station. We chose to drive, and don't regret it for a second. Dodge dually pulling a 25' gooseneck horse trailer and a GMC Denali pulling a Kia Spectra on a dolly. USAF gave us 11 days to make it from OKC to Anchorage with 2 kids (1 was an infant), 1 dog, and 2 drivers. It was AWESOME! Even boondocking along the road on the way up.

No it's a compressed gas or liquid. They make the tanks with outside braces to fit standard container spaces/ loads/ trucks. There is also a blue one just above and behind the tug wheelhouse.

EEWally wrote:
Taking the Alaska Ferry up and driving back is great because you can easily extend your stay without worrying about a reservation for a specific date.

Here's how they ship a lot of stuff showing a barge in Ketchikan. See what they have on top? Wouldn't that be a wild ride in an RV? They, of course, wouldn't let anyone ride along.
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Cool picture, are there more / larger versions?

I'm wondering, is that a nuclear waste cask 8th row from the left, 2nd from the bottom

We took the Marine Ferry in 2008 from Prince Rupert to Haines, stopping for four days each in Ketchikan, Wrangall, and Juneau. The cost for us and our TV and TT (38' total length) was a little over $1800 including 1 night's stay in a cabin. As has been said, it is the only way to see some parts of Alaska. The folks who work on the ferries are skilled at directing you on. The longest trip we had was from Wrangall to Juneau, 12 hours, and had no problem with what was left in the refrigerator with it turned off. We did try to use up anything really perishable before the 12 hour trip.

I would recommend doing it at least once. You can save a lot of money by getting on or off at Prince Rupert rather than Bellingham. The drive from Prince Rupert back to the states is not bad.