> But the strangest one was a small package containing a bicycle tool that
> I bought from Bulgaria. It got to Long Island three days later. Three WEEKS
> later it showed up in Anchorage. Two WEEKS later it was in Seattle. A WEEK
> later it was in Los Angeles, and a few days later it got here.
That's pretty hilarious. Both UPS and FEDEX are turning Anchorage into
major hubs. In fact, what is really fascinating is that stuff
coming/going to Europe to North America is now flowing through
Anchorage. UPS and Fedex is flying over-the-top. So cargo going from,
say, California to Germany is as likely to go over the Arctic Ocean as
it is going over the Atlantic Ocean.
That said, what is rough is that the handling and sorting generally
has no local drop. So anything coming from Asia or Europe to Alaska
has to pass through Alaska and go to the lower-48, where it has to get
loaded up in containers and return to Alaska. DHL is easily the most
mind-boggling of all of the carriers, though.
One out of every ten jobs in Anchorage is actually at the airport. The
logistical aspects of keeping this airport humming are incredible.
Snow, ice, and zero visibility is not the "exception" but the
"expected norm". So the place is equipped to keep everything rolling
even when conditions are such that everywhere else would be shut down
or experiencing major delays. And all the major cargo operations are
equipped for CAT3 (a/b, c with special permissions). The place can be
near zero-zero and keep rolling. BTW, in a 747, the cockpit view is
such that CAT3b is zero-zero because the nearest sightline is still
farther than 50 feet.
AK (late packages) Schnozz
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