A major player is exiting the energy business in Southeast Alaska. Crowley Fuels is set to sell its regional business to Anchorage-based Petro Marine Services, with the deal closing in mid-February. Some fear the move could make life in the Panhandle even less affordable.
Petro Marine and Florida-based Crowley said customers won’t notice much difference, aside from the company’s name — Petro Marine said it will honor all of Crowley’s existing contracts in Southeast Alaska.
But some local officials and residents said they’ve been burned before.
“You know, we experienced sizable price increases in shipping from Alaska Marine Lines,” said Ketchikan public works director Mark Hilson in a phone interview Tuesday.
He was talking about a merger that happened a few years back, when Alaska Marine Lines merged with competitor Northland Services.
Hilson said since that merger, shipping prices are going up faster than they should.
“As competition went away, prices increased much more than cost-of-living indicators would normally escalate,” Hilson said.
Hilson said he’s afraid once Petro Marine takes over Crowley’s business, it would leave Ketchikan with only one supplier for gas, heating oil, and marine fuel. If the past is any indication, he said, prices will go up.
AML declined to comment for this story, aside from disputing the accuracy of an op-ed that made a similar comparison.
Petro Marine’s chief administrative officer, Jasper Hall, declined an interview. In a statement, he said there will still be competition in the region from Delta Western, an oil company whose parent firm is headquartered in Seattle. Delta Western has a large terminal in Juneau, and its website advertises services in Sitka, Haines and Yakutat.
But Hilson said Delta Western doesn’t have nearly the footprint in Ketchikan that Crowley does: It has just a single gas station, seven miles north of town — nowhere near commercial harbors and fish processors.
“So there will be a monopoly on the water side of fuel,” Hilson said.
If prices do start to go up, it’ll hurt, he said, not just the city’s bottom line, but also the fishing fleet and everyday residents. He suggested the state attorney general’s office should investigate the acquisition as a possible violation of state antitrust law.
But Hall, the Petro Marine executive, said that investigation already happened. Hall said the company told the Department of Law it was interested when Crowley indicated it would leave the Southeast Alaska market. And he said state antitrust lawyers already reviewed and cleared the sale.
“Petro Marine responded to a Civil Investigative Demand and provided information regarding the potential acquisition to the State of Alaska,” Hall wrote Wednesday. “Upon conclusion of the investigation, no further action was recommended, and an agreement between Petro Marine and Crowley Fuels was finalized.”
Department of Law spokesperson Maria Bahr declined to share details. She said investigations by the department’s Consumer Protection Unit are confidential.
Hall said the acquisition isn’t expected to mean any job losses: Any Southeast Alaska Crowley employees who want to work for Petro Marine will have a job. In fact, he said Petro Marine anticipates adding jobs in some locations to bolster customer service.
As for gas, diesel and marine fuel prices? Hall said Petro Marine has “no plans to change our approach to pricing.”
The deal is expected to close Feb. 17.
