Delta Western Operations Manager honored for search and rescue work

This article was originally published on People of Saltchuk on March 16, 2017

Mike Riley and his team of Bethel Search and Rescue volunteers have saved dozens of lives during his 26-year tenure with the organization

By Hilary Reeves

A wooden sign marks the wind-whipped trailer serving as headquarters for Bethel Search and Rescue. Black paint peeling, the sign features a single flag, red on yellow, drawing the eye toward something found.

Delta Western Operations Manager Mike Riley has lived in Bethel since 1968; his family moved south from St. Mary’s, the village on the Yukon River where Riley was born. Four hundred miles west of Anchorage, Bethel acts as a transportation hub for the 56 villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta, where the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers empty into the Bering Sea. It’s one of the largest deltas in the world, and Riley knows firsthand that each of its 129,500 square kilometers can prove deadly.

“(Bethel Search and Rescue) is called out at least three times a week,” he said. “We’re mostly looking for locals in the wee hours of the morning when they haven’t made it home.”

Riley began volunteering for Bethel Search and Rescue 26 years ago, and has been president of the all-volunteer crew for six. Married with three children and three grandchildren, he began his career as a carpenter, then as a helper at a local marina before transitioning into the role of small engine mechanic, working on outboard motors and snowmobiles. He went on to manage the marina, a job he held for 26 years, before electing to stay at home with his family.

“That didn’t last long at all,” he joked.

He was offered a management position at a local gas station where he worked for 14 years before joining Delta Western. Throughout the second half of his career, he volunteered his time as a member of Bethel Search and Rescue.

“For many years, I was just a member, then for eight years I served on the Board of Directors as vice president before being elected president six years ago.”

The recipient of a handful of awards, Riley was honored again last year by the Red Cross of Alaska as a recipient of the 2016 Real Hero Award for Alaska Safety.

“If (Mike) knows someone is out there, he doesn’t give up until we know that person is brought back,” said Earl Samuelson in an online video. Samuelson, also a Bethel Search and Rescue volunteer, is a retired State Trooper pilot. “At times, he’d stay up all night, taking phone calls. I’d (go out) sometimes (for) a search mission and he’d stay…until the last person was back.”

Riley also spearheaded efforts to mark safe trails and developed partnerships with the City of Bethel Police Department, and the Alaska State Troopers. In 2015, Bethel Search and Rescue was able to fund and purchase a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) to assist in underwater searches.

“The urgency of finding people is needed, and the volunteer part of it,” said Riley, who encourages the younger generation to become search and rescue volunteers. “We have a lot of pride in our organization and we want to keep that reputation going.”

And though the Red Cross considers Riley a hero for saving the lives of dozens of people during the past three decades, he hesitates to accept the praise.

“I don’t like to say the word ‘I’ within this organization. It’s a ‘we’ organization. It’s (difficult for me) to emphasize myself, because we work so well as a group together,” he concluded.

When asked about a particular search effort that stood out in his 26 years, he recalled a pair of teenage brothers.

“Two brothers in their mid-teens got lost in a snowstorm,” he said. “Because they were so young, and brothers, it was important we find them. We used all the resources we had trying to rescue them: a Blackhawk, a C-130 with night vision, night flares. The temperature was 20 below. It took three long days. They were alive.”

A legacy of efficiency, safety sails on in Alaska with the ‘Antril S.’

The original article was published on People of Saltchuk on January 30, 2017

The Delta Western barge was christened in October after employee Antril Sanguinetti, who died in 2014

By Hilary Reeves

A crowd gathered at Foss Waterway Seaport Museum in Tacoma to christen the Antril S., Delta Western’s new 326′ barge built to serve Western Alaska.

On a wet and gusty morning last October in Tacoma, Washington, Delta Western personnel gathered to christen the company’s new 326’ barge built to serve Western Alaska the “Antril S.” The ceremony was bittersweet.

“I remember the first time Antril and I met,” said Leon Dwiggins, the company’s Director of Safety, who was asked to speak at the event. “He asked what I did for the company, and I said I was the ‘safety guy.’ Antril rolled his eyes and laughed. He explained that most safety guys came from a book and had no experience in the field. We talked some more and I explained…what I was about, and all Antril said to me was, ‘prove it.’”

By all accounts, Antril Sanguinetti was a man who believed safety and efficiency were not mutually exclusive. Careful and deliberate, Sanguinetti grew up in Alaska and knew firsthand the dangers living and working in a land of such extremes could pose. It’s one of the many reasons his death in a head-on collision on the Parks Highway between Anchorage and Fairbanks on Dec. 22, 2014 was such a painful shock to his family, friends, and coworkers.

“One of Antril’s best strengths was that he was a do-er,” Dwiggins said. “He wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. He was always busy making things happen…but he would always make sure he and his crew were doing it the right way – the safest way. And that’s why Antril and I clicked.”

’Safety is life-changing’

Dwiggins also grew up in Alaska, describing his fellow Alaskans as “family who don’t yet know each other.”

“One of my true beliefs is that friends are the family you choose,” he explained.

He joined Delta Western six years ago after leaving a large oil support company with interests on the Slope.

“Honestly, I wanted to get out of that volatile oil-field market. At my last company, I was a number. I was just ‘11023.’ I wanted something smaller, something more intimate. I wanted to go somewhere where I could implement my ideas.”

Dwiggins was recently promoted from Safety Manager to Director of Safety, a move that widens his influence across other North Star companies, specifically NOSI, Minit Stop, and Hawaii Petroleum.

“A lot of times, the safety guys aren’t well-liked,” he said. “A lot of times they have the title of ‘safety officer,’ and I never liked that. I’m not an officer, or a dictator. I’m more of an educator. My role and responsibility is health and safety.”

Sanguinetti left a lasting impression on coworkers at Delta Western, especially when it came to his focus on safety

Sanguinetti’s job, said Dwiggins, most often involved traveling into the field and troubleshooting system failures. Frequently, his work meant making sure trigger systems pumped the fuel.

“I believe you can either be the guy that no one likes, or you can be the guy that goes in there and asks how the guys that have been out there on the job everyday think it should be done,” he said. “I knew right away that I wanted to utilize Antril. He knew the systems inside and out, and we worked to build our programs and policies of that. He understood that we needed to give ownership to the employees.”

Dwiggins said he still thinks about Antril every day. An “in loving memory” button with Antril’s photo sits on his bathroom counter.

“It motivates me,” he said. “Everyday I get a little reminder of Antril. I’ve definitely changed my ways a little bit. I used to be a bit more hard-nosed sometimes. Now my attitude is more service-oriented.”

Dwiggins said that he might have helped to build the company’s improved emphasis on safety, but it was Antril who gave it legs.

“When I was designing our safety manual, I would reach out to Antril and pick his brain. I would tell him what I was trying to do and tell him my ideas, and some would be good and to others he would say ‘that ain’t going to work.’ But he would tell me why, how it would work, and walk me through the solution.”

He said the naming of the barge for Sanguinetti meant a lot to him and to others across Alaska.

“To me, safety is life-changing. The reward is that people get home safe. And naming the barge after Antril, the story behind it – that helps get the word out even more.”

’I had the best husband in the world’

At the October christening, Sanguinetti’s widow, Benita, stood up to smash the celebratory bottle on the hull of the barge named for her husband.

“It’s something Antril would have loved,” she said. “He would have been so honored. When I was told about the barge, I was at a loss for words.”

According to Benita, whom Sanguinetti nicknamed “Beda,” he put all his heart into his work.

“When his name was left on a job, he made sure it was done correctly. Like everything in his life, he made sure it was top-notch.”

Benita said she never envisioned herself having a storybook marriage when she was a little girl – but that’s exactly what life with Sanguinetti was like. They met at a friend’s house. Benita, thinking he spoke Spanish due to his dark good looks, asked “Cómo estás” – to which Sanguinetti laughingly replied, “Yo quiero Taco Bell!”

“I had the best husband in the world,” she said. “It truly was the love story that little girls wish for. He used to tell me God first, then me, then his mother, then my mother, then on down the line of family and friends. He held everyone in his heart. I have nothing but good memories from the 23 years we spent together.”

Every November, the couple traveled to Maui for their anniversary. On their second anniversary, they spent three weeks there, prompting Benita to ask her new husband if they could move from cold, snowy Alaska to Hawaii.

“I remember him saying, ‘No, you don’t really want that. Alaska is home.’ He never wanted to live anywhere else.”

Though it’s still painful to talk about, Benita said she remembers speaking to Sanguinetti on the morning of his death two years ago.

“We used to pray together every day,” she said. “That morning, I remember saying, ‘I’m going to go read my scripture now.’ And he replied, ‘I already read mine today, dear.’ And then I said, ‘Well, I love you,’ and he said, ‘I love you too, Beda.’ And that afternoon, he was gone.”

Benita said she knows God doesn’t make mistakes. What she didn’t know, and found out on that cold morning in October, was just how much her husband meant to those he worked with. She chuckled as she recalled how Sanguinetti often affectionately called Dwiggins “Captain Careful.”

“I still sometimes can’t believe he was that important to the company that it chose to name a barge for him,” she said. “It’s a great honor. It’s a legacy that will go on and on.”

’You should be here!’

Dwiggins concluded his remarks at the christening with a story. Two days before Antril passed, he was working on a project, building and installing parts and equipment. He texted Dwiggins “you should be here!” Dwiggins thought something might be wrong.

“I called him immediately and asked him whether something was wrong,” said Dwiggins. “He said, ‘No, just the opposite.’ Antril said that I would be a ‘proud Papa’ if I was there. He told me that he could see firsthand evidence of the culture I was building: all the crew were wearing the proper equipment, using the proper tools for the job, and pre-planning their work. Antril said to me, ‘Leon, do you realize that a few years back, that wouldn’t have happened?’ So after a bit of bantering back and forth, he said, ‘You’re doing it! Keep it up, no matter how tough it gets, ‘cause it’s working!’ Antril was so respected and so well-liked, he had such a grasp on life and safety, for him to accept me as his ‘safety guy’ was really meaningful for me.

“Antril’s ideas and experiences live in the procedures built and still followed to this day by the teams at Delta Western…with his christening, and his name on the side of this barge, Antril’s legacy will always ‘sail on.’”

Inlet Petroleum lubricants specialist inspired son to join the ‘family’

This article was originally posted on People of Saltchuk on July 13, 2016

Cody Potter worked alongside his father, Bill Potter, for years before recently joining Delta Western

By Hilary Reeves

Bill Potter is a self-proclaimed “lubricants nerd.”

“I’ve done everything during my career from warehousing, driving and operations management, to sales, to installing equipment and fixing the kitchen sink,” he said. “I still love the field of lubricants – I guess I’m pretty boring.”

Raised in Oregon, Potter and his five siblings lived briefly in Alaska as children, and he returned during the summer of ’75 after graduating from high school.

“I never went back,” he said.

Potter began his career in Fairbanks, working at Chevron’s airport plant in operations and sales support during the pipeline boom. By 1986, Chevron had sold off most of their plants, and he went to work as one of “the original seven” at Inlet Petroleum, where he is currently a Certified Lubricants Specialist, training manager, and assists with business development for the company. Potter also assists with the lubricant supply for various other Saltchuk companies through a unique program with one of Delta’s main lubricants suppliers, Chevron.

“I enjoy assisting the other sites as well with lube or fuel issues,” he said. “I enjoy the challenges some of the customers have in their businesses. Since my father was an engineer, two of my sisters were CPAs, one was a biology major, and my brother is an electrician, it’s no surprise that I kind of enjoy mechanical and technical stuff. Drives the wife crazy.”

His sons, however, were a different story.

“I have two sons: Ryan, 35, and Cody, 23. My daughter Randi is in the middle at 31. Ryan is a diesel mechanic – and a customer of ours. Randi is a chiropractor’s assistant. I have a nephew in Fairbanks who is a State Wildlife Trooper and has been on the Discovery Channel – that’s our link to Hollywood,” he joked. “And now Cody drives package trucks for Delta Western.”

Cody Potter grew up in Anchorage and joined Inlet Petroleum in the warehouse four years ago, shortly after graduating from high school. His greatest challenge was obtaining his commercial driver’s license – which he achieved this past February. Now he’s on the road.

“Growing up, my mother was a very important person in my life, taking me camping and fishing every weekend while my dad worked through the night,” Cody said. “But when I was a kid, I looked up mostly to my dad. I am proud of my father and what he has sacrificed in his life for us as a family, working 15 hours everyday, always on-call and keeping a roof over our family’s head.”

According to Potter, working with family requires a delicate balance.

“You can’t get too involved, but I try and give advice on how to work with fellow employees and customers,” he said. “It’s a bit tough, as the younger generation generally has a different mindset. Part of it is their not having gone through as many tough times – in my opinion,” he laughed.

Since Cody began at Inlet Petroleum, Potter has transferred from the port to the company’s L Street offices.

“We still touch base from time to time.”

Courageous convenience

This article was originally published on People of Saltchuk on June 20, 2016

Minit Stop marketing manager Kim Robello continues to chart new waters

By Hilary Reeves

Kim Robello graduated from high school on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1978. He immediately went to work as the graveyard cashier for a local 7-Eleven, and never looked back.

“I’ve been in the convenience-store business all of my working life.”

Robello was the only one of four children to be born on the mainland. His father, a career U.S. Marine, moved back and forth, and just so happened to be stationed in Barstow, Calif. when Robello was born. The family moved back to Hawaii in 1968.

“My mother was a very proud, but generous and gracious Hawaiian,” he said. “She taught elementary school, and specialized in teaching kids who were rough, on the edge, who didn’t want to be in school. My father always said my mother made no money teaching because she spent so much of what she earned on her students, who didn’t have much. She made sure we studied hard, showed compassion and empathy toward others, and always lived our lives with Aloha.”

Robello said he learned from his mother an empathetic approach – something he employs to this day when confronting adversity.

“When dealing with others, you have to always look at a given situation with empathy for that person’s position and try very hard to work out a win-win situation,” he explained. “Sometimes circumstances don’t allow this, but if I try hard to understand the other person’s issues and challenges, they know I had their best interests in mind and that I dealt with them honestly and fairly.”

Robello’s father went to war in Korea, in addition to three tours in Vietnam.

“If you asked him what he did during those tours, he would only say that he was glad to be home knowing his family and fellow Americans were safe.”

After landing the 7-Eleven cashier job when he was 18, Robello was soon promoted to Store Manager. He “took a beating” during his first management stint and decided to step back to learn more about the industry. After a year as an assistant manager, he was again promoted to a store manager position at 7-Eleven when he was 19. Then a training manager. After 10 years with the company, he left to join Pacific Resources, now known as Tesoro, where he worked as a supervisor for just 10 days before he was awarded the position of Convenience Store Coordinator. He later accepted the position of Operations/Marketing Manager, and took over marketing as his full-time position after the company acquired an additional 33 stores.

“I always wanted to live on a neighbor island, and when given the chance by my old boss from Tesoro, along with Jim and Kimo Haynes (former owners of Minit Stop), I jumped at the chance to work for Minit Stop on beautiful Maui as the Marketing Manager. I’ve been at my current position for 16 years. When Saltchuk purchased Minit Stop, I was a little hesitant, as working for the Haynes family was wonderful, but the change to Saltchuk turned out to be equally wonderful, albeit a bigger family operation.”

Minit Stop was awarded top honors amongst all of Hawai`i’s advertising and designs for their new logo and carry-out food boxes.

“We’re a small, but feisty group,” he said. “When the bigger companies try to match up with us, they know we’re all-in and ready to rumble. My biggest challenge is not to miss opportunities when they present themselves, simply because I’m not watching. I don’t want to fail my team. But the Minit Stop team sees what I can’t, and together we don’t miss much.”

Robello regrets not attending college after high school, but believes that everything happens for a reason.

“My school counselors thought college would be wasted on me, and I believed them,” he said. “I wish hadn’t taken their advice and had gone to college, if not for the experience than for the education and leg-up it would have provided me. That said, the ‘school of hard knocks’ worked for me, though I met and received help from a lot of good folks. I’m proud to have made my parents proud, and blessed that my children have done the same for me.”

Robello is close to his brother, a retired U.S. Air Force veteran and Federal fireman; his sister, a loan officer; and another sister, the “free spirit.” He and his wife of 37 years are the proud parents of a son who works as a hospice care management nurse, and a daughter, the mother of Robello’s three grandchildren.

“I also have five Chihuahuas, who are a pain,” he laughed. “Really, my family is my hobby, along with my reason for living. By family, I mean my immediate family in addition to all the people I’ve met in my life, who are my ‘Hanai’ family. If they’re happy, I’m happy.”

Robello’s latest claim to fame was starring as the voice of the Saltchuk Hawaii video. He said he hopes to finish his career at Minit Stop.

“I hope to continue to make Minit Stop a profitable entity, and retire from the company with good memories, knowing I have it 110 percent,” he added. “Minit Stop was built on family values, and continues to be successful because Saltchuk operates with the same train of thought. Hawaii folks in general are welcoming, compassionate, and generally want you to be part of the Hawaiian Ohana. You can’t just say ‘Aloha,’ you have to live it.

“I’ve been very blessed in my life,” he concluded. “I have a wonderful immediate and Hanai family; I live in peace and tranquility in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I have my health, and I’m gainfully employed at a very good company. If other folks had half the blessings I have, they would have a lot.”

Robello as the “Voice of Saltchuk Hawaii”!

Growing the methanol marketplace

This article was originally published on People of Saltchuk on November 4, 2015

Don Stone, Delta Western, and the capital plan to shorten the methanol supply chain to Alaska

By Hilary Reeves

Don Stone moved to Seattle from California in 2006 in search of a new adventure. After years as a tax consultant, first with PricewaterhouseCoopers and then the accounting software company Sage Software – Stone joined Seattle biodiesel startup Imperium Renewables where he began researching methanol, a commodity market he continued to pursue after joining Delta Western in 2008. Now Vice President of Supply and Logistics, Stone has spent the better part of a decade helping the company grow its share of the methanol marketplace, culminating with the May groundbreaking of a terminal at the Port of Anchorage. The facility is the largest new terminal Delta Western has built since it was purchased by Saltchuk Resources fifteen years ago.

Stone grew up in Chino, Calif. After graduating from nearby University of California, Riverside with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, he moved west.  “When you grow up inland, all you want to do is live on the coast,” he said.

Stone, whose father is an accountant, enrolled in graduate school and earned a Masters of Business Taxation from the University of Southern California. He moved to Newport Beach and began work at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Irvine, where he had interned while in graduate school.

“There’s a misconception out there that tax professionals just sit around and do people’s taxes,” he explained. “I came into PricewaterhouseCoopers as a federal tax consultant, creating corporate structures to limit tax liabilities. It was really interesting work, and I was definitely on the partner track, but then I got an offer from my client I could not refuse.”

The offer, he explained, was from The Sage Group, also known as Sage Software, one of his clients. He left for Sage in 2003. At the time, the company was growing at a rapid pace.

“Sage was acquiring companies at a pace of about one a quarter,” he said. “I was involved in all the tax structuring of those acquisitions, doing Mergers & Acquisitions work and finding Research & Development tax credits.”

Stone said he loved the job, but his wife wanted to move to the Seattle area where she grew up. He visited the city for the first time during the summer of 2006.   “We did downtown Seattle, Chelan, and the Oregon Coast, all in a two-week span. I thought it was beautiful; it was actually a really warm summer. But as soon as we moved up here it turned into the worst weather. That December, I think the power was out for about 17 days. I was totally tricked,” he laughed. “It’s taken me about eight years to get used to it, but I like it now. I don’t think I’d move back to California.”

Imperium Renewables

Stone left Sage and moved to Seattle in September of 2006, without a set career path in mind.  He wanted to get into a new field, somewhere he could take calculated risks and reap the rewards. He was among the first wave hired at Imperium Renewables, then a new biodiesel startup that was run, Stone said, like a tech company.  “We were like a bunch of tech guys trying to do fuel.”  In the biodiesel industry, Stone explained, the creation of production facilities is largely dependent on the tax incentives available, and finding them was one of Stone’s responsibilities. The company built the largest biodiesel facility in the country, one that could produce 100 million gallons, in the Port of Grays Harbor, Washington. The company also proposed similar facilities in Hawaii, Argentina, and Philadelphia. The company prepped for an IPO. It was 2008.

“Just like any tech startup, we were in a bubble,” he said. “No bad news could get in. I think I was still hopeful up until the very first layoff. Even in the months leading up to the collapse, we were doing a lot of great things, a lot of very strategic things. I rode it up and then I rode it back down.”  After the company’s downturn, Stone started looking for another opportunity.  “It was a really good experience,” he said. “I met a lot of interesting contacts in the petroleum industry.”

While with Imperium, Stone had worked on a plan to build a multi-product terminal next to the biodiesel facility in Hoquiam, Washington.  “We were hoping to develop a market for methanol, sodium methylate, and a few other chemicals that no one really thinks about, but that are heavily used across all different industries,” he said. “We were pitching to raise some money to build this terminal, and we set up a meeting with Vince Godfrey (former Vice President of Global Services for Foss Maritime). He invited two other people to the meeting: Mark Tabbutt (Chairman of Saltchuk) and Brian Bogen (President and CEO of North Star Petroleum). I was able to present this terminal project and the chemical marine import concept to those three guys.”  After the failed IPO process, Stone called Godfrey, who put him in contact with Bogen, and let him know there was a finance position open at Delta Western.  He interviewed with Kirk Payne, President of Delta Western and was named VP of Finance in June of 2008.

Delta Western, and the methanol marketplace

While Stone was working in finance for Delta Western (and during a subsequent four year stint at North Star Petroleum), he continued to explore ways he could connect the methanol suppliers he knew to the marketplace.  “Ultimately, one of those suppliers, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC), built the multi-product terminal we had envisioned at the Port of Grays Harbor,” he said. “Even though I was working for Delta Western, I was still connected to the chemical industry.   When MGC built the terminal, they asked if (Delta Western) would like to market methanol to customers in the Pacific Northwest.”

Methanol is a colorless liquid most commonly synthesized from natural gas. The majority of methanol production is consumed as a building block chemical in the manufacturing of formaldehyde, plastics, paints, antifreeze, solvents, and biodiesel. In 2009, Delta Western was granted a limited exclusive agreement to market MGC methanol supply out of the new methanol terminal in Hoquiam, in which they shipped to customers via truck and rail car.

“That’s how Delta Western got into the methanol business,” he said. “Methanol is used in quite a few things: formaldehyde preservative, fracking, window wash, freeze protect – there’s actually a huge market for methanol.”

Stone came back to his finance role at Delta Western from North Star in the fall of 2012, but in order to continue to grow within the company, he needed more operational experience.  In the later months of 2014, he was named Vice President of Supply and Logistics. He’s currently responsible for the refined product supply of all Delta Western terminals, and managing inventory, inventory cost, and logistics.  “The best way for someone like me to get operational experience is through supply and logistics,” he explained. “But I’m still heavily finance-based.

Connecting Alaska

Anchorage Channel 11 News segment: For the first time in 40 years, new construction at the Port of Anchorage

According to Stone, it was only a matter of time before Delta Western’s methanol business extended to the Alaskan marketplace. “There’s a huge market in Alaska for methanol,” he said. “It’s mostly used as freeze protect on the slope. If there’s no crude oil in the pipes, they fill them with methanol – the cheapest commodity there is up there – to fill the pipe so it won’t freeze and break.”

Methanol is derivative of natural gas, and is a room temperature liquid that dissipates in water, and unlike LNG, does not require pressurization. Stone said methanol is typically refined in the Far East, or Middle East, and is brought to the United States via marine transport, and then sent to Alaska via rail car from the lower 48. A new marine terminal in Alaska would allow methanol to be brought directly to Alaska via tanker vessels over the water, eliminating the need for rail transport, thus shortening the supply chain and making it less expensive for the customer.

Kirk Payne also agreed with Stone on the potential for a future methanol business line at Delta Western and three years ago, set about securing a land lease at the Port of Anchorage. Partnering with the Port, they were able to pursue large methanol sales contracts in the Alaska marketplace. “In order to win these huge contracts, you have to present something novel and new. No one wants to switch something that’s already steady and works fine, unless it’s you can provide a safer and more efficient solution.” said Stone.

In Alaska, there are two major methanol customers, ConocoPhilips Alaska (COPA) and British Petroleum Exploration Alaska (BPXA). Together, they represent 85 percent of the current demand, and both companies have communicated that demand for the product will increase as a result of their projected investments in the North Slope region.

“In 2010, ConocoPhillips put their methanol contract out to a bid,” Stone said. “We didn’t win, we didn’t even have a lease at the time, but last year, we went to them and said, ‘We have our plan solidified now. Here’s what we can offer.” Delta Western was awarded ConocoPhillips’ methanol contract in 2014 with commencement in 2015. It took about seven months to negotiate the sales contract.

“It makes a lot of sense for them,” Stone explained. “Instead of planning out a six to eight week supply chain, we’re shortening that chain, providing a safer, just-in-time inventory environment to the customer. They can just pull up a truck, fill it, and take it to the slope. We’re also reducing the carbon footprint of the whole organization.”

In May of 2015, Delta Western broke ground on a Marine Methanol Terminal in the Port of Anchorage, the only one of its kind in the state, with plans to be operational before year-end. The terminal will initially feature one 50,000 barrel methanol tank, but will eventually expand to six tanks total and may offer additional products.

Stone said he hopes to make methanol a part of Delta Western’s core business for years to come.

“It’s organic growth,” he concluded. “We didn’t have to acquire something. We built it internally; we built a business that we’d not been in before. We have it all there. Now we just have to grow it into what we want it to be.”