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Unique Moves to and From Alaska


We often receive calls asking if we only move people’s household goods locally or if we also move customers out of state. Our answer is sometimes surprising to people; we can move people across the street or across the globe. We are a full service moving company specializing in local and interstate moves. To exemplify that concept, I have looked through our database and highlighted some of our more unique moves that we have serviced over the last couple of years. To begin with, I was curious to find out what the furthest distance that someone had moved while staying in the United States.

Longest Distance by Land

We had a recent customer move from Anchorage, AK to Ft Lauderdale, FL which makes for our longest distance over the period that I looked at excluding international shipments. If one were to drive, Google Maps shows this route to be 4,935 miles at the shortest drivable route. Google estimates that to be an 80 hour drive.

The longest that we moved someone by road during this period while staying within the state of Alaska was from Fairbanks, AK to Kenai, AK. Google Maps shows this route to be 514 miles, a 9 hour drive. We have moved many customers further to bush communities but these often require air or ocean transit for practical applications.

Moving To the Opposite End of the Globe

After I looked over our U.S. shipments, I started to expand my search further and look at some of our interesting international moves that spanned the globe. Have you ever wondered what country lies directly beneath your feet, across the globe? I wanted to find the closest that we have yet come to moving someone across the Earth to this point. The opposite point on Earth from Anchorage is somewhere just north of Antarctica. The nearest move that I could find to that point is a customer that we recently moved to Madagascar which isn’t too far off.

The largest distance that we have covered in terms of latitude was from Anchorage, AK to Brisbane Australia. The difference in latitude from Anchorage to Brisbane is about 88 degrees.

The longest distance that we have covered in terms of longitude was from Anchorage, AK to Tanzania, which is just about exactly 180 degrees around the globe. Despite their being nearly 180 degrees away from us, their time zone puts them 13 hours ahead of us in time rather than 12.

Moving from Cold to Hot

Many people associate Alaska with cold weather, although the climates vary throughout the state. It has always interested me to think about the changes in climate that people experience when they move from place to place. We recently moved a customer from Fairbanks to Phoenix Arizona, which is about as drastic as I could imagine in terms of climate. Fairbanks, although sometimes hot in the summer, is known for its extreme cold with winter days reaching well below zero. In 2015 I found that Fairbanks’s lowest temperature reached -43 degrees Fahrenheit. Phoenix, on the other hand, is known for its hot summers with temperatures regularly over 100 degrees. The hottest temperature that was recorded this year in Phoenix was 117 degrees. That is a 160 degree difference in temperature which is quite amazing. (Fairbanks is amazing in and of itself in that they also recorded a high temperature this summer of 89 degrees.)

Moving from Tropical to, Well, Not

Many Alaskans vacation to Hawaii if they are lucky. But some people choose to go the opposite direction as well. We recently moved a customer from the island of Oahu in Hawaii to North Pole, Alaska. Luckily this customer moved in the early summer, which would make the weather transition much more reasonable.

Moving between Populations

We also had customers that moved to and from population dense cities, to more rural communities in Alaska. We had one customer that moved from Manhattan, NY to Fairbanks, AK, which would be quite the transition in size and scale. The population of Manhattan is 1.636 million, while Fairbanks proper has 32,000.

We also moved some items for a person moving from Juneau, AK to Tokyo Japan. The population of Juneau is about 32,000 while the population of Tokyo is estimated to be over 13 million people.

Large and Small Moves

Finally, we not only move customers all across the globe, but we also move shipments big and small. The average household goods move probably comes in around 5500lbs. But the longer that a family stays in their home the longer they tend to accumulate items tied to their history. The largest move that we have had in the past few years came in over 40,000 lbs which would nearly fill two 48 foot trailers. The smallest shipments that we have moved typically come in around 1000 lbs as that is our minimum chargeable weight for interstate or international moves.

Household goods moves come in all shapes and sizes. We at Alaska Terminals are used to dealing with logistical challenges on a day to day basis to ensure that we provide the best possible moving service to all of our customers.


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