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Weekly UpdatesPeter Schwarz, president and CEO of Alaska Marine Transport & Salvage Inc., is not your average 66-year-old entrepreneur. Devoted to life at sea, he has owned several vessels, two of which he designed and supervised the construction.
All of his seagoing creations resemble giant military landing craft with flat bottoms and a bow ramp, which allows them to pull right up to the shore to load or unload cargo. They do not need a dock, a nice feature when transporting cargo to out-of-the-way villages in Alaska.
His most recent craft, the "Polar Bear," is the newest ocean-going landing craft in Alaska, according to Schwarz. It was built in Tacoma, Wash., in 1989 at a cost of $2.7 million. Schwarz brought her to Alaska in 1991.
A BEAR FOR ALL SEASONS
The Polar Bear is a bear for all seasons: she can haul all cargo, heavy equipment and even explosives; she also serves as a drilling platform. Initially, she was 125 feet by 34 feet; the ship then carried approximately 220 tons of cargo, which includes four 40-foot and two 25-foot truck vans.
Schwarz' business has grown so rapidly that he was losing a couple million dollars a year because he had to turn down jobs that required a larger vessel, says Peter Ottenstein, chief engineer and work-site manager.
Since there was no room in his budget to build another ship, Schwarz did the next best thing; he cut the Polar Bear in half and added a 30-foot expansion, making the ship 155 feet long. The project was completed and the vessel was relaunched and christened over Labor Day' weekend. Now she can carry seven 40-foot truck vans and close to 300 tons of cargo.
As soon as it gets the final approval from the U.S. Coast Guard, the Polar Bear will go back to work. "The Army Corps of Engineers has been waiting a whole month for me to get ready," said Schwarz. "They have a drilling project in front of City Dock in Anchorage. That job requires a four-way anchoring system, and we're the only craft in Alaska that can provide that service."
GETTING STARTED
The project, which ended up costing about $600,000, started nearly a year ago when Schwarz went to Seattle in December to order the steel. The steel was shipped to Anchorage where the extension was constructed. It was built in four sections, then welded together in pairs.
"After the new section was built, I went down to Seldovia, last spring, to pick up the Polar Bear; that's where it was berthed over winter," Schwarz said. "At that time I was starting to have second thoughts; I was thinking about putting off the work until this winter.
"But that soon changed; we were about 500 yards away from the dock, when the engine TV room monitor got foggy. The engineer went down to check it out; he came back and said we had blown an engine. There was a fist-size hole in the oil pan and block-my decision was made."
Relying on one engine, Schwarz took the boat to Anchorage, picked up the two sections, went to Homer and started the work. Some eight months later, the Polar Bear was back on the prowl, ready for its sea trials, Coast Guard inspection and scheduled projects.
STORMY SEAS
The course charted to his successful maritime venture has seen some stormy seas-literally and figuratively.
He grew up in East Germany and received training in maritime engineering. Schwarz moved to West Germany six months before the Berlin Wall was built.
On May 15, 1965, he arrived in Fairbanks, riding a BMW motorcycle that he brought from Germany and drove through Canada.
Over nearly 10 years, Schwarz had several jobs; he tried to save money to buy a landing craft. In 1974, he put a $500 deposit on an LCM6 (landing craft mechanized), which cost $25,000.
"I spent $5,000 rebuilding the boat," said Schwarz. "Then, I ran out of money, and no one would lend me enough cash to finish the job. I finally met this one banker, from a Native bank, who said he would lend me $10,000.
"After coming down to watch me for several weeks, he said that they would finance the remainder of the project. But I had to have the boat surveyed to determine its value. The replacement value was $95,000."
About two years later, the boat sunk during a big storm in the Cook Inlet, and Schwarz had to be rescued from his lifeboat.
BACK TO SQUARE ONE
Following a bad partnership, Schwarz went back to helping others to build boats. Ironically, one turned out to be almost the exact same ship Schwarz designed a year earlier. He said that they must have received the plans from an architect, who drew up his plans that he could not afford to buy.
In 1986, a few months before that boat project was done, Schwarz met a German businessman, who came to Alaska for a hunting trip. He lent Schwarz about $20,000 to help build the "Pegasus," a 70-foot landing craft. Once it was partially constructed, Schwarz said it would be easier to obtain the remaining financing needed to finish the project.
He sold the Pegasus last year; earnings from that boat financed the construction of the Polar Bear. Schwarz said that he made especially good money for two years when the Pegasus was used to help clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
1,000 IDEAS
As a dreamer, a sailor and a man with 1,000 fresh ideas left to try, Schwarz is not ready to retire. "But my wife (Elena) said I should stop working so hard. But, I have one more ship on the drawing board that I really want to build," Schwarz said with a longing look in his eyes.
"It will be exactly like the Polar Bear, but larger. It will be 196 feet long, 50 feet wide, and on one level alone, it will carry 16, 40-foot truck vans," he ended with a contented smile.
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