Highway, ocean, and Alaska delivery arranged as one shipment, scheduled around the sailing.
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Alaska
Alaska auto transport is the one shipment in the country that needs an ocean crossing. The schedule is built around the sailing.
Ship Guy is a licensed auto transport broker. We arrange the highway leg and coordinate the ocean leg with the carriers that sail to Alaska. We do not own the trucks or the ships.
A car from anywhere in the lower forty-eight rides a carrier to the Puget Sound terminals. It sails to Anchorage on a weekly schedule and finishes on an Alaska carrier to your town.
This page covers each leg, the terminal rules, the bases, and the interior winter. It also covers what changes for the Kenai, the Mat-Su, Fairbanks, and Southeast.
Plan on one to three weeks door to door. It depends on where the car starts and which sailing it catches.
The highway leg to Tacoma takes one to five days. The crossing takes three to five days. Anchorage delivery adds a day, and Fairbanks adds two or three.
Financed vehicles need a letter from the lienholder authorizing shipment out of the contiguous states. Ask for it the day you book.
The Model
Every Alaska shipment has the same three legs, whatever the origin.
First, a carrier picks the car up anywhere in the country. It delivers the car to the ocean terminal in Tacoma. Cars from the West Coast get there in a day or two. Cars from the East Coast take four or five.
Second, the car sails to the Port of Alaska in Anchorage. Two ocean carriers run the route on weekly schedules, and the crossing takes three to five days.
Third, an Alaska carrier or you collect the car at the Anchorage terminal. Delivery to the Mat-Su, the Kenai, or Fairbanks runs on the state highways.
Driving the Alaska Highway through Canada is possible but rarely the answer. It adds customs, weeks of transit, and winter risk, and carriers seldom offer it.
The Terminal
The ocean carriers enforce rules that road carriers do not, and they cause most Alaska delays.
A car that fails an inspection waits for the next sailing. That is a week lost, so we walk through the list before pickup.
Lanes & Costs
Combined highway-plus-ocean estimates to Anchorage, and Alaska-only overland legs from the port. Price your exact route above.
| Route | Legs | Est. total time | Est. rate* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle / Tacoma, WA → Anchorage | Ocean · weekly sailing | 1–2 weeks | $1,600–$2,300 |
| Portland, OR → Anchorage | I-5 + ocean | 1–2 weeks | $1,700–$2,400 |
| Los Angeles, CA → Anchorage | I-5 + ocean | 2 weeks | $2,000–$2,800 |
| Phoenix, AZ → Anchorage | I-10/I-5 + ocean | 2 weeks | $2,100–$2,900 |
| Dallas, TX → Anchorage | Highway + ocean | 2–3 weeks | $2,200–$3,000 |
| Chicago, IL → Anchorage | Highway + ocean | 2–3 weeks | $2,200–$3,100 |
| New York, NY → Anchorage | Highway + ocean | 3 weeks | $2,400–$3,300 |
| Anchorage → Fairbanks (overland) | Parks Hwy · ~360 mi | 1–2 days | $400–$700 |
| Anchorage → Kenai / Soldotna (overland) | Seward/Sterling Hwy · ~150 mi | 1 day | $250–$400 |
| Anchorage → Wasilla / Palmer (overland) | Glenn Hwy · ~45 mi | Same day | $150–$250 |
*2026 estimates for a running sedan, combining the highway leg to the port and the ocean crossing. Larger vehicles cost more on the ship. Overland rows are Alaska-only trucking. Sailing schedules and season set the real quote.
The ocean leg is the largest single cost and is priced by vehicle size, not by origin. The highway leg to Tacoma scales with distance like any domestic shipment.
Summer is the peak, with military moves and seasonal workers filling sailings from May through August. The cost guide explains the domestic side.
City Pages
Anchorage has its own page with the terminal process, JBER details, and neighborhood handoffs. The rest of the state is covered here.
Beyond Anchorage
Where the car goes after the port decides the last leg.
Wasilla, Palmer, and the Mat-Su Valley sit an hour up the Glenn Highway. Eagle River is closer still. Those deliveries usually happen the day the car clears the terminal.
The Kenai Peninsula is a three-hour run down the Seward and Sterling Highways. Kenai, Soldotna, Homer, and Seward sit along them. Summer traffic and winter ice both stretch it.
Fairbanks is three hundred sixty miles up the Parks Highway. In winter, temperatures reach forty below, and a carrier waits out the worst of it. Some cars ride the railroad north instead.
Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka have no road to the rest of the state. Cars for Southeast sail from Seattle on a separate barge service. We plan that route from the start.
Military
No state has a higher share of military households moving by ship.
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage rotates families every summer. So do Eielson Air Force Base and Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks and Fort Greely at Delta Junction. The Coast Guard adds Kodiak and Sitka.
Orders often cover one vehicle to Alaska, so the second one ships privately through us. The terminal rules apply to both.
Book two to three weeks ahead from May through August, when sailings fill. Ship Guy is a private broker with no military connection, and our military page covers PCS planning.
Winter
The sailings run year round, but the interior winter changes the last leg.
Ships are built for the Gulf of Alaska and keep their weekly schedule through winter. Anchorage deliveries continue with snow tires and daylight in short supply.
North of the Alaska Range, a car that sat in a hold arrives cold. Expect a weak battery and stiff fluids. Plan for a jump and a slow warm-up before driving far.
Studded tires are legal in winter and worth arranging at delivery. An electric car should arrive at half charge, since cold cuts range.
Your Options
The ocean leg covers every car, because vehicles ride inside the ship.
Open transport on the highway leg is the everyday choice, and the ship protects the car from there. Enclosed transport for the highway leg suits a collector car headed for a Fairbanks winter.
The Basics
An Alaska shipment has four parts: the highway leg, the port, the sailing, and the delivery.
The driver records the car’s condition on a Bill of Lading at pickup. The port inspects it again at the terminal. You sign at both ends of the water.
Our how it works and preparation guides cover the domestic steps.
Why Ship Guy
We schedule the truck around the sailing, not the other way around.
Ship Guy operates under active FMCSA brokerage authority backed by a $75,000 surety bond, both verifiable online.
One coordinator manages both legs, the truck and the ship, so you never have to call two companies. The services page lists what we arrange.
Alaska FAQ
One to three weeks door to door. The highway leg to Tacoma takes one to five days depending on the origin. The crossing takes three to five days on a weekly sailing. Anchorage delivery adds a day, and Fairbanks or the Kenai adds two or three. A missed sailing costs a week, so we plan the pickup around the ship.
Seattle to Anchorage usually runs sixteen hundred to twenty-three hundred dollars for a sedan. Los Angeles runs two thousand to twenty-eight hundred, and New York twenty-four hundred to thirty-three hundred. The ocean leg is priced by vehicle size, so an SUV or pickup costs more on the ship. Run a quote for your route.
No, the ocean carriers prohibit personal items in the vehicle. Inspectors check at the terminal, and a car with cargo waits for the next sailing. Empty the trunk, the glovebox, and the cabin before pickup. Household goods ship separately.
If the car is financed or leased, the ocean carrier requires written authorization from the lender. That letter allows shipment outside the contiguous states. Request it from your lender the day you book, since some take a week. Without it, the car does not sail.
Yes, both are overland legs from the Port of Alaska. Fairbanks is three hundred sixty miles up the Parks Highway and adds two or three days. Kenai and Soldotna are a three-hour run down the peninsula. In winter, a carrier waits out the worst weather rather than push through.
Yes, but by a different route. Southeast Alaska has no road connection to Anchorage. Cars sail from Seattle on a barge service to those ports. We plan that route from the start and quote it separately.
Yes, military households are the largest group we ship to Alaska. Orders often cover one vehicle, and the second one ships privately through us. Summer sailings fill from May through August, so book two to three weeks ahead. Ship Guy is a private broker and not part of the military.
No, the ships keep their weekly schedule year round. Anchorage deliveries continue through winter. The interior is the exception, where a Fairbanks run waits out forty-below stretches. Expect a cold battery on arrival and plan for a jump before driving far.
Yes, but the ship charges more for a car that cannot drive on and off. A winch loads it at the port, and both legs carry a fee. Note whether it can roll, steer, and brake so both carriers plan for it.
The mainland address and the Alaska address. The year, make, and model. Whether it runs and rolls. Financed or owned, since financed cars need a lienholder letter. A date range. That is the full Alaska quote request.
Get Started
A quote takes about two minutes, sailing included. Then tell us your Alaska town and your dates. We will build the schedule around the next sailing.