Flying Ship company color blue logo

Minto Development Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Flying Ship Company to seek new markets within Alaska and elsewhere for their vessels.

This green technology uses wing-in-ground effect, remotely piloted, electrically operated vessels to safely, economically, and more rapidly carry just-in-time freight, allowing carriers to provide more services to more communities more frequently.

The benefits of WIG vessels are the ability to travel at more incredible speeds than hovercraft or ships and, with a front-loading ramp, can be used to offload on either a beach or on ice. This system provides clear capability advantages over the traditional Alaska market barges, aircraft, and helicopters.

Low flying military style drone over lake

  • Cost-effective solution that would provide access to previously under-supported Alaskan communities. Transportation service options are particularly restrictive during winter months, a challenge overcome by the MDC WIG vessel solution. With less than a quarter of the cost of an aircraft
  • Extending the reach of the current Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS). Service new routes not serviced by the AMHS on remote coastal communities and along the major river systems, including the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers.
  • Reducing the lifecycle of greenhouse emissions by using battery-powered propulsion systems along a flexible route system.
  • Supporting the creation of good-paying jobs in historically disadvantaged communities that have been under-capitalized and under-served.
  • Expanding the access of the AMHS and other logistic companies across the Alaska Region, which has twice the continental US coastline and thousands of river miles.

As a transportation solution, WIG vessels are designed for the fast and inexpensive delivery of goods, enabling shippers to utilize a flexible distributed logistics network through secondary, more minor (or non-existent) ports rather than a legacy spoke-and-hub model.

As noted in the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) support letter, “The integration of a Vessel could offer a more cost-effective solution for supply chain management in Alaska than any other solution currently available.” Further, the DOT&PF states they are “enthusiastic about the opportunity to explore this innovative technology through the United States Marine Highway Program and look forward to its positive impacts on Alaska’s coastal communities.”

Call Minto Development Corporation for sales and operation information.