Coal Loading Facility

For over a century, Seward has been a vital component to Alaska's transportation infrastructure. This blue and silver structure is a coal conveyer belt and loading facility. Look northward and you may see stock piles of coal on land. Seward gets coal shipped here from Usibelli Coal Mines in Healy, Alaska, a town just south of Fairbanks. From here it is loaded on large ships all of which are bound for South Korea. The coal is some of the purest in the world, in that is it does not release much sulfur when it burns. However, it does not have a very high btu rating and thus does not heat as well as other coals.