By Peter Marsh Munson Builds High-Speed Skimmer for Oil Spill Contractor Located 400 miles north of Fairbanks on Alaska’s north slope, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska is home to the largest oil field in North America. The regional oil spill response contractor, Alaska Clean Seas, maintains about 60 miles of oil containment boom and more than 100 specialized response vessels. The latest of these vessels is the 48-foot x 16-foot Pt. McIntyre, a Munson purpose-built oil aluminum skimmer designed to operate in the harsh environment above the Arctic Circle. It is based on a standard landing craft hull that company founder Bill Munson pioneered in the 1980s and that his son Jesse continues to refine to suit customer requirements after 35 years with hundreds delivered to oil companies all over the world…
Crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star recently joined a Russian Border Guard AN-26 aircraft crew in patrolling the 1,700-mile area along the Bering Sea that borders the U.S. and Russia. The Russian Border Guard Directorate for the Eastern Arctic District and the Coast Guard Seventeenth District in Juneau, Alaska, were in communications before the crews headed out in support of agreements that allow them to work together on various operations such as search and rescue and illegal fishing enforcement. "The United States Coast Guard works diligently to maintain a unique cooperative relationship with the Russian Border Guard in an effort to enhance the protection of shared interests in and around the Arctic region,” Capt. Jason Brennell, chief of enforcement for the Coast Guard’s Seventeenth District said in a…
For the first time since 2013, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star returned to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, last Tuesday. The Seattle-based heavy icebreaker was there for a logistics stop as part of a months-long deployment in the Arctic to safeguard the country’s maritime sovereignty and security in the polar area, which include patrolling the Bering and Chukchi Seas and the Maritime Boundary Line between the U.S. and Russia. The crew supported scientific research efforts such as deploying four ice buoys as part of a scientific partnership with the University of Washington and Office of Naval Research. The crew also sent multiple sensors to study Arctic waters for the National Science Foundation and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. While at Dutch Harbor, no one will be allowed on or off the vessel…
After three months and 15,000 miles, crew members of the 418-foot Legend-class national security cutter U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro came back to its Alameda homeport Monday. During that time, the crew was in the Bering Sea for 37 days, making sure that mandates for fisheries were being followed between Alaska and the U.S. and Russia maritime border. They boarded 11 commercial fishing vessels as part of U.S. fishery and safety enforcement, patrolled the Aleutian Islands and the maritime border to ensure that foreign fishing vessels did not enter U.S. waters and participated in a joint border patrol with a Russian Border Guard vessel. Munro also took part in an at-sea-only version of the Rim of the Pacific 2020 exercise from Aug. 17-31 near the Hawaiian Islands, where the cutter performed “formation steaming…
By Kathy A. Smith Deck lifting and handling equipment continues to evolve, with plenty of unique, purpose-built customization being developed for applications across the commercial maritime spectrum. An in-house hybrid tow winch design was developed by Western Towboat’s port engineer Ed McEvoy for the company’s new tug Mariner. The specifications include 2,200 feet of 1-3/4-inch galvanized tow wire, 200 feet of 2.5-inch plasma synthetic line, and a Hägglunds hydraulic drive with an estimated 35 tons of line pull. The winch can be run with one or both 75-kw John Deere generators working in line depending on the pulling power needed, while the auxiliary winch is a 25-ton Pullmaster seated below the level wind. The 78.9-foot, steel-hulled Z-drive Mariner was designed by Captain Russ Shrewsbury. “I sat down and drew out…
Novatek’s Yamal LNG project in the Russian Arctic has now shipped more than 30 million tons of product, with the Arc7 ice-class tanker Nikolay Yevgenov loading the 411th cargo to mark the milestone earlier this year. In 2019, the project’s first full-year of simultaneous operation of all three liquefaction trains, 18.4 million tons of LNG were produced which exceeded the plant’s annual design capacity by 11 percent or 1.9 million tons. The first LNG Train at Yamal began production in the final quarter of 2017 while Trains 2 and 3 came on line in July 2018 and November 2018 respectively. Shareholders in the Arctic venture include Novatek (50.1%), Total (20%), CNPC (20%), and China’s Silk Road Fund (9.9%).
Russia’s Rosatomflot has been keeping the world’s only nuclear-powered commercial vessel, the 1988-built Sevmorput, active in the Arctic where the ship has been delivering construction supplies to Alexandria Island, the site of Russia’s northernmost military base, as well as to Franz Josef Land and Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 project in the Gulf of Ob. Later this year the 1988-built vessel is scheduled to load cargo for Russia’s Vostok research station in Antarctica, considered the coldest place on earth.
Crowley Fuels LLC has taken delivery of its new Alaska Class 100,000-barrel capacity articulated tug-barge (ATB) from Bollinger Shipyards with the 483-foot vessel to be operated for Alaska-based Petro Star, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC), under long-term charter. Designed by Jensen Maritime, Crowley’s Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering subsidiary, the pushtug Aveogan makes use of GE 8L250 main engines meeting Tier 4 emissions standards while the double-hulled tank barge Oliver Leavitt is outfitted with spill response gear and a hydraulic boom reel with 2,000 linear feet of inflatable boom.
Delays continue to plague Australia’s new icebreaker Nuyina being built by the Damen shipyard in Galati, Romania (see Pacific Maritime Magazine, Jan 2020). The new vessel, to be outfitted at the Damen facility in Holland, is now not expected to arrive at its home base of Hobart, Tasmania until November of this year. Because of this, plus required crew familiarization training, its first Antarctic voyage has been delayed until January of next year. The Australian Department of the Environment and Energy is studying contingency plans in order to have supplementary shipping capability available to undertake Antarctica station resupply operations in the 2020-21 Antarctic summer season.
In Alaska and Hawaii, maritime companies operate as a vital link to communities geographically separated from the contiguous 48 states. Whether it is delivering everyday essentials such as food and fuel or the necessary materials to build hospitals and schools, these maritime firms use their know-how and resources to move what’s vital in a timely manner to areas that are at times tough to reach by vehicle. Here’s a look at some West Coast maritime companies and how they’re serving the regions of Alaska and Hawaii: Cook Inlet Tug & Barge Cook Inlet Tug and Barge – the longtime marine transportation company with deep experience in Port of Anchorage and Cook Inlet, Seward, Southeast Alaska, Aleutian Islands, the North Slope, and Western Alaska – continues to invest in the region…
