Fuel removed from CI supply vessel

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Stirling Salvage and Global Diving have successfully completed an operation to remove all recoverable fuel from the Monarch, a 166-foot offshore supply vessel that sank in Alaska’s Cook Inlet in January after colliding with the Granite Point oil platform in heavy sea ice conditions, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Aug. 14.

Divers used hoses and vacuum wands to pump an estimated nearly 12,445 gallons of diesel oil from the Monarch into temporary storage tanks on board the landing craft Polar Bear, which acted as a dive platform and began defueling operations at the end of June.

Although at the time of the sinking the Monarch contained an estimated 34,603 gallons of diesel fuel and lube oil, heavy sea ice prevented any immediate attempt at fuel removal. However, the USCG, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and Ocean Marine Services Inc, the Monarch’s owner, formed a unified command to respond to the sinking, subsequently monitoring the upside-down, sunken vessel’s position and stability using sonar imaging from another vessel and the Granite Point platform, until divers could safely access the vessel after the end of the winter.

“We hired some of the best to help with this difficult project,” said Joey Willis, OMSI vice president and incident commander for the fuel removal operations. “Global Diving and Salvage along with Capt. David Stirling of Stirling Salvage have done an excellent job of developing and implementing the fuel removal operations safely under very challenging circumstances.”

“Safety is always in the forefront when planning and conducting these types of operations” said Capt. John Kenyon, USCG federal on-scene coordinator. “We are all very pleased that there were no accidents or injuries despite the complexities of the dive operations in Cook Inlet.”

OMSI is now working with Chevron, operator of the Granite Point platform, to recommend a “final action with regard to the vessel,” USCG said.

—Alan Bailey