Q. What is the official name of your company?
A. Foss Maritime Company
Q. Is your firm a subsidiary or affiliate of other companies? If so, please name those firms and their relationship to your company.
A. Foss Maritime Company is wholly owned by Saltchuk Resources, a privately owned family investment company formed in 1982 and based in the Pacific Northwest. The independent subsidiaries of Foss include: AmNav, Cook Inlet Tug & Barge and Young Brothers.
Q. What do you most want people to know about your company?
A. Foss Maritime delivers marine services without equal across the globe. From local harbor jobs to complex projects in the world’s harshest environments Foss has the capabilities, resources and expertise to efficiently manage our customer’s toughest challenges. Our two full-service shipyards offer naval architecture design services, marine engineering, new construction, retrofit and repairs. We are committed to meeting the unique needs of our customers, to the safety of our employees and to safeguarding the environment.
Q. Where is your company located?
A. Our corporate office is based in Seattle, Washington and our two shipyards are in Seattle and Rainier, Oregon, respectively. We also have offices in Alaska; Hawaii; Oregon; California; and the U.S. Gulf.
Q. What year was the company founded and by whom?
A. Foss was founded in 1889 by Thea and Andrew Foss.
Q. What is your company’s primary business activity?
A. Foss owns and operates one of the nation’s largest coastal tug and barge fleets, offering a broad range of green- and blue-water marine services. Foss serves the world’s largest oil and gas companies, international shipping companies and a variety of governmental and nongovernmental agencies. In addition, with two Pacific Northwest shipyards, Foss provides full technical and engineering services.
Q. Are there important projects the company is currently a part of or has done recently?
A. Point Thompson: In the summer of 2013 three Foss tugs hauled critical petroleum industry infrastructure more than 2,300 miles from Anacortes, WA to Point Thomson. The Point Thompson petroleum field had previously been thought too remote to develop, but Foss was able to meet the logistical challenge and deliver the infrastructure safely.
CD5 Bridge Project: Foss transported 11,000 tons of construction materials for the Conoco Philips – CD5 bridge project to build four bridges across the Colville River connecting Conoco’s Alpine Facility to a satellite operation in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPRA). In two voyages in 2013, concrete deck panels and bridge girders were towed from Tacoma, WA to Valdez, AK and stored to await transit over the ice roads to the construction site by Foss’s sister company Carlile Transportation.
Arctic Offshore Support: Operating in the harsh Arctic environment, Foss offered a variety of support services to Shell Upstream Americas’ historical offshore exploration in Alaskan waters. Foss transported high-risk cargoes safely, and without incident, through a pristine, ecologically sensitive area. Foss provided rig towing through icy waters with two ice-classed tugs, a purposely-modified offshore warehouse barge, cargo barges, maintenance of vessels at the Foss Seattle shipyard, and general, terminal and harbor towing tugs and services in Alaska as well as the Puget Sound region.
Q. How many employees does your company have?
A. 1,500
Q. Describe the equipment your company uses and are there any new equipment purchases planned?
A. Our Fleet: Foss has one of the largest fleets of tugs and barges; we engineered and built the world’s first hybrid tug and hybrid tug conversion; and we continue to expand our arctic class fleet and will launch the first of three in December 2014.
We recently deployed the Emmett Foss in Alaska – a shallow draft tug built at our Rainier yard with the specific purpose of moving modules, supplies and other cargo onto Arctic beaches and rivers; places where larger ocean-going tugs cannot possibly go.
Our Shipyards: We have extensive capabilities at our Seattle yard, including the Foss 300 floating derrick crane, which provides heavy lift capability to 75 short tons. The Foss dry docks are the most completely equipped of their size on Puget Sound. Our floating docks handle up to 2,000-tons, providing platforms for underbody maintenance, hull repairs, shaft repairs, and modifications.
Our full service Rainier shipyard features two marine railways rated at 640 ST and 120 ST, with a 90-ton crane and a 40-ton crane on site and have built both steel and aluminum-hulled boats.
Q. Is your company expanding any of its operations or locations?
A. We are investing in and expanding on our assets that are designed specifically for the terrain, environmental concerns and needs of Alaskan operations. In addition, we have increased the footprint of our Rainier yard; have begun offering new builds at our Seattle yard; and have expanded our operations in Hawaii.
Q. What new markets, clients or projects did your company attract in the last year?
While Foss has operated in Alaska for more than a century; the recent opening up of the North Slope has increased our activity and created new opportunities and partnerships.
Q. What is your company’s main strength or its edge over the competition?
A. Foss has extensive experience working in harsh environments, and in remote areas with limited infrastructure and we are committed to protecting the environment and to the highest safety standards.
We have a long history in Alaskan waters and have recently formed a partnership with the energy services arm of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) and are currently expanding on our assets by building three new Arctic Class tugs.
Q. What are the biggest obstacles to completing work your company undertakes?
A. Much of our work takes place in extreme environments or in remote locations, such as delivering aid to Haiti, developing the world’s first open lighterage north of the Arctic Circle, or delivering a 190-ton turbine up a never-before commercially traversed section of the Columbia River. With our global network and experience we are often brought on to find solutions to operational challenges that others may not be able to deliver on.
Q. What do you see as your company’s biggest challenge in the next five years?
A. Foss has built a reputation as an industry leader and to maintain that position we must constantly be ahead of the curve: finding new and innovative solutions, and having the infrastructure in place to take on any challenge.
Q. Does your company have an anniversary or other landmark event coming up?
A. 2014 marks our 125th year. We have many celebrations and a new book coming out to mark the occasion.
Q. What is the average length of time employees work for the company?
A. Currently, the average length of employment is 12+ years. We have 328 employees who have been with us for more than 20 years, and the longest tenure is 44 years.
Q. What is your company’s safety record? What steps does the company take to ensure a safe work environment?
A. Foss’ safety program is recognized as a leader in the industry with a company-wide zero incident safety culture. Our safety program is built on a sophisticated behavior-based focus, with robust health, safety and compliance programs. We provide frequent reports on the ever-growing number of Job Safety Analyses, Near Misses and Safety Observations that are being reported every day. We have multiple committees that provide support, and we continually review and discuss notable near misses and observations, safety alerts and safety bulletins.
Q. What is the address of your company’s Web site?
A. www.foss.com
