Arctic Directory: Joint exercise tests Arctic towing system

The U.S. Coast Guard, the Alaska National Guard and Foss Maritime have conducted a joint exercise to test the delivery and use of an emergency marine towing system in the Arctic. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in conjunction with the community of Unalaska and Alaska-based emergency response organizations have developed the purpose-built towing system following difficulties experienced in towing the crippled vessel Selendang Ayu in 2004. The Selendang Ayu eventually ran aground on Unalaska Island, spilling its fuel load of 336,000 gallons of crude oil and its cargo of soybeans into the Bering Sea.

The new emergency towing system was tested successfully in Dutch Harbor in August 2007, and in December 2010 the Tor Viking II, a vessel of opportunity, successfully used the system to tow a motor vessel to Dutch Harbor for repairs.

For the Arctic test a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft stationed in Kodiak delivered a towing system to the Red Dog Mine in northwest Alaska. The Coast Guard Cutter SPAR then played the role of a commercial vessel with a disabled steering system, with a Foss tug in the area of the simulated incident transporting the towing system to the SPAR from the port of Kivalina, near the Red Dog Mine. The tug then put the SPAR under tow. The test came as part of the Coast Guard’s Operation Arctic Shield 2011.

—Reprinted from the Aug. 21 issue of Petroleum News

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