Oil Patch Insider: Ice damaged tanker limps to port

A 6,403-ton tanker that had been carrying diesel fuel when it struck ice while negotiating Russia’s Northern Sea Route has been emptied of its cargo and is being escorted by two nuclear powered icebreakers to its home port of Khatanga on the Taymyr Peninsula, according to a report in the Sept. 13 issue of the Barents Observer. The tanker, which was only certified to operate in light ice, collided with ice in the Matisen Strait north of the Taymyr Peninsula on Sept. 4. After the accident the tanker started taking water in one of its ballast tanks, the Barents Observer said.

According to Russian authorities the tanker had violated the terms of its Northern Sea Route permit by entering waters with medium ice conditions and by operating without an icebreaker escort.

The tanker drifted in the Matisen Strait for a week while it waited for help, the Barents Observer said.

At the time of the accident the Russian Navy’s flagship battle cruiser the Petr Veliky accompanied by 10 ships including four nuclear icebreakers was traversing the Matisen Strait, the Barents Observer reported on Sept. 12. Apparently two of the icebreakers in that flotilla were dispatched to assist the stricken tanker.

The U.S. Coast Guard and some Alaska coastal communities have been expressing concern about the potential for an oil spill as a result of a marine accident, as vessel traffic in the Arctic increases and Russia opens its Northern Sea Route. Of particular concern is the Bering Strait, where traffic becomes funneled into the relatively narrow sea passage.

—Alan Bailey