Tanker safety during icy Cook Inlet conditions enhanced by new guidelines

DEC endorses voluntary guidelines drafted by industry

Tom Hall

PNA Reporter

On Feb. 19, Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation endorsed voluntary guidelines for the movement of oil tankers in Cook Inlet during extreme ice conditions. Captain Bill Hutmacher of the Coast Guard told PNA that the new guidelines were developed primarily by Tesoro Maritime Co. and Mormac Marine Enterprises Inc.

“These new guidelines are over and above what is currently required,” he said. Support for the new procedures also came from the U.S. Coast Guard, the Southwest Pilots Association and Attransco. DEC’s Brad Hahn praised the cooperation and teamwork that produced the new guidelines.

“It is great to see us all on the same page as far as safety first,” he said in a prepared statement.

An apparent collision with an ice floe in Cook Inlet on Feb. 6 resulted in a small crack in one of the oil tanker Chesapeake Trader’s cargo tanks. Four hundred gallons leaked from the vessel, and though no observable impact on the shoreline or wildlife was noted, that accident — and one of the worst ice years on record — led to the current initiative. The damaged tank has since been emptied and temporary repairs made.

The purpose of the new guidelines is to assist in the decision process on Cook Inlet vessel movement during icy conditions. Initiation of the guidelines may be by the vessel master, the pilots, Mormac or Tesoro. Pleased with the new guidelines, Tesoro Maritime Senior Vice President Tim Plummer said in a prepared statement, “We now have something in place to determine when vessels can safely dock at Drift River and Nikiski when there are the extreme conditions we’ve recently experienced.”

Summary of the new guidelines

2. Each vessel will have two pilots assigned for the entire transit cycle and at dockside.

3. There must be a reasonable expectation that wind and weather conditions will prevail through the projected port turnaround.

4. Ice conditions for the transit area and dock must be verified by a pilot who just transited the area before another vessel can make the transit.

5. Ice coverage in the transit area must be less than 60 percent and the dock must have no concentration of ice that would interfere with the safety of the moored vessel.

6. If, in the opinion of the master and pilot, the vessel is forcing ice, the transit shall be aborted. If the ship’s speed slows down to 50 percent or less than what it was before entering the ice, it will be considered to be forcing ice.

7. At dockside, the master, pilot and terminal operator shall determine the feasibility of continued transfer operations during severe ice conditions. Such decisions should be made in time to allow shutting down and disconnecting cargo hoses.