TOTE’S new Orca class vessels under construction

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

Featured throughout this month’s Petroleum Directory are Nov. 6 photos of the Midnight Sun, one of two Orca class vessels under construction for Totem Ocean Trailer Express at National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., Nassco, in San Diego, Calif.

Upon completion of the Midnight Sun in July 2002 and the North Star approximately six months later, Nassco will begin construction of BP’s new Alaska class double-hulled tankers.

The Midnight Sun “should be in Alaska service by October 2002,” TOTE spokesman Curt Stoner told PNA Nov. 20. TOTE’s two new vessels are double-bottomed. All fuel is stored internally in double-sided tanks that are placed to prevent spills in the case of an accident. The completed vessels will cost more than $300 million, Stoner said.

Last year, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation awarded the annual Commissioner’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Waste Reduction to TOTE for the design and construction of the new vessels.

TOTE, a privately owned Alaska corporation, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2000.