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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Harbor tugs keep freight moving at the Port of Anchorage The unpredictable weather and extreme tidal range pose some unusual challenges for Cook Inlet Tug and Barge’s fleet of tugs Alan Bailey PNA Contributing Writer
The Port of Anchorage plays a crucial role in the economic activity of Alaska. The port handles many of the consumer goods sold in Alaska’s Railbelt, acts as a major transportation hub for petroleum products and has become the shipment point for oilfield modules built in Anchorage.
The small fleet of tugs that maneuver cargo vessels and barges in and out of the port performs a critical part of the port’s operations. These tugs, owned and operated by Cook Inlet Tug and Barge Co., ply the treacherous weather and tides of the Cook Inlet day in, day out, keeping freight moving through the port.
“It’s not a friendly harbor as far as Mother Nature goes,” Carl Anderson, president and owner of Cook Inlet Tug and Barge, said. “At Anchorage we’ve got a tidal range of about 39 feet, and six months of the year we’ve got ice here.”
Founded in 1938 Anderson’s grandfather and father started the company back in 1938 as a passenger and freight shipping company. After World War II the company dropped the passenger side of its operations and became mainly a barging business.
“In ‘79 we split the company and my brother took a tug and a barge and went to Seward.” Anderson said. “He’s got Anderson Tug and Barge over there.”
Nowadays Cook Inlet Tug and Barge only operates tugs, mainly for the Port of Anchorage.
“We pretty much do ship work here at the Port of Anchorage,” Anderson said. “We (also) run down to Nikiski and work off Kenai Pipeline occasionally, and then we get down to Homer occasionally for chip ships.”
The company operates one conventional tug and two tractor tugs of 3,500 and 2,200 horsepower. Anderson explained that tractor tugs use steerable power instead of rudders — a bit like the bottom half of an outboard motor that can rotate 360 degrees.
“You can apply the power to whatever direction you want instead of bouncing it off the rudder,” Anderson said.
The company employs seven to nine people, with employment peaking in the busy summer season.
“For the tractor boats we have a captain and a deck hand,” Anderson said. The crews work a one week on, one week off rota, he said.
Challenges of the weather The challenges of operating out of the Port of Anchorage haven’t changed much over the years in which Cook Inlet Tug and Barge has plied the waters of the Cook Inlet.
The port isn’t truly ice free, in that the sea does freeze during the winter. However, the massive tide breaks the ice up and washes it down the inlet. For most of the time the ice becomes broken enough to enable barges and ships to come through.
“You get lots of ice pans out there, which could range even as big as a quarter mile in diameter,” Anderson said. “The Inlet’s always flushing, so it makes ice here but ... you may get up to 18 or 20, maybe even 24 inch thick (ice), but after a few days it will wash down the inlet and by the time it gets to the south it’ll melt down.”
And the changeable and unpredictable weather presents a constant challenge — when you couple strong winds with freezing temperatures and floating sea ice, things can become very unpleasant very quickly.
“Mother Nature deals the most,” Anderson said. “It can be blowing 50 (knots) over there (in Turnagain Arm) and be flat calm here.”
Effect of the tides The extreme tidal range in the Cook Inlet affects shipping in some unique ways.
There’s a shoal right outside the Port of Anchorage that prevents the bigger ships getting in and out at low tide, Anderson said. As a result, ships enter and leave the port above half tide.
However, barges use the tidal flow in the Inlet to their advantage. Travelling with the tidal current can halve the journey time, compared with travelling against the current.
“The barges, they’re slower, so they’re riding the tide up,” Anderson said. “By the time they get up here the tide’s risen enough (to get in) ... they leave at high water and ride the tide back out.”
The tidal range also forces the tug crews to man their boats all of the time, even when a tug is tied up in port. It’s just too risky to leave a vessel without constant attention to mooring lines, as the sea level rises and falls.
However, the 24-hour manning does mean that the tugs remain in a constant state of readiness for any task.
“We’re the only tugboats around,” Anderson said, “so any kind of situation, good or bad, we’ve got to be ready for it.”
Escorting oil barges Cook Inlet Tug and Barge’s fleet of tugs assists the many oil barges that travel to and from the Port of Anchorage. These barges maintain a constant movement of oil products such as fuels, both into Anchorage and out to the rural communities of western Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
The port tugs maneuver the barges in and out of port. Line-haul tugs tow the barges once the barges are clear of the port.
During the winter the port tugs provide an escort service through the sea ice in the Cook Inlet. In this type of operation a port tug ploughs ahead of the line-haul tug to clear a path through the ice — Cook Inlet Tug and Barge’s tugs are all strengthened to deal with the ice.
Without the escort tug, the line-haul tug would bump into the ice pans. The jarring against the ice would cause the towline to slacken and the barge to slow down. The subsequent tightening of the towline as the tug speeds up again would create a dangerous situation.
“So, if we get right in front of the barge and split the (ice) pan for him, he can keep steady pressure on the tow wire the whole time,” Anderson said. “And if anything should go haywire, he’s got another tug there to help him.” Steady business Despite the vagaries of the Anchorage weather and the Alaska economy, business for Cook Inlet Tug and Barge tends to remain fairly constant year after year. Freight in and out of the port depends more on the number of people in the state than the ups and downs of the economy, Anderson said.
Also, an increase in the size of the ships over the years has counterbalanced an increase in freight tonnage, Anderson said The total number of ships coming into the port hasn’t changed that much, he said.
However, recent major construction projects for the oil and mining industries have been good for business. Barges carried modules from Anchorage for the Northstar and MIX projects, as well as buildings for the Red Dog Mine.
“We helped put the barges into the dock here, they loaded and then we took them back out,” Anderson said.
But, whatever the future holds for Alaska, Cook Inlet Tug and Barge’s seasoned team of mariners will continue helping to keep freight flowing.
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