Tesoro posts tug in Cook Inlet

Oil tankers navigating the treacherous bottleneck of ice in Cook Inlet can receive assistance this winter from a new tugboat that will be brought in by oil refiner Tesoro Alaska Co. Early last year, a 600-foot ship leased by the company, the Seabulk Pride, was pushed off its mooring at the Kenai Pipeline dock in Nikiski by an ice flow and set adrift. It ran aground a half-mile away.

In early January, the ship was unloading crude at a dock near the Tesoro refinery at Nikiski when some of the ropes and cables securing the vessel to the dock were strained by ice 6 inches thick and carried by a slow-moving tide against the ship. One cable snapped and four other lines at the bow were strained, causing winches to pay out to relieve the stress and slacken the lines.

No oil was spilled and there were no injuries or no serious damage to the ship.

Tesoro has contracted a tug called the Protector as a safety precaution. “It’s certainly going to add another layer of protection to our marine operations,” said Tesoro spokesman Kip Knudson, who said the tug was under contract only for this winter.

Coast Guard officers and oil industry watchdog groups say a tug posted in the region could help avert a catastrophic shipwreck or oil spill. Industry watchers called for a tug and an expansion of other safety measures after the incident in February.

The 5,500-horsepower tractor tug, operated by Crowley Maritime Corp., is coming up from Seattle and is due in Cook Inlet this week, said Coast Guard Capt. Mark DeVries. “We all can sleep a little bit easier knowing that if something goes wrong, we’ve got that extra asset down there.”

Cook Inlet has tugs based in Anchorage and other ports, but this latest addition is much more powerful, DeVries said.

—The Associated Press