Tony Knowles News

A new maintenance company with no shipyard experience takes a struggling repair yard, converted from an old cannery, and transforms it into a success story. Alaska Ship & Drydock (ASD) is on its way to achieving its vision of becoming the maritime support center for the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans. The yard’s story is tied to the economic development in Southeast Alaska and its turning point came with the construction of the MV Susitna, the first ice strengthened twin hull ferry, commissioned by the Office of Naval Research.

•    Frances G. •    Terry D. •    Cherry A. The bipartisan Commission, established through an Executive Order, is tasked with providing recommendations on how we can prevent – and mitigate the impact of – any future spills that result from offshore drilling. The Council is co-chaired by former two-term Florida Governor and former U.S. Senator Bob Graham and former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency William K. Reilly. Frances G. Frances Beinecke is currently the President of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a non-profit corporation that works to advance environmental policy in the United States and across the world. Ms. Beinecke has worked at NRDC for 35 years, serving as executive director, associate director and deputy executive director.

Polar Tankers, Inc. is set to unveil its third state-of-the-art Endeavour Class double-hulled tanker, the POLAR DISCOVERY, during a christening ceremony on Saturday, April 13, at the Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Avondale shipyard in New Orleans. Phillips Petroleum Company, parent of Polar Tankers, is building five Endeavour Class tankers. The contract cost of the POLAR DISCOVERY is valued at $168 million. The Endeavour Class tankers, also known as the Millennium Class, are the first crude-oil carriers being built for the Alaska trade in compliance with the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The first tanker, the POLAR ENDEAVOUR, arrived in Valdez, Alaska, on its maiden voyage in July 2001. The new POLAR DISCOVERY tanker will join the Polar Tankers fleet in 2003.

One of the first cruise ships to visit southeast Alaskan ports this season was cited for illegally dumping concentrated sewage into the scenic Inside Passage, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday. The Norwegian Sky, owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines, discharged the sewage for 20 to 30 minutes while it was traveling between Juneau and Ketchikan, the Coast Guard said. With the ship, (known as the first large cruise ship to dock this year in Juneau) traveling at about 17 knots, that means a waste stream of half to three-quarters of a mile, said a Coast Guard Commander. Tests performed by an independent laboratory on effluent samples from the ship showed fecal coliform 3,500 times the allowable federal standard and suspended solids 180 times the standard, the Coast Guard said.

Alaska is casting a cool eye toward cruise ships, with the state's legislature preparing to pass the first state law regulating the $12 billion industry. In a special session which begins Thursday, legislators will consider a bill that outlines strict new standards for the treatment, disposal and monitoring of cruise ship waste water. Hawaii and California are among states looking at the Alaska waste-water regulations. A task force in California is due to report to the legislature there in 2003 on possible changes. State tests conducted last year found that one in 80 samples of cruise ship waste water met federal standards. Seventy percent of so-called gray water…

When the season's first cruise ship docked this spring, it was met by more than the usual welcoming celebration. Protestors greeted the 2,020-passenger Norwegian Sky with demands for stronger environmental controls on the booming cruise business and a goal of making Alaska the first state to regulate the often foreign-flagged vessels. As it sailed south to Ketchikan two days later, the Coast Guard charges, the Norwegian Cruise Line ship trailed a wake at least half a mile (1 km) long of waste with fecal coliform levels 3,500 times the federal standard for treated sewage. That, say critics of the Alaska cruise business, explains why the huge ships are wearing out their welcome here.

Gov. Tony Knowles signed a bill that makes Alaska the first state to regulate water pollution from cruise ships. "For the first time we'll know what the huge and growing cruise ship industry is putting into our air and water, and we'll be able to hold its vessels accountable if they pollute," the governor said in a ceremony at Juneau harbor. He said the bill, which he championed, had strong public backing. "Don't ever doubt it. The bill, which affects ships capable of carrying 50 or more overnight passengers, sets up a monitoring and sampling program for water and air emissions and solid waste. It targets treated sewage and gray water, or runoff from sinks, showers, kitchens, laundries and other non-sewage sources.

After a decade that saw the size of Alaska cruise ship crowds triple and pollution from the massive vessels foul area waterways, state officials are moving to blunt the negative impact of the booming industry. Cruise ships that ply the Inside Passage and other Alaska waters are not subject to state oversight, even though they carry hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel and more people than the populations of some of the port cities they visit. Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles has introduced a bill to change that. It would require those ships, along with large cargo ships, fishing vessels and the state-owned Alaska Railroad, to meet the same kind of spill prevention and response standards as state law requires of oil tankers.

Paul Derecktor, Alaska Governor Tony Knowles, State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe Perkins and several Alaska State Officials were in attendance last week at the State Capitol in Juno, for the signature of the contract that entrusts Derecktor Shipyards with the construction of two new high-speed ferries for the Alaska Marine Highway System. This contract will be the first time a U.S. yard builds passenger-vehicle high-speed ferries. Until now the domain of overseas shipbuilders, the passenger-vehicle high-speed ferries have proven their worth in many countries around the world. The Jones Act requires that these boats servicing U.S. waters be built in the US.