Grays Harbor News

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced more than $703 million to fund 41 projects in 22 states and one territory that designed to help improve port facilities through the Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program. Following is the full list of FY 2022 Port Infrastructure Development Grant Awards:ALASKANorth Extension Stabilization Step 1 Project ($68,700,000), Anchorage, AlaskaThe Project will reconfigure and realign the shoreline within the “North Extension” (the area north of the existing general cargo terminals) at the Port of Alaska in Anchorage, Alaska.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District said it plans to conduct Grays Harbor maintenance dredging in the Outer Harbor beginning April 12.The USACE hopper dredge Yaquina is expected to start dredging in the outer harbor of Grays Harbor around April 12 and will dredge approximately 17 days.Another USACE hopper dredge Essayons is expected to start dredging in the outer harbor April 21 and will dredge approximately 23 days. Dredging work will be performed continuously…

Max Vekich was sworn-in today as a Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission for a term expiring June 30, 2026.First nominated by President Joseph R. Biden on June 24, 2021, and then again on January 4, 2022. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 10, 2022, and is the 43rd person to serve on the Federal Maritime Commission.“Commissioner Vekich assumes office when his lifelong experience working on the waterfront will be especially beneficial. He understands port and supply chain issues from the perspective of a worker on the frontlines of making cargo move.

An injured mariner was medevaced from a tug 60-miles off Grays Harbor, Wash., last week.At approximately 2 p.m. on February 18, watchstanders at U.S. Coast Guard Sector Columbia River were notified over VHF-FM channel 16 that a crew member aboard the Crowley pusher tug Commitment had sustained a laceration to the face and eye while working in the vessel's engine room and required medical attention.At 2:45 p.m., an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter rescue crew departed from Sector Columbia River in Warrenton, Ore., to respond.The injured man was safely hoisted from the vessel at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) has elected Mario Cordero, executive director of California’s Port of Long Beach, to serve as the association’s next Chairman of the Board.Cordero will be installed as Chairman on the final day of AAPA’s 2020 Annual Convention, set for September 13-16, in Québec City, QC, Canada. He will assume the AAPA chairmanship from Gary G. Nelson, executive director of Washington State’s Port of Grays Harbor, who began his term on October 15…

At the end of December, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) announced its selection of ten dredging projects that will form the core of a pilot program to advance the beneficial use of dredged material.The recent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ announcement culminated a program required by Congress, established within the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016, specifically Section 1122. Congress directed that the ten pilot projects selected were required to present environmental…

Tall Ship Lady Washington will be docked at Jack London Square at the foot of Broadway, Saturday and Sunday, informed a press release from Port of Oakland.Visitors can experience maritime history by taking a vessel tour for a small donation to the floating museum. There are also ticketed sailing trips on San Francisco Bay.Lady Washington was built in Aberdeen, Washington, by the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority and launched in 1989. She is a full-scale replica of the first American vessel to make landfall on the West Coast of North America in 1788 and the first American merchant ship to trade in Honolulu, Hong Kong and Japan.In 1787, after the Revolutionary War, she was given a major refit to prepare her for a unprecedented trading voyage around Cape Horn.

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) will recognize 25 seaports for exemplary communications projects and programs at its annual convention and awards luncheon this fall. Winning entrants in AAPA’s 50th annual Communications Awards Program will be recognized at an Oct. 26 awards luncheon in conjunction with AAPA’s 105th Annual Convention and Expo in New Orleans, which runs Oct. 23-26. The recipients of the 2016 Overall Award of Communications Excellence trophies - the top awards in AAPA's Communications Awards Program - are Port Everglades in Florida (Category 3); St. John's Port Authority in Newfoundland and Labrador (Category 2); and the Port of Grays Harbor in Washington (Category 3).

A Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor crew aboard a 29-foot Response Boat-Small II rescued a man who was swept out to sea while wading in the water near the Grays Harbor north jetty at Ocean Shores, Washington, Sunday. The man, in his early twenties, who drifted approximately 300 yards past the tip of the jetty, was rescued from the water by the small boat crew, treated for hypothermia, and taken back to Station Grays Harbor where he was met by local emergency medical services for further medical care. Watch standers at Coast Guard Sector Columbia River received the call from personnel at Grays Harbor County 911 dispatch about the man in the water without a life jacket, who was reported as being swept away  from the jetty and calling for help.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it has concluded its portion of the response in overseeing the salvage operations of the fishing vessel Privateer off the beach at Ocean Shores in Washington, Wednesday. The Coast Guard’s response concluded when personnel from the Incident Management Division at Sector Columbia River found no recoverable fuel aboard the Privateer during their inspection of the beached vessel. The Privateer washed ashore, Saturday, April 16, after the Coast Guard rescued the three-man crew the night before 1 mile outside of Grays Harbor after the 74-foot fishing vessel started sinking.

The Coast Guard assisted representatives of the Washington and Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife patrol the waters of the Pacific Northwest during the pre-soak period of the commercial Dungeness Crab season, which opens Jan. 4, 2015. The Dungeness Crab Season begins Monday from the California/Oregon border north to Destruction Island, Washington including Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor. The Northern Washington to U.S./Canada border Dungeness Crab season will begin at a date to be announced later, but no sooner than January 15. There are an estimated 225 Washington permitted vessels expected to participate in crabbing and an estimated 425 Oregon permitted vessels and there are 75 vessels that are permitted in both Oregon and Washington.

The Coast Guard's two Captains of the Port have closed all maritime entrances in the Pacific Northwest, Friday, due to severe  sea conditions and large amounts of debris in the water. In Oregon, the ports of Chetco River in Brookings; Coos Bay; Umpqua River in Winchester Bay; Siuslaw River in Florence; Yaquina Bay in Newport; Depoe Bay; Tillamook Bay in Girabaldi; and the Columbia River are closed to all traffic. In Washington the port of Grays Harbor in Westport; and Quillayute River in LaPush are closed. Several storms carrying strong winds and heavy rainfall crossed the Pacific Northwest over the last week and have caused flooding and landslides in parts of Oregon and Washington.

Coast Guard, National Response Center and Washington State Department of Ecology personnel responded to oil pollution from a sunken 67-foot commercial vessel at Westhaven Marina near Grays Harbor, Wash., Sunday. Responders from the Coast Guard Incident Management Division in Astoria will arrive on scene Monday morning and will be working with partner agencies to monitor the situation and oversee the cleanup. After receiving a report of a possible sinking vessel at Westhaven Marina at approximately 12:40 p.m., Coast Guard Sector Columbia River watchstanders launched a 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew from Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor to assess the situation. The commercial fishing vessel Persistence was found submerged at the pier, and a rainbow sheen was observed on the water.

Sheriff Craig Apple assured a room of concerned citizens that county emergency crews were prepared to handle an oil-train accident involving three or four tank cars. Firefighters have been training to combat railcar fires with foam, and evacuation plans are detailed in a 500-page emergency response plan, Apple told residents in a May 12 address. Albany's tracks handle as much as a fourth of the oil pumped from North Dakota's booming Bakken Shale, or up to several 100-car trains per day, each carrying 70,000 barrels. It is one of several spots along North America's new oil-by-rail corridors where residents and officials are restless, following six fiery derailments in the past 10 months.

Another six State Route 520 bridge pontoons began floating out of the Aberdeen casting basin late Tuesday night, April 15, marking completion of the fourth of six cycles of pontoons being built in Grays Harbor. “With the fourth cycle complete, we’ve reached another important milestone for a new SR 520 floating bridge,” said Julie Meredith, SR 520 program director for the Washington State Department of Transportation. “We’re now two-thirds of the way done with all pontoon construction. The fourth cycle of pontoon construction included four longitudinal pontoons and two supplemental stability pontoons. The 360-foot-long longitudinal pontoons will form the backbone of the new bridge, while the smaller, supplemental pontoons provide additional stability and flotation.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) medically evacuated an injured crewmember from a fishing vessel 30 miles west of Grays Harbor, Wash., Wednesday. Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor in Westport, Wash., received a medevac request on VHF-FM Channel 16 at approximately 7:13 p.m for a crewmember who had reportedly suffered a head injury aboard the Shirley R. A 47-foot Motor Life Boat from Station Grays Harbor and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria were launched to assist. The Jayhawk crew arrived on scene and began hoisting the man at approximately 8:30 p.m. The crewmember was taken to the Bowerman Airport in Hoquiam, Wash., where he was transferred to awaiting EMS. The man was taken by ambulance to Grays Harbor Community Hospital in stable condition.

Washington State – Alaska – Non tank final rule & Washington State – Contingency Plan requirements. We refer to our circular no. B.613. As stated in that circular, every tank vessel and every other vessel over 300 GT is required under State law to file a contingency plan prior to entry into the waters of Washington State but that instead of filing his own plan an owner can subscribe to an umbrella oil spill contingency plan. Since publishing the abovementioned circular, Washington State Maritime Co-operative (WSMC) has changed its enrolment agreement and the version with footer “WSMC Enrolment Agreement – December 2013” conforms with the International Group’s guidelines on vessel response plans.

U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell introduced today The Maritime Goods Movement Act for the 21st Century, new legislation that would support the American trade economy and significantly strengthen American ports. The legislation would replace the outdated Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT), which is designed to fund the operation and maintenance of American ports, but currently incentivizes shippers to bypass American ports and move U.S. bound goods through Canada and Mexico instead.

Crewmembers aboard the 314-ft fishing vessel 'Arctic Storm' extinguised an engine-room fire using the ship's Halon chemical firefighting system. The Coast Guard continues to respond to the vessel approximately 30 miles west of Grays Harbor, Wash. A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria and two 47-foot motor lifeboat crews from Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor monitored, while 'Good Samaritan' vessels evacuated 78 of the 120 personnel to commercial fishing vessels Northern Voyager, Golden Alaska, Sea Dawn and Excellence.

NAMJet to provide Traktor Jet propulsion system for the new oyster harvest vessel ‘Pacific Express 1’. Washington ship builder Penn Cove Shellfish (dba Everest Marine)  has chosen Arkansas-based NAMJet to provide the propulsion system for its new oyster harvest vessel, Pacific Express I. Custom-designed by Stew Everest for Coast Seafoods and operating in Grays Harbor, Washington, the Traktor Jet powered Pacific Express provides exceptional maneuverability and power in the shallow, windy working conditions common across the Pacific Northwest.

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), a trade group representing port authorities throughout the Western Hemisphere, has selected 22 seaports to be recognized for exemplary projects, programs and initiatives at its annual awards event later this summer. The awards, for achievements in facilities engineering, environmental improvement, information technology and communications, will be presented to winning ports at a Sept. 14 luncheon in conjunction with AAPA's 100th Annual Convention in Seattle (https://www.aapa2011.org/main.aspx), which runs Sept. 11-15. * the Port of Long Beach, winner of the 2011 Dan Maynard Communications Award for Overall Excellence, which is bestowed on the port earning the most award points in AAPA's Communications Awards Program competition.

April 8, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that Washington state ports will receive $30.3m for port security efforts across the state this year. The funds, which will now begin to be distributed to state ports, will go toward infrastructure security improvements including chemical detectors, cameras, security gates, access controls, and training and exercises. “As we work to stabilize our economy and spur investment in Washington state, it is critically important that our ports remain secure and open for business,” Senator Murray said. The funding for these grants was included in the Fiscal Year 2009 Port Security Grant Program.

The funding for these grants was included in the Fiscal Year 2008 Homeland Security Appropriations bill.  Senator Murray, a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee and a national leader on port security, fought to include $400 million for this grant program nationwide.  The funding included in the bill will be distributed to the following ports: Puget Sound (Ports of Seattle and Tacoma): $27,263,241; Port of Grays Harbor, WA: $178,026; Washington State Ferries: $2,002,785.