Gulf Of Alaska News

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley returned to homeport at Coast Guard Base Kodiak, Alaska, on Thursday, following an extended seven-month dry dock maintenance period in Seattle.While in dry dock, the crew and contractors successfully completed more than $6 million worth of repairs.The engineering department oversaw 76 work items including major overhauls on the cutter’s controllable pitch propeller system, speed reducers, rudders, and boilers, along with inspections of fuel, sewage, and water tanks.

The U.S. government on Friday received just a single bid, from Hilcorp Alaska, for oil and gas drilling rights off the coast of Alaska the first federal auction in the region in more than five years.The offer of nearly 1 million acres in the Cook Inlet was among the concessions to the oil and gas sector included in President Joe Biden's signature climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).Under the law, the Interior Department is required to hold the sale by Dec. 31.

A derelict tugboat abandoned near Juneau, Alaska since 2016, has been towed to sea and scuttled in the Gulf of Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard said.The Lumberman had been causing problems for locals since it was abandoned in the Gastineau channel five years ago, and the decision was made to dispose of the vessel at sea after the 107-foot steel hulled tugboat was determined to be derelict and a significant risk to public safety, according to the Coast Guard.The City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ)…

Kodiak is now home to the Pacific Rim Response Center (PRRC), a facility that serves as a hub for a comprehensive suite of maritime resources providing vessel support, marine casualty response, and oil and hazardous spill response. The PRRC was established as a collaboration between Paradigm Marine and strategic partners Alaska Chadux̂ Network (Chadux̂) and Global Diving & Salvage (Global), providing one consolidated location for a range of resources to serve the Western Alaska maritime industry.With personnel and assets staged in Kodiak…

One the U.S. Coast Guard's last remaining 378-foot high endurance cutters recently wrapped up its final patrol before its scheduled decomissioning in August.A 150-person crew on Coast Guard Cutter Mellon (WHEC 717) left Seattle April 17 to conduct missions throughout the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea and returned to homeport July 7.During the patrol the crew conducted 38 law enforcement boardings, four search and rescue cases and enforced federal regulations governing Alaska’s…

Five commercial fishermen were believed to have died after their crabbing vessel sank on New Year’s Eve in the Gulf of Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard said after ending a search and rescue operation amid high winds and heavy seas.There were two survivors: crewmen who took refuge in a lifeboat and were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. The two were taken to a hospital in Kodiak and were reported to be in stable condition, the Coast Guard said.But after scouring a 1,400 square-mile (3,600 square km) area for 20 hours with helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft in the air and a cutter at sea, the Coast Guard called off its search for five missing crew on Wednesday night.The wreck appeared to be the worst Alaska commercial fishing accident in nearly three years.

The 40’ x 13’ research vessel Nanuq recently entered service for the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. In a competitive solicitation process last year, the University selected Armstrong Marine’s proposal to design and build the vessel.Nanuq is customized for research and teaching operations. The monohull features 28 – 32 knot cruise speed, hydraulic A-frame, overnight accommodations for five, full-service galley, head, Northern Lights 5kW diesel generator…

Alaska Governor Bill Walker said on Tuesday he has asked U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to pare back a Trump administration plan for oil and gas leasing off the state's coast. While Walker supports offshore oil development, he said the Interior Department should focus on the most prospective areas off Alaska – the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in the Arctic and Cook Inlet in southern Alaska – and drop all others from the leasing plan. In asking for proposed lease sales to be dropped…

Alaska and parts of western Canada braced for a possible tsunami on Tuesday after a magnitude-7.9 earthquake struck the Gulf of Alaska, sparking evacuations in coastal Alaska and a tsunami warning for California that was later lifted. In Alaska, people packed into high schools and other evacuation centers after the quake hit shortly after midnight local time (0900 GMT). Officials had warned residents as far south as San Francisco to be ready to evacuate coastal areas but by 5:15 a.m. PST (1315 GMT) the U.S.

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit the Gulf of Alaska in the early hours of Tuesday, prompting warnings of a possible tsunami down the Canadian and U.S. west coast and as far away as Hawaii. Local radio on the Alaskan island of Kodiak, close to the epicenter, urged listeners to move away from coastal areas. "This is a tsunami warning. this is not a drill. Please get out to higher ground," said the announcer on KMXT public radio. "If you are on the flats, get up on one of the hills ... There were no immediate reports of damage or injury. The quake, initially measured at magnitude 8.2, hit around 250 km (160 miles) southeast of Chiniak, Alaska at a depth of 25 km at 0931 GMT, the U.S. Geological Survey said. "If you are located in this coastal area, move inland to higher ground.

Marine News showcases the best of North America’s 2017 workboat deliveries. There is something for everyone. Notwithstanding the lingering offshore energy downturn, there were plenty of bright spots for North American shipyards in 2017. If a hull was delivered in 2017, we took a look at it, with several areas as a focus for inclusion into this edition. For starters, it is always exciting when a domestic yard delivers a vessel – or multiple vessels, for that matter – to foreign buyers. We can compete in a foreign arena; on price, quality and on-time delivery. This year was no different. No less important is the environmental footprint of a vessel, and there was plenty to report on from that angle in the past 12 months. The domestic waterfront is indeed getting greener and cleaner.

The aging Pacific Northwest fishing fleet is either undergoing or about to undergo a long-overdo upgrade, judging by a major economic report commissioned by the Port of Seattle. Fisheries managers, seafood suppliers, yards and the supply chain all hope an accompanying surge in ship finance “lifts all boats”. For now, the newbuild count is growing apace, slowed just a bit by owners opting for major retrofits amid rich fish harvests. This fisheries upsurge comes with some rising stars of ship design-and-build for vessels set to ply the Bering and Beaufort seas.

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. delivered the DNV classed factory processor fishing trawler F/T Araho (Hull 175) on January 28, 2017 to the O’Hara Corporation of Rockland, Maine. She is the first U.S. flag freezer processor factory trawler constructed in over 25 years. The F/T Araho will be in service in the waters of Alaska. The O’Hara family and Eastern Shipbuilding are no strangers to each other. The F/T Araho is the sixth fishing vessel Eastern has built for the O’Hara family over the last 20 years. This factory processor fishing trawler is far more sophisticated than the prior five vessels. The O’Hara and D’Isernia families go back to the early 1990s with the F/V Enterprise a Catcher Processor Conversion delivered in 1996.

John Parrott assumed the role of President and CEO of Foss Maritime on January 1, 2017, after completing a four-month transition announced last July. Parrott joined Foss in January 2016 as Chief Operating Officer; in August 2016 he assumed the role of President from retiring President and CEO Paul Stevens. Parrott completed a "listening tour" in early 2016, which included visiting Foss employees at work throughout the company. He visited with mariners on workboats in the Gulf of Alaska…

Ballast water treatment (BWT) specialist Optimarin has landed its first ever contract in the fishing segment. The Norwegian firm will now supply its soon to be USCG approved Optimarin Ballast System (OBS) for the Skipsteknisk-designed America’s Finest. Seattle-based Fisherman’s Finest will own and operate the 80-meter-long stern trawler, which is currently being completed at Washington’s Dakota Creek Industries yard. America’s Finest, a ST-116XL design, has been hailed as Skipsteknisk’s most environmentally friendly vessel to date.

When one thinks of offshore renewable energy, one usually thinks of offshore wind. For the first time progress is being made in the U.S. to develop offshore wind resources. The first steel foundation jacket has been placed in the ocean floor to support the Deepwater Wind project off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. (See www.dwwind.com/press/#/1). But recently, progress is also being made in the development of tidal and wave energy resources closer to shore, which are known as marine hydrokinetic or MHK resources.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has declared the recent deaths of 30 large whales in the western Gulf of Alaska an "unusual mortality event," triggering a focused, expert investigation into the cause. An unusual mortality event is a stranding event that is unexpected, involves a significant die-off of a marine mammal population and demands immediate response. Since May 2015, 11 fin whales, 14 humpback whales, one gray whale and four unidentified…

A Unified Command consisting of representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of the Interior, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, City of Seldovia and the responsible party, formed to respond to a 6,000 gallon diesel fuel discharge into the Gulf of Alaska has completed fuel removal from the damaged tank trailer aboard the motor vessel Thor's Hammer Tuesday. Response crews and contractors from Alaska Chadux Corporation removed the 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel remaining in the punctured tank, as well as 28 bags of oily waste collected by the motor vessel Thor's Hammer’s crew. The 6,000 gallons of spilled diesel is no longer recoverable due to weathering and evaporation.

The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley returned to Kodiak Sunday following a successful 70-day deployment patrolling more than 10,800 miles throughout the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. Alex Haley, known as the “Bulldog of the Bering,” departed Kodiak on Dec. 1, 2014, and spent the last 70 days conducting law enforcement and community outreach operations in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. During the deployment, Alex Haley’s crew performed 41 at sea domestic fisheries enforcement boardings and covered more than 5,000 square miles in search efforts for the sunken Korean fishing vessel 501 Oryong. The Alex Haley crew visited Akutan, Alaska, on Dec. 23, 2014. The crew disembarked Santa who delivered warm winter clothes collected by the crew and the base chapel to the community.

Oil from a spill or oil well blowout in the Arctic waters of Canada's Beaufort Sea could easily become trapped in sea ice and potentially spread more than 1,000 kilometres to the west coast of Alaska, a World Wildlife Fund study showed on Friday. The WWF contracted RPS Applied Science Associates to model 22 different oil spill scenarios and map the spread of the oil, potential impact on the water and shoreline, and interaction with sea ice, wildlife and the surrounding ecology. Types of oil spills analyzed included shipping spills, shallow-water blowouts and deep-water blowouts. The BP Plc Macondo oil well rupture in 2010 that unleashed more than four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico was a deep-water blowout.

The U.S. commercial maritime industry is enjoying its most robust period in a generation, with a spate of newbuild activities spurred largely by a resurgent energy production market in the U.S. as well as new rules of vessel emissions which has forced owner to invest in new tonnage. For insight and perspective on the market Maritime Reporter & Engineering News visits with Matthew Paxton, who was selected to be the President of the Shipbuilders Council of America in 2007. In this capacity he advocates for a robust and expanding U.S. shipyard industrial base.

Ferries for Alaska’s harsh conditions, built in Alaska by Alaskans. Vigor and Elliott Bay Design Group team up for a winning combination as the new Alaska Class Ferry Project takes shape. With its network of islands and fjords, rugged mountains and spectacular tidewater glaciers, Alaska’s Inside Passage may make a perfect summer cruise destination, but locals can’t choose when they travel. So when Alaskans need transport, the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) must find a way to move them.

New data will update nautical charts around the country. As sure as spring arrives, NOAA vessels and independent contractors are hitting the seas for the nation's 180th hydrographic surveying season, collecting data for over two thousand square nautical miles in high-traffic U.S. coastal waters. "Nautical charts are the foundation for the nation's maritime economy, and NOAA hydrographers spend months at sea, surveying critical areas to ensure safe navigation for the shipping, fishing, and boating communities," said Rear Admiral Gerd Glang, director of the Office of Coast Survey.