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This webpage is a planning tool for the Aleutians Emergency Towing Systems (ETS) Workgroup and serves as a resource for general public information regarding ETS. Below are links to ETS Workgroup meetings, agendas, summaries and contacts.
Project Background
Within the last decade, several distressed or stricken vessel incidents occurring in the Aleutian Islands have impacted the community of Unalaska and in a few cases caused environmental and economic repercussions. In each situation, the vessel was a large tramper or cargo type vessel, which generally carry fuel in bottom tanks, thus posing a significant pollution risk in a grounding. The information provided in the Vessel Traffic in the Aleutians Subarea study, illustrates roughly 67% of port calls to Unalaska/Dutch Harbor in 2004 were either container ships or tramper/reefer vessels.
Following the near grounding of the Salica Frigo on March 9, 2007 the Mayor of Unalaska convened a Disabled Vessel workgroup to address the possibility of future groundings and to discuss local emergency response solutions. This initial meeting prompted the Emergency Towing System (ETS) workgroup; whose goal was to develop emergency towing capabilities for disabled vessels in the Aleutian Subarea using locally available tugboats in conjunction with ETS equipment stationed in Unalaska.
Based on the Aleutian Subarea vessel traffic, the ETS workgroup implemented two ETS in order to serve a wider range of vessels. The City of Unalaska purchased a system suitable for vessels up to 50,000 DWT and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation purchased a system capable of towing vessels greater than 50,000 DWT; both systems are stored in Unalaska.
The ETS consists of a light weight towline, a messenger line to assist in deploying the towline, a line-launcher, a lighted buoy, and chaffing gear. These components may be configured to deploy to a disabled ship from the stern of a tugboat or airdropped to the ship’s deck via helicopter.
Objectives
The objectives of this project were:
- Clarify liability and ownership issues,
- Establish a plan for storage and maintenance of the ETS,
- Demonstrate the ETS capability through a deployment exercise,
- Develop a procedure manual for the ETS,
- Develop a training manual, video, and emergency deployment instructions,
ETS Procedures Manual – November 2007 (PDF 14 MB)
ETS Procedures Manual: Appendix A-D – November 2007 (PDF 3.4 MB)
Aleutian Islands Emergency Towing Systems Workgroup Information
Members of the AI ETS Workgroup include State, Federal and City government representatives, professional industry representatives (local and national) and oil spill prevention professionals. Meeting schedules, agendas, handouts and summaries are posted here and are continually updated to provide public access to the planning process. Pleasecontact amy@nukaresearch.com for more information regarding the workgroup.
Meeting Schedule: 2008
March 19, 2008 - Aleutian Islands ETS Workgroup Meeting
- 4:00pm (AKST)
City of Unalaska - Council Chambers
43 Raven Way
Unalaska, AK 99685
- Agenda
- Summary
Meeting Schedule: 2007
December 4, 2007 - Aleutian Islands ETS Workgroup Meeting
November 20 , 2007 - Aleutian Islands ETS Workgroup Meeting
September 21, 2007
AI ETS Exercise Report - Final
AI ETS 1st Draft Procedures Manual
Draft Exercise Report
The 1st Draft Procedures Manual and Draft Exercise Report are in final format, ready for review. We are looking to ETS Workgroup expertise for final review and comments, on both documents.
Please review the Exercise Report, most importantly the action items, and confirm it documents the deployment exercise as you recall.
Also, please review the entire manual and verify the information in the Components, Procedures and Training sections, appropriately address the outcomes and procedures developed during the deployment exercise.
Procedures Manual and Exercise Report comments may be submitted directly to Amy Gilson (amy@nukaresearch.com) or Tim Robertson (timrobertson@nukaresearch.com) by Monday, November 1. An ETS Workgroup teleconference will be scheduled after the November 1 date to discuss final edits.
Due to the large file size, appendices are listed as separate links.
Aleutian Islands ETS Procedures Manual Appendices A – D:
Appendix A) Contacts names, positions, telephone numbers
Appendix B) ResQmax Line Gun Operation Manual
Appendix C) Rope Care and Usage
Appendix D) Inspection Guidelines for Plasma Synthetic Ropes
July 31, 2007 - Tuesday - Aleutian Islands ETS Deployment Exercise
| Aleutian Islands ETS Deployment Exercise -- July 2007 |
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Photos from the Aleutian Islands Emergency Towing System (ETS) Deployment Exercise, July 2007, Unalaska
(updated 8/2/2007) 
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July 13, 2007 - Friday - Aleutian Islands ETS Workgroup Meeting: ETS Deployment Exercise Planning Meeting
June 21, 2007 – Thursday – Aleutian Islands ETS Workgroup Meeting: ETS Deployment Exercise Planning Meeting
June 14, 2007 – Thursday – Aleutian Islands ETS Workgroup Meeting
June 5, 2007 – Tuesday - Aleutian Islands ETS Workgroup Meeting
May 17, 2007 – Thursday – Aleutian Islands ETS Workgroup Meeting
- 10:00 am (AKST)
- City of Unalaska, - Council Chambers
43 Raven Way
Unalaska, AK 99685
- Meeting Summary
March 19, 2007 – Monday – Public Forum, Teleconference – Disabled Vessel Defense Strategies In and Around Unalaska Island
You will need a special program to open some of the files (pdf) that you may download from this site. If you do not already have one, you may download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to open them. If you have special accessibility needs, Adobe offers several free accessibility programs for reading pdf files as well.
For more information about the Aleutians Emergency Towing System Project please contact Amy Gilson.
Amy Gilson
Research Assistant
Nuka Research & Planning Group, LLC.
P.O. Box 175, Seldovia, Alaska 99663
Amy@nukaresearch.com
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