01/24/2012 - The T/V Renda and CGC Healy departed Nome on Saturday, January 21. Currently, both vessels are halfway through approximately 360 to 400 miles of sea ice.
>>Read latest Situation Report
>>View previous updates |
Current Position
(0600 25 January 2012)
61° 30.6'N 167° 10.2'W
214 NM from Nome
|
|
The T/V Renda will deliver gasoline and diesel fuel to Nome, Alaska. Due to ice conditions, this will be done under heightened alert conditions.
A scheduled fall delivery of fuel by Delta Western, Inc. to Bonanza Fuel, Inc. in the community of Nome was missed. The delivery was planned to be by a fuel barge operating in open water. Conditions made delivery more difficult going into late fall. A severe storm on November 8-11, 2011 followed soon by sea and shore ice conditions prevented further use of fuel barges in the area until next open water season. Rather than waiting until the next season, Bonanza Fuel initiated efforts for a winter delivery of fuel by contracting with Vitus Marine LLC (“Vitus Marine”) to secure a spot charter for delivery of diesel and gasoline in the late December or early January timeframe. Vitus Marine contracted for the tank vessel (T/V) Renda, a Russian ice-strengthened tanker, to make a delivery through ice of approximately one million gallons of diesel fuel and 400,000 gallons of gasoline. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) was asked to make the cutter Healy available to break ice for the T/V Renda. To allow the transport of commerce between two U.S. ports by a foreign-flagged vessel, a waiver to the Jones Act was required. Secretary Napolitano granted the Jones Act waiver December 30, 2011. The Renda successfully passed the USCG Port State Control examination while moored in Dutch Harbor on January 2nd. To allow for the delivery while the CGC Healy was available to assist the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) modified the Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan (ODPCP) review process on January 3rd, reducing the public comment period from 30 days to 7 days. After review of the plan application and public comments, approval from ADEC of the ODPCP was issued January 5th.
Vessel Information
- T/V Renda is a 370-foot, Russian-registered vessel with an ice classification of UL 1 (equivalent to the Baltic Ice Class 1A).
- U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (CGC) Healy is a 420-foot ice breaker class boat with the capability of passing through 4.5 feet of ice at 4 knots and the ability to break through 8 feet of ice by backing and ramming.
|
