Tanker carrying fuel reaches iced-in town
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Russian fuel tanker has arrived at its final destination in Alaska and is sitting some 460 yards away from where fuel will be transferred to the iced-in city of Nome.
Jason Evans, board chairman of the Sitnasuak Native Corp., says the tanker got into position last night and ice has been allowed to refreeze around the ship to make it stable.
Personnel on Sunday morning were walking around the vessel and checking the ice to make sure it is safe for the transfer.
Evans says it'll take about four hours to lay the hose for the transfer of 1.3 gallons of fuel to proceed, as long as there is enough daylight.
Without the delivery, the city of 3,500 residents on Alaska's western coastline, which is experiencing its coldest weather since the 1970s, would run out of fuel by March or April.
A storm prevented Nome's 3,500 residents from getting a fuel delivery by barge in November. Without the tanker delivery, supplies of diesel fuel, gasoline and home heating fuel Nome are expected to run out in March and April, well before a barge delivery again in late May or June.
The tanker began its journey from Russia in mid-December and has slowly made its way toward Nome, stalled by thick ice, strong ocean currents and one Alaska's snowiest winters in memory. It picked up diesel fuel in South Korea, then headed to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where it took on unleaded gasoline. Late Thursday, the vessels stopped offshore and began planning the transfer to Nome, more than 500 miles from Anchorage on Alaska's west coast.
A Coast Guard cutter cleared a path through hundreds of miles of Bering Sea ice for the tanker.
“It's kind of like a football game. We're on the 5- yard line and we just want to work into the goal line,” said Sitnasuak Native Corp. board chairman Jason Evans, whose hometown is Nome. Sitnasuak provides fuel and other services to the region.
Despite the complicated logistics of delivering fuel by sea in winter, Sitnasuak opted for the extra delivery after determining that it would be much less costly and more practical than flying fuel to Nome.
The crew of the 370-foot tanker Renda was working to ensure the safe transfer of the fuel through a segmented hose that will be laid on top of the ice to the harbor, located about 2,100 feet from the ship, Wadlow said in a telephone interview from Nome on Saturday night.
Once crews create a suitable path for the hose to rest on, its segments will have to be bolted together and inspected before the fuel can begin to flow.
Though the transfer must start during daylight, it can continue in darkness, Betty Schorr of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has said. It could be finished within 36 hours if everything goes smoothly, but it could take as long as five days, she said.
Once the hose is laid down, he said personnel will walk its entire length every 30 minutes to check it for leaks. Each segment of hose will have its own spill containment area, and extra absorbent boom will be on hand in case of a spill.
Evans said he hopes the crew will begin unloading Sunday.
Evans, however, cautioned that delivering the fuel is only half the mission.
“The ships need to transition back through 300 miles of ice,” he said. “I say we're not done until the ships are safely back at their home ports” in Seattle and Russia.