The Observer, September, 2008

POVTS volunteer provides custom sea adventures to kayakers

Despite record gas prices and a slowing economy, citizens’ council volunteer Pete Heddell says he’s managed to stay pretty busy this summer running his business, Honey Charters, in Whittier, Alaska.

Heddell operates the small water transport company with his wife, Marilynn, a council board member. The Heddells have been taxiing Alaskan adventure seekers and tourists from across the world throughout Prince William Sound for almost 20 years.

A large portion of their business comes from dropping off and picking up kayakers embarking on custom trips, but they also offer charters to Cordova and Valdez, as well as sightseeing trips and spring bear-hunting drop offs.

Heddell says they do everything, but fish. “I was raised in the commercial fishing business,” Heddell said. “I’ve seen enough fish that I don’t need to go out and catch another one.”

This year Heddell says he’s seen a slowdown in the frequency of trips from his regular customers, but that people are still getting out into the Sound and having fun.

“People haven’t been recreating as much as years past, but they’re still recreating,” Heddell said. He said the slowdown has caused more and more people to catch on to Honey Charter’s share-a-ride plan.

When kayakers book trips they have the option of posting the trip to the Honey Charters Web site so that others can share boat ride and save on costs.

Heddell says during the summer months he works seven days a week, but it’s a labor of love and the seasonal work allows him and his wife to travel to the Lower 48 to see family during the off season.

“We’ve got kids scattered from the west coast, to relatives and kids on the East Coast, so we do a certain amount of travelling during the winter,” Heddell said.

But it’s not all vacations and visiting in the off season. Hedde l l says he stays pretty busy in his Anchorage office during the winter months , booking trips for the following summer.

As a member of the Port Operations and Vessel Traffic Systems Committee, Heddell brought the issue of corrosion in double-hull tankers to the attention of the council.

While double-hull tankers have been praised for reducing the risk of spilling oil in minor collisions and groundings, the outer hull, dedicated to the containment of ballast water, is at an increased risk of corrosion.

After learning of the issue in some mariner publications, Heddell realized the implementation of double-hull tankers in Prince William Sound would mean new issues, including vessel inspections and increased maintenance in order to avoiding corrosion.

Heddell says shippers will now need to consider applying special coatings to protect the integrity of vessels inner structures. Thorough vessel inspections and a coordinated maintenance schedule throughout a vessel’s operation will be absolutely necessary. Undetected corrosion has been the cause of many of the significant structural failures in tankers over the last few years.

Heddell is a seven year veteran of the POVTS committee and has seen many changes in the oil transportation industy.

“All the issues we deal with in POVTS are ongoing, technology is evolving, vessel capabilities are evolving, and they all bring new challenges to the table,” Heddell said.

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