Mike Day, Operations Manager for Alyeska’s Ship Escort/Response Vessel System.
Vessel under construction. Photo courtesy of Alyeska.
My name is Mike Day and I’m the accountable manager for the marine services transition, which means that I oversee the internal Alyeska transition team and work with Edison Chouest Offshore, or ECO, to make sure they’re ready to provide services in Prince William Sound in 2018. As a lifelong resident of Prince William Sound, it’s incredibly important to me that we are successful.
I recently spent a few days at ECO facilities to monitor the work. ECO is building nine new tugs for Alyeska, and construction is progressing on schedule. They will be built at Edison Chouest shipyards in Louisiana and Mississippi, before completing extensive sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico or Puget Sound, and additional tests in Prince William Sound.
Marilynn Heddell, former council board member, passed away on November 18, 2016.
Heddell represented Whittier on the board from 1996 until 2013. She held several positions during her 17 years on the council. She was first elected as member-at-large in 1996. She served as secretary from 1997 to 2001, as vice-president from 2002 to 2004, again as secretary from 2004 to 2008, and was elected to the position of treasurer in 2012.
Heddell was an active member of the council’s finance committee. This committee helps the board to oversee the council’s financial affairs and ensure a balanced budget each year.
Heddell and her husband, Pete, operated a marine charter service, Honey Charters, and a gift shop in Whittier for 22 years. Pete continues to serve as a member of the Port Operations and Vessel Traffic System Committee.
Heddell was very involved in the community of Whittier. She helped start the Greater Whittier Chamber of Commerce and Whittier’s Prince William Sound Museum with exhibits on the history of Whittier and World War II in Alaska. She also represented Whittier on the Prince William Sound Economic Development Council. In 2013, she and Pete were presented with a “Spirit of Alaska” award from the Alaska Travel Industry Association for demonstrating exceptional efforts to support a local community, charity, or other organization outside the travel industry.
Marilynn and Pete Heddell in front of their Whittier shop, the Captain Cook Books and Gifts. Photo by Linda Robinson.
“Marilynn always entered the room with a smile and a hug,” remembered council volunteer and former outreach coordinator Linda Robinson. “When working the booth at Pacific Marine Expo, you could always count on Marilynn and Pete coming by, dropping their coats, and visiting with guests. I never saw her without a warm greeting for everyone,” added Robinson.
Council invited to observe trainings, ship construction, on-water exercises
Edison Chouest plans to purchase several barges currently in use in Prince William Sound, including the 500-2. The 500-2 is a support barge for spill recovery operations near shore.
In June, Alyeska Pipeline officially confirmed that Edison Chouest Offshore will take over from Crowley Maritime as the provider of oil spill prevention and response services for the terminal and tankers in Prince William Sound. The overlap of Crowley and Edison Chouest’s marine assets in Prince William Sound will take place over a three to six week period in the summer of 2018.
The contract, signed in early August, is effective until 2028.
Edison Chouest is planning five new escort tugs, four new general purpose tugs, three new barges, and two line boats. Construction of the general purpose tugs began this summer. Edison Chouest is planning to purchase two barges currently in Prince William Sound and build three new barges.
Edison Chouest owns shipyards in the Gulf of Mexico, and the majority of the testing will be done nearby. Further testing will be done in Puget Sound and later in Prince William Sound once the vessels arrive in the region.
Alyeska has promised further details about the vessels such as escorting performance specifications, firefighting capabilities, and spill response equipment in the near future.
Observing the process
The council is attending meetings along with ADEC, the Coast Guard, and Crowley for updates and information from Alyeska and Edison Chouest. Roy Robertson, the council’s drill monitor, has been attending on behalf of the council.
“They have offered us the opportunity to observe vessel construction, crew trainings, and on-water exercises,” said Robertson. “We are setting aside funds for these trips to the shipyards and training facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.”
The 900-foot long Tianlong Spirit was built in 2009 and is registered in the Bahamas. Photo by Doug Craig.
Two foreign-flagged tankers hauled Alaska North Slope crude oil from the Valdez terminal this summer for the first time in over 30 years. The last time non-U.S. vessels shipped Alaska crude to foreign refineries was in the 1980s when West Coast refineries could not keep up with the amount of crude coming out of the pipeline.
The first tanker, the Tianlong Spirit, visited the terminal late last July and the second, the Cascade Spirit, arrived in early August. Both are chartered by BP, and owned by Teekay Corporation.
A ban on selling U.S. oil was put in place during the 1970s Arab oil embargo in an effort to keep Alaskan oil in the U.S. At the time, the U.S. was in the middle of an energy crisis and gasoline prices were soaring. Alaska oil was exempted from the ban in 1995 under President Clinton, although the oil still had to be transported by U.S.-flagged tankers. Congress lifted the export ban for the rest of the U.S. in late 2015, which the Alaska delegation sought for the past 20 years. This change also allowed foreign tankers to transport oil out of the U.S.
