Seabulk Pride Runs Hard Aground in Cook Inlet, Alaska

Oil Tanker Carrying Over 4.8 Million Gallons of Product

UPDATE!  Tanker pulled from beach shortly after 8:30 AM, Friday, Feb. 3! No spill evident; crews checking vessel integrity. Cook Inlet Keeper commends the Unified Command and the responders on-the-ground and water for a job well done, calls for better navigational safety...

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Photos taken Feb 2, 2006 at 3:00 PM. © Cook Inlet Keeper                                                                                                                More pictures click here

COOK INLET, AK:  Heavy ice and tides ripped the oil tanker Seabulk Pride from its mooring at the Tesoro Refinery in Cook Inlet, Alaska, on the morning of February 2, 2006.  The vessel went aground during a high tide cycle in extreme winter ice conditions, despite the U.S. Coast Guard’s issuance January 30 of “extreme ice rules” designed to prevent such incidents.

Cook Inlet boasts the highest tidal range in the United States, and currents can run up to 10 miles per hour.  The region is also notorious for its heavy and unpredictable icing conditions.  As a result, Cook Inlet poses extreme navigational hazards to ships and tankers during heavy ice and tide conditions.

Cook Inlet also stands out for its lack of navigational safeguards. Unlike Prince William Sound and Puget Sound, where laden tankers receive tug escorts during transit, loaded vessels ply the rough and icy waters of Cook Inlet without tug escorts or legitimate emergency/docking assistance.

A 1992 report commissioned by the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council (“Dickson Report”) found Cook Inlet to have the most dangerous navigational conditions of any major port in the Western Hemisphere, and recommended, among other things, tug boat assists during vessel loading and unloading during heavy ice conditions.  Significantly, the navigational hazards in Cook Inlet have not lessened since the Dickson Report 16 years ago.

Cook Inlet is an amazingly rich and productive estuary, and the risks posed by oil spills are considerable.  The region supports all 5 species of wild Pacific salmon.  Commercial salmon fisheries alone bring over $14 million a year to local fishing families, and sport and subsistence fisheries account for untold millions more.  Cook Inlet also supports an isolated stock of beluga whales, whose numbers have dropped over 50% recently, leading to a “depleted” listing under federal law.

Despite numerous spills, accidents and close-calls, the U.S. Coast Guard, shipping companies and oil and gas corporations have refused to adopt appropriate safeguards to protect Cook Inlet fisheries and the communities they support.  Importantly, technologies do not exist to adequately address oil spills in heavy ice and current conditions.  For the past decade, Cook Inlet Keeper and others have called for tug assist vessels and other navigational safety improvements.  While Keeper applauds Tesoro’s workers, agencies and the on-the-ground spill responders for a job well done, the Seabulk Pride grounding must prompt the Tesoro Corporation, other Cook Inlet corporations and the U.S. Coast Guard to invest the necessary resources in an area that has produced billions in dollars in oil and gas industry profits.

An Abbreviated History of Vessel and Structure Damage in Cook Inlet Caused by Extreme Ice & Tides.

1964:    Winter ice and tides causes tear pilings from petroleum dock at Port of Anchorage, approx. $33,000 damage.

1964:    Icebreaker Milton II caught in heavy ice.

1967:    Winter ice and tides demolish dock extension away from Port of Anchorage, $1.9 million damage.

1967:    Tanker Evje IV strikes shoal, ruptures cargo oil tanks after winter ice ripped out shoal marker buoy.

1980:    Ice pan pushes 540-ft SS Philadelphia into underwater object, $300,000 damage.

1982:    497-ft SS Newark grounded after encountering heavy ice and tides.

1983:    523-ft SS Galveston ripped loose from mooring at Port of Anchorage by ice floe and tides, slight damage.

1986:    540-ft SS Philadelphia forced into dock after colliding with large ice pan, $14,000 damage to 7 ships.

1990:    Heavy ice and currents ripped the MV Coast Range from the Drift River pier during loading operations, resulting in

            spill estimated at 200–600 gallons.

1999:    Heavy ice pushed the MV Ocean Laurel into Unocal’s dock at Nikiski, causing $100,000 in damage to the dock and catwalk.

1999:    Heavy ice conditions cracked a oil storage tank aboard the MV Chesapeake Trader, spilling approx. 420 gallons.

1999:    The Angelo D'Amato is ripped from its mooring in Nikiski, causing a chemical spill and structural damage.

2000:    Ice clogged the cooling-water intake of the freighter MV Torm Pacific, causing loss of power.

2000:    U.S.C.G. barred oil tankers and freighters from mooring at Tesoro's and Unocal's docks due to extreme ice conditions.

Sources:  N.D. Mulherin, W.B. Tucker III, O.P. Smith & W.J. Lee, Marine Ice Atlas for Cook Inlet, Alaska (2001)

                Jon Little, Inlet Ice Shuts 2 Nikiski Docks, Anchorage Daily News (January 21, 2000) 

Additional Links to Latest Seabulk Pride Incident Information:

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

United States Coast Guard

Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council

Alaska Oceans Program Shipping Safety Partnership

Seabulk Pride Vessel Information

Additional Materials:

U.S. Coast Guard Extreme Winter Ice Rules, Jan. 30, 2006

Marine Ice Atlas for Cook Inlet

Cook Inlet Navigational Safety Forum (1999)