


Circling in Patterns
So. My understanding of the patterns is validated!
Update Wednesday Jan 11. 00:35:00 AM GMT. From Capt. Carter Whalen, president of Alaska Marine Pilots:
"Today's [Tuesday] progress is about 50'. Healy is trying to free Renda right now from an ice ridge. There is better, more favorable ice ahead."
50 feet. What a disappointment for the officers and crews of the Russian Tanker Renda and USCG Healy.

Update: Tuesday, January 10: The Nome rescue mission has been officially dubbed the "Nome Energy Support Mission." Progress is extremely slow through the ice field. The Healy and T/V (Tanker Vessel) Renda are approximately 110 miles south of Nome as of January 9th, 2012, making an average speed of 2 miles per hour (1.7 knots) in ice 2½ feet thick.

This story is more than a story of delivering fuel oil in winter to Nome. It has never been attempted before. Many agencies are revving up to monitor the events of the next few days as they play out.
The stakes are high. There are serious environmental dangers in involved with a tanker and an icebreaker approaching Nome. This is not like two vessels entering Rotterdam. The major problem is draft. The Healy draws more water than the Renda. So how is the ice to be cleared, allowing the Renda to get within distance of the beach to unload?
The State of Alaska has dispatched teams to take core samples of the ice flow that rammed Western Alaska during the serious storms that raked the Bering Sea in November, which stymied the tug and barge delivery, setting up this series of events.
For answers read the Situation Report from Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. This report details HOW the petroleum products will be sent ashore.
NEXT UPDATE: WEDNESDAY, 21:00 hrs GMT
LATEST NOME WEATHER FORECAST
[ Ed Note: What follows is the original post, heavily edited as new information was verified, and new media applied where required.]
USCG Cmdr Gregory Tlapa
Largely overshadowed by the embarrassing political flea circus American's are exposed to, a remarkable event is taking place in an ice field in the Bering Sea. A Russian Tanker is delivering fuel oil purchased in South Korea, and unleaded gasoline picked up in Dutch Harbor, to Nome Alaska, with the assistance of an American Icebreaker!
Russian T/V Renda from USCG Healy
Due in part to the reality television series, "Deadliest Catch," many folk are familiar with the location of the Bering Sea.
The Bering Sea, with fundamentally unfriendly weather conditions, contribute to the deadliest occupation in the United States. 128 per 100,000 Alaskan fishermen perished on the job in 2007, 26 times the national average. [source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health].
The race commemorates the 1925 "Great Race of Mercy." The mercy run involved 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs as they relayed diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles (1,085 km) by dog sled across the U.S. territory of Alaska in five and a half days.
In the Beginning...
The Associated Press released this traffic, datelined ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)
A Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel for the iced-in Alaska city of Nome was about 190 miles away on Saturday morning [Jan 7th] and was making slow but steady progress, a company official said.
"The city of about 3,500 people on the western Alaska coastline normally gets fuel by barge. But it didn't get its last pre-winter fuel delivery because of a massive storm and it could run out of crucial supplies before spring without the delivery.


"And now, the rest of the story."
Many are asking why is Nome in such a precarious fuel situation? Do they not have regularly scheduled fuel deliveries? Of course they do! Barge deliveries, not only of fuel, but everything found on the shelves of your local supermarket, are delivered by barge from the Lower 48, on tight schedules.
There are limited resources and, more critical, a limited "window of opportunity" for delivery dates. So. If a scheduled delivery is missed, too bad, wait for the next "rotation" or season.
An unseasonable Bering Sea Storm halted Delta Western, a Seattle based POL - petroleum, oil, lubricants - barge company, utilizing Seattle's famous Foss Maritime tugs to deliver the goods, from making its final delivery last year.
[ed note: My late Dad worked for Foss for several years, as Chief Engineer on the Mary Foss, Patricia Foss, and others.]
That delivery failure lead to considering other options, including Russian, Canadian and Norwegian resources, even air delivery. But flying in fuel would have taken more than 300 flights, each carrying 4,000 to 5,000 gallons, to meet the town's needs.

- Records show Bonanza Fuel was established in 1994, incorporated in Alaska. Current estimates show this company has annual revenues of $50 to 100 million and employs a staff of approximately 20 to 49.
- Sitnasuak's mission is to earn profits on operations while protecting land, culture and benefiting shareholders. It operates a number of for-profit businesses in Nome, including a home heating fuel delivery service.
The only product in critical supply is unleaded gasoline. The City is not in danger of running out of heating oil, nor residents freezing to death!
Officials In accord
This will be the first time that a fuel shipment has been delivered to an ice-locked community in Alaska. United States Senator Mark Begich (Dem - Alaska) praised the decision by Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, to allow a Russian flagged tanker to carry fuel from Dutch Harbor to Nome.
"Movement of the fuel between two U.S. ports [Dutch Harbor and Nome] by a foreign flagged vessel required a waiver of the Jones Act. Begich sent letters to Napolitano on Dec. 9 and 22 in support of the waiver and has continued to press the department to grant the waiver quickly
.
"Begich went on to express his appreciation for the crew of the Healy, who have given up their holidays to take care of the residents of Nome, a dedication to duty and public service which is in the best tradition of the United States Coast Guard."
Why the Renda?
Because the United States of America does not own an ice-breaking capable tanker. The one and only ice breaking tanker the United States did own was the Manhattan. But the Manhattan, following its historic voyages across the Northwest Passage, languished in Portland Oregon on the Willamette River for several years.



TT
The Russian-flagged tanker Renda sits in the ice while the Coast Guard Cutter Healy crew breaks the ice around the tanker approximately 19 miles northwest of Nunivak Island Jan. 6, 2012. U.S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis.
The Russian tanker Renda, IMO 8129618, Ice Class UL1, dead weight tons 6,269, 113 m (371 feet) x 18 m (59 feet), built 1984, flag Russia, owned by RIMSCO, a private shipping company based in Vladivostok, Russia.

Renda following Healy at 1.7 knots north to Nome
In Unalaska, the tanker took on an additional 1,000 tons of gasoline, and proceeded to Nome. This leg, Dutch Harbor to Nome, required the United States waiver of the Jones Act.
A MASSIVE EFFORT INVOLVING DOZENS OF AGENCIES AND DISCIPLINES
The U.S. Coast Guard has pledged to help the Renda make the voyage and will use the icebreaking cutter Healy to help clear a path for the tanker if necessary.The Seattle-based Healy is the Coast Guards only operating polar icebreaker.
The law requires a "local pilot" to command the Renda. The job went to Capt. Garay.

Epilogue
I call this information, "the World watching America disappear in the rear view mirror." The nation's two heavy polar icebreakers - the Polar Star and the Polar Sea - are out of commission.
The Polar Sea unlikely to see service again. This further underscores just how thin the nation's ice-breaking capabilities have become.

- Russia has 25 polar icebreakers.
- Finland has seven icebreakers.
- Sweden has seven icebreakers.
- Canada has six icebreakers.
Meanwhile, American's only real concerns are whether or not gay marriages are legal, and making Obama a "one term president." And remember, the heating oil was purchased in Korea.
Photo & Video Credits: US Coast Guard 17th District.
4 Comments - Click here:
Wow! I felt like I was on that rescue mission. Incredible photos and video. As ususal your article follows the hows, whys and ways this feat was able to be pulled off, including the political background to allow the Russian ship into American waters. US Coast Guard are our wonderful heros. Thanks for time well spent. AGAIN!
This is a great article and great pictures. I am an American living in Canada but also watch the American news. The country is going to hell and the politicans are mostly worthless, not an ethical one except for Ron Paul.
This is a very compelling story that I hope to follow. Have posted one link to my FaceBook site. I hope others get interested in it!
Thanks,Robert, once again for a totally underreported story otherwise missing for most of us. I am amazed by your research skills as always!
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