Greetings,
Rumor has it that a Chouest Tug in Valdez hit the loaded Tanker Polar Endeavour at 10 kts. while the tanker was tied up at the berth. Can’t find any reports of this I have seen two pictures of the tanker quite a lot of damage to stern qtr.
I sense a “Safety Stand Down” in my future… 
If true, I believe that’s now the third incident between a Chouest tug and a tanker up there since they took over the Alyeska contract from Crowley.
I cannot wait to hear more about this!
Same thought. Light tug hitting a docked vessel? Unless machinery failure, something ain’t right here. Hope this is a fake story,. At ten knots, every one woke up and are potential witnesses.
This is not a fake story, saw the dent in the polar ship with my own eyes. The moved the ship to berth #3 so the other two docks could be used. I don’t know how Polar has managed to keep it under wraps.
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Not very good pictures but you can see the damage, the one shot shows fendering marks on the ship it was a direct hit. Running across the bay at 10 kts. for a undocking and never stopped, why is this not being reported.
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More pictures please!!!
What does the tug look like?
Maybe someone from down in the bayou bought the newspapers, in addition to the politicians, in Alaska.
10 Knots wow I’m surprised he didn’t go through the windshield
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Or knocked every one on board across the the room, give everyone asleep a compressed spinal column depending on how the racks were positioned, sink the tug or breech the hull of the ship? Perhaps somethings got exaggerated in the story with each retelling?
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If it’s only property damage, I don’t see local news picking up on something like this. If there was a spill or someone was taken to a hospital, or a mariner in jail for intoxication…certainly. It would be in the news quickly.
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Local news up there is pretty sensitive to oil tanker safety. Can’t recall why.
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Understood. I can appreciate that. Still no story.
Knowing neither tug particulars nor specifics of the tanker’s construction it’s hard to be certain, but that doesn’t look like a 10 knot impact to me. The picture makes it look pretty square on, and I’d expect to see hull penetration at those energy levels…
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I was thinking the same thing. Just some rubber marks and a dent.
The last time, a routine docking mishap resulted in poking a hole in the tanker. Someone posted pictures.
With a 10 knot square on impact, I would expect all of the tug crew to have
Injuries. I’d expect some to go to the hospital by ambulance.
It does seem a bit odd that there is nothing in the newspapers or from ADEC considering it was a big deal when this happened in 2018.
Not a murmur from Maritime Operations or the Valdez coasties.
Maybe the image is just an optical illusion … or the optics are not flattering for Chouest.
Here is another picture, they hit aft of the house a double hulled tanker I would not expect for it to have made hole but it sure did move some metal
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Is that water coming out of a crack in the hull? Or some artifact from light on the camera lens?
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