[QUOTE=rigdvr;110362]It’s getting deep in here. I happen to remember you being very vocal on wishing the worst on this project…from day one. I remember telling you to be careful what you wished for as this could be a boom or bust for all of us. You had a hard on for Noble to fail all along, don’t weep now.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, it is true that I think Noble is equal to whale shit but I want the Arctic to succeed and I want Shell to suddenly find Jesus in the North! Maybe having so many failures is what it will take for the clown circus to fold its tent and a new show arrive in DH in 2014…but so far there isn’t anything to show that will occur. Shell’s new Alaska chief has no Alaska or Arctic experience…NICE and until Noble gets shitcanned and a new drilling contractor is hired I see no hope for major change.
and yes, I want to see ECO out of there too or at least for them to team with an Alaska experienced operator to man and run their vessels on charter to Shell. Foss or Crowley can do it as can Western Towboat. I personally think Western would be a better fit since they are all non union there and there would be no conflicts of Gary having to accept a union mariner on one of his vessels. I am ready to go to work for you guys tomorrow there rshrew if your dad wants to make a pitch to ECO to take over their vessels.
[QUOTE=“Steamer;110099”]"Norman “Buddy Custard said he retired from a 30-year Coast Guard career in June 2012 and started working for Shell the same month.”
Gee, imagine that.
It should be a felony to do that. At the very least it should mean the loss of all pension and benefits paid by the American taxpayer who gets screwed by his ilk.
There should be at least a 5 year period of “non-compete” before those lifers can transfer to the people they were tasked to oversee. This scumbag is the poster child for the incestuous relationship between the USCG and the industry they are charged to regulate. The existence of that man in that room puts a stink on everyone serving in the CG. Shame on him, shame on all of them and the polticians who make it possible.[/QUOTE]
So since I went to work for CHOUEST within days of retiring, I should be a felon? Thank god I don’t live in the country u guys are running.
I don’t want to see them in government. Private companies can still hire who they want. Who else would have hired a cranky ship driver like me? The government? I could not afford the pay cut.
[QUOTE=tengineer;110359]Anchorman and you both make good points but also raise some troubling questions to those who like myself that wanted this venture to succeed.
There was a master of the vessel that didn’t even want to be there but there are probably better qualified out there? So why weren’t they there? This isn’t rocket science or uncharted territory, there are guys in the North Sea that have been working under similar conditions for years. That they weren’t there or people with Alaska towing experience weren’t there can’t be due to money, not with billions of dollars potentially at stake should this venture succeed. Finding the right people and paying them the money needed to get them is chump change in the scheme of things.The engine room failure is something I will not comment on but the entire affair speaks of hubris and ignorance from the management of Shell. That the USCG signed off on all this crap and is now investigating it is just plain funny.[/QUOTE]
Whenever that project started, Shell and ECO knew there was not any one person qualified to run that vessel. You needed ice experience, towing, supply, and anchor handling experience. I was initially going over there with another Master, one of the most experienced ice captains in the world. We would have complemented each other pretty well, if I was interested. I really wasn’t, and that was part of the driving forces that made me quit the company…along with a few other things. But, regardless. There was plenty of experience there, between the entire bridge team. I do not know many people that would prefer to work in Alaska. Now, it is a little different…with about 25-30% premium on pay. Money is the only reason to subject yourself to that environment in the context of oil exploration.
The main thing is for them to get this thing right - lessons learned, and continue, but better than before. This starts with Shell, the ultimate stake holder, and everyone else of course.
The USCG? No excuse for them, they are either incompetent or corrupt, take your pick. These morons are going to be the poster children for Greenpeace as to why no one should be allowed to drill in Alaska.[/QUOTE]
Incompetent. They all do inspections, quote regulations and ride desks. If there is 8 years of sea time between all the coasties in the room. I would be surprised.
Like A— man just said, nobody had all the experience but it was the nest money could buy. As far as the USCG, there some phenomenal people there as well as morons. They had NO IDEA I what they were looking at when the tow plan showed up, let alone the risks involved. However, their buddy Custard’s name was on it so that is a big reason they signed off on it.
[QUOTE=anchorman;110369]Whenever that project started, Shell and ECO knew there was not any one person qualified to run that vessel. You needed ice experience, towing, supply, and anchor handling experience. I was initially going over there with another Master, one of the most experienced ice captains in the world. We would have complemented each other pretty well, if I was interested. I really wasn’t, and that was part of the driving forces that made me quit the company…along with a few other things. But, regardless. There was plenty of experience there, between the entire bridge team. I do not know many people that would prefer to work in Alaska. Now, it is a little different…with about 25-30% premium on pay. Money is the only reason to subject yourself to that environment in the context of oil exploration.
The main thing is for them to get this thing right - lessons learned, and continue, but better than before. This starts with Shell, the ultimate stake holder, and everyone else of course.[/QUOTE]
OK, got that. I assume the experienced ice captain went. The world is a big place and though I don’t doubt your expertise for a moment, surely they could and did find a similarly qualified person to take your place. Lots of excellent masters working in the North Sea, Canada etc., with towing, supply and ice experience.
My lord, drilling companies find qualified people to work in freezing conditions as well as Nigeria, a true shit hole, along with other less desirable places on earth. Kidnapping, murder and visa problems wouldn’t seem to be an impediment to accepting a well paying job in Alaska.
Hopefully whoever the next “they” is will learn from this as you suggested. But the regulatory agencies also share a lot of the blame in this fiasco as it is obvious they didn’t or weren’t capable of overseeing this sort of endeavor.
Back to the injectors…I’d still like to hear more . The C280s exhaust and turbo inlet temps skyrocket with the loss of 1 or 2 injectors. Did they have a Cat laptop to set the trim after changing full sets of injectors? I worked with the 3600s and some of the first C280s. There were many injector failures in the beginning but tapered off.
I want to know why they approved the tow plan and routing of the tow. Also what does a GOM towmaster know about towing in Alaska? Totally different environment and conditions and towing styles compared to the gulf.
[QUOTE=tengineer;110373]OK, got that. I assume the experienced ice captain went. The world is a big place and though I don’t doubt your expertise for a moment, surely they could and did find a similarly qualified person to take your place. Lots of excellent masters working in the North Sea, Canada etc., with towing, supply and ice experience.
My lord, drilling companies find qualified people to work in freezing conditions as well as Nigeria, a true shit hole, along with other less desirable places on earth. Kidnapping, murder and visa problems wouldn’t seem to be an impediment to accepting a well paying job in Alaska.
Hopefully whoever the next “they” is will learn from this as you suggested. But the regulatory agencies also share a lot of the blame in this fiasco as it is obvious they didn’t or weren’t capable of overseeing this sort of endeavor.[/QUOTE]
I’m sure if there is a US license mariner with the right license and experience, they will certainly be hired at ECO. There were issues identifying those people when I was employed there. I’m not sure of the current situation having left going on two years now.
[QUOTE=rshrew;110375]I want to know why they approved the tow plan and routing of the tow. Also what does a GOM towmaster know about towing in Alaska? Totally different environment and conditions and towing styles compared to the gulf.[/QUOTE]
There’s a few from the GOM that managed to tow things around the North Sea, North and South Atlantic and Pacific and the GOA and a few other places…
[QUOTE=rshrew;110375]I want to know why they approved the tow plan and routing of the tow. Also what does a GOM towmaster know about towing in Alaska? Totally different environment and conditions and towing styles compared to the gulf.[/QUOTE]
The towing masters on there towed in Alaska before, but was not the Master of the vessel.
Good deal thought I read different, still does not explain why go so close to shore. I understand they wanted helicopter range but the ex when they left was not that great.
[QUOTE=BMCSRetired;110366]So since I went to work for CHOUEST within days of retiring, I should be a felon? [/QUOTE]
In case you haven’t noticed, there is a big difference between policy making O-5 and above ring knockers moving to executive positions and an enlisted puke with a limited ticket running a crew boat.
Yup. Bet it was felt too, more than once before she popped. Ask that question. Because if you tight line a heavy tow - you never, ever forget the feeling so someone would have noticed.
From video - that ain’t rough wx for towing - but it does only show a few seconds, so judgment entirely reserved …[/QUOTE]
Heres the thing about that video. That tug is huge, argueably bigger then anything most have towed with, so after reviewing the movement of the tug with this in mind, that is some extreme weather. Also IMHO that tow is way back there and had they been moving slow enough this would not have happened. I suppose the size of the rig does make it appear closer then it is.
On 27 December 2012, while Aiviq was towing the mobile offshore drilling unit Kulluk off the coast of Kodiak Island, Alaska, the towing line between the icebreaker and the drilling rig parted due to a mechanical failure of the towing shackle.[14] Shortly after the tow had been regained, the main engines of Aiviq failed likely due to fuel issues[15] and the vessel lost propulsion power in 20-foot (6 m) seas. In the following morning, power was successfully restored on one of the four main engines and the vessel was able to hold position in the heavy weather.
I have spent my fair share of time running Tow Winches in bad weather, I always ran the Tow Winch on all of the boats that I worked on. From what is posted above, they were in Twenty (20) Foot Seas. After watching the Video, I will say that the wire does look short. The way that it was snatching they should have let out more wire. For a Vessel the size of the Aiviq, Twenty (20) Foot Seas should have been nothing. Most of the Vessels that I was on while towing were in the 120-150 Foot Range and while I will never say they were comfortable to be on in 20 Foot Seas it was doable. Also the Seas seem to be more of a Swell rather than what I would call Seas with a short duration.
As for the cause of the Plant going down. There are way too many ways for this to happen and unless someone that was there in the E.R. comes forward and tells the whole story we will never know.
Now a couple of questions and this is from someone with ZERO time in Alaska.
Was the depth of the Water too shallow to allow for more wire to be let out?
Who was on the Bridge and in control at the time? Everyone has to sleep sometime and I am pretty sure that Everyone that made up the Bridge Crew did not have a lot of towing time in that area.
What type of Surge Gear was included with the Tow Bridle?
I have had tow wires break while under way and the Three (3) main reasons were, Running too fast with to short of a wire, Having too much wire out causing it to drag, Not having the Proper Surge Gear. There is another reason which does not fit with this tow and that is a Old Wire.
Also from watching the Video several times, Just before the wire parted, the wire can be seen to come up off of the Deck. This means that the wire was Surging a lot. Now something that came to mind is, could this video be of when the wire parted the second time? This would explain it looking like they were towing way to short.
Unfortunately, I really doubt we will ever hear the entire story, that is unless someone leaks what really happened.
Plenty deep where they were thousands of feet of water. I agree way too short on wire. Plus to me looks like they were out of step. Didn’t they state they were pulling 70-80% power?
[QUOTE=CurryAK;110404]Heres the thing about that video. That tug is huge, argueably bigger then anything most have towed with, so after reviewing the movement of the tug with this in mind, that is some extreme weather. Also IMHO that tow is way back there and had they been moving slow enough this would not have happened. I suppose the size of the rig does make it appear closer then it is.[/QUOTE]
Seems to make sense and I also tend to agree with Tugs. In any case, more facts will come out in the investigation and there is plenty of time to wait. I’ve ocean towed heavier larger tows than KULLUK, and seen some pretty nasty weather while doin’ it. At a glance - and taking in everything there is to see in the very short video - it just seems they are pulling too hard on too short a line. Using plennnty of wire and “just enough” power would make for a nice ride in that size sea. But I’ve absolutely no idea of the real circumstances, the towing gear, the wind loading on the rig, etc. that could gum up the works, so I’m not getting worked up over it. There is more to the story and we will eventually hear it. Sorry it happened. I’m sure a lot of people were doing their best or trying to.