I believe he has already bought land and an airport.
[QUOTE=Number360;145004]I believe he has already bought land and an airport.[/QUOTE]
You’re correct, Fairweather LLC.
Chouest will own the Alaskan market as well because he has the money, contacts and power. Everyone else is fighting for scraps.
Man you have been drinking the kool aid…Foss hardly tows in Alaska anymore besides red dog for s couple months and 1 tug out of prince Rupert on a rail run. They gave up all freight barge work (samson) like crowley to Brusco. Companies like Kirby and Dunlap are out west working barges year round. There are plenty of capable companies to do the work. Crowley was supposed to set production modules this summer in cook inlet but don’t think that panned out for this year… The surprising thing To me is that you build an arctic class tug with no dp? Crowleys new boats seem to have a leg up in the oil fired work department in my book. Time will tell what happens I guess
Foss ought to build two 175,000hp ice destroying nuclear “tug”, complete with laser ice melting capability, unlimited tonnage classed under sub chapter I with Dp-42, yet only 130’ Loa for property maneuverability. They will ideally petition the CG to implement a new layer of regional cabotage restricting the crew to native Alaskans. Also despite it being a nuclear plant, no navee engineers need be allowed.
I think it should be classed as an osv under 10,000 itc. I saw a movie about nuculer ships one time does that count as observer time for a 10,000 itc nuke endorsement?
See that’s the broad brushed bullshit I am talking about. The problem for the most part isn’t the mariners. There are plenty of guys I have worked with in my few years in the gulf that could be very successful up there. It all comes down to as kennebec captain said the corporate culture. Until Shell learns that people are allowed to tell them no, the contractors won’t say no for fear of pissing them off, and the mariners who say no too often won’t have jobs.
But to keep with the any mariner who works in the gulf is a fucking peon bullshit just makes you look like a little bitch with an ax to grind. I’m sorry you couldn’t swallow some pride and deal with it down here. I might be 12 but I can manage to keep a watch together with out blood pressure pills or getting my ass chewed.
[QUOTE=rshrew;145014]Man you have been drinking the kool aid…Foss hardly tows in Alaska anymore besides red dog for s couple months and 1 tug out of prince Rupert on a rail run. They gave up all freight barge work (samson) like crowley to Brusco. Companies like Kirby and Dunlap are out west working barges year round. There are plenty of capable companies to do the work. Crowley was supposed to set production modules this summer in cook inlet but don’t think that panned out for this year… The surprising thing To me is that you build an arctic class tug with no dp? Crowleys new boats seem to have a leg up in the oil fired work department in my book. Time will tell what happens I guess[/QUOTE]
Its certainly true that Kirby has all, or nearly all, of the linehaul oil barge work. It sound like Harley wants to get into it, but as far as I can tell, not yet. Dunlap is doing all of Northland’s linehaul freight barge work, and operates Northland’s Polar class boats. Western Towboat has all of Alaska Marine Lines freight barge towing, and one tug and freight barge running for Alaska Logistics. Samson does some of their own freight barge towing, but Brusco is doing a good portion of it.
Dunlap and Western Towboat are both very capable tug companies. Western Towboat has the only fleet of nice new z-drive linehaul tugs.
When people frequently mention Crowley and Foss, they are mostly doing so generically, because they are the largest and oldest companies that are best known outside the Pacific Northwest. The truth is that smaller more nimble companies like Northland out competed Foss and Crowley and practically drove them out of the freight barge business in Alaska years ago. Crowley and Foss also dropped out of petroleum transportation years ago. Crowley still owns several tank farms and has their Western Alaska small boat fleet, but hires Kirby to do their linehaul towing.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;145024]When people frequently mention Crowley and Foss, they are mostly doing so generically, because they are the largest and oldest companies that are best known outside the Pacific Northwest. The truth is that smaller more nimble companies like Northland out competed Foss and Crowley and practically drove them out of the freight barge business in Alaska years ago. Crowley and Foss also dropped out of petroleum transportation years ago. Crowley still owns several tank farms and has their Western Alaska small boat fleet, but hires Kirby to do their linehaul towing.[/QUOTE]
well, both Foss and Crowley are companies with the size and muscle to stand in front of a Shell and make them see the wisdom of bringing their knowledge of Alaska to Shell’s arctic operations. I don’t apologize when I say that I have great respect for both Foss and Saltchuk Resources. Maybe Foss has lost a good deal of market share in the Alaskan towing business but they still are a good company run professionally. I want to see them be the big dog in the Arctic and do not want to be that go to the 900# orange and blue gorilla! ECO does not belong in Alaska but it is up to the big players to check their advances. That takes a Saltchuk or Crowley.
I know, let’s build a whole bunch of 600’ tall robots just like in the movie “Pacific Rim” and they can just kick the ice out of the way of the rigs!
As long as they require unlimited masters and a crewed like ships!
[QUOTE=tugsailor;145003]Its also about the mindset of the mariners and the companies too. You have to be willing to take some calculated risks or you’ll never get anything done. But you have to know when to say no to the office. The office must understand that no means no. I can think of several instances over the years in Alaska when Joe Boss said jump, bayou mariner said “rog-oh” bossman, and they proceeded to get into serious trouble. That is part of what happened with Aiviq and Kulluk. If it had been a mariner at any of the local towing companies he would have said “No, not that route, and not now.”[/QUOTE]
Good point. There is a lot to this.
I wonder if crews involved in Aiviq/Kulluk operation recognized it was a high risk operation and that things were going to shit?
I really like the book Managing the Unexpected.
The five principles are
Preoccupation with failure
Reluctance to simplify interpretations
Sensitivity to operations
Commitment to resilience
Deference to expertise
The Kulluk incident involved the violation of principles 1,3 and 5.
[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;145040]The Kulluk incident involved the violation of principles 1,3 and 5.[/QUOTE]
they also failed in #4 by not having two tugs towing KULLUK to Puget Sound
[QUOTE=z-drive;145036]As long as they require unlimited masters and a crewed like ships![/QUOTE]
works for me!
Natives only care about 1 thing… $$$$
Oh and lots of booze
The boats doing that pipeline job in cook inlet was an anchor job, no DP at all. You can’t use DP in cook inlet the current is 6kts
your absolutely right sir. I wonder how much tow wire they had out? I can only suspect that the master of the towing vessel felt that nothing could ever possibly go wrong and no one planned for the inevitable. The world sees the U.S. Mariners. We need to wake up and look after one another and open our eyes to the advice of others no matter how experienced we feel we are.
In the C.G. report it’s states how much wire they had out. Along with many other details.
[QUOTE=Hoggy;145068]The boats doing that pipeline job in cook inlet was an anchor job, no DP at all. You can’t use DP in cook inlet the current is 6kts[/QUOTE]
I would imagine one could hold position in 6kts if you have enough thruster HP and a very good model. I certainly cannot see ever being able to DP in pack ice however.
[QUOTE=c.captain;145087]I certainly cannot see ever being able to DP in pack ice however.[/QUOTE]
http://www.akerarctic.fi/DP_systems_for_ice.pdf
:>
damned your eyes man!
After the kulluk grounding happened I met someone who used to worked on the Aiviq. This individual said the captain allowed the vessel to operate beyond safe loading levels. Sea water washed across the back deck just below the vents. Apparently this person was so concerned about the safety of the vessel that a letter was sent to the office. It fell on deaf ears and the person was pushed out of the company before the incident occurred.