An Alaska Marine Line barge smashed into the Coast Guard Cutter Sycamore on Sunday morning while the vessel was moored at the Cordova Harbor.
The tug the Krystal Sea was maneuvering an attached barge, Cordova Provider, into a spot in the harbor when the front part of the barge struck the cutter around 7 a.m. Sunday. The ship was arriving from Whittier with 4 people onboad at the time of the accident.
The Sycamore, a 225-foot buoy tender, suffered damage to its port bow during the accident. The above photo "gives you the extent" of the damage, Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Allie Ferko said, but couldn't put a price tag on it.
The Coast Guard said it had spoken with the captain of the tug, but it declined to offer a preliminary idea of the accident's cause. The Coast Guard's Marine Safety Unit in Valdez is investigating the incident.
The Sycamore was commissioned to Cordova in 2002, and conducts aids in navigation, search and rescue and law enforcement missions for the Coast Guard throughout the state.
The Krystal Sea is based in Cordova to carry cargo for Alaska Marine Lines, a freight service operating in the Interior, Southcentral and Southeast Alaska, run by Lynden Cargo. Alaska Marine Lines' Cordova office declined to comment on Sunday.
Whether the Coast Guard itself will be able to repair the Sycamore is not known at this time. The agency needs "to look and see if it's something we can repair ourselves, of if we'll need assistance," Ferko said.
No injuries or leakages were reported after the incident.
Contact Laurel Andrews at laurel(at)alaskadispatch.com