The specialized ice-cutting tanker that will carry fuel to an ice-buffered town on Alaska's west coast could be under way as early as Tuesday night, according to Pete Garay, the Alaskan who will oversee the foreign ship's movement in and out of Alaska ports.
Garay (pictured left), a career Alaska Marine Pilot, landed the unique job of piloting the ice-class tanker Renda on its unprecedented mission to Nome.
On board, Garay will act as an expert consultant, advising the captain and the crew on safe entries and exits to Alaska ports and moorings. When the ship is three miles within shore, he's in charge and directs the ship's movement. When farther offshore, the Russian captain will call the shots.
"We are the safety net underneath the commercial shipping industry," Garay said Tuesday of the state's marine pilots. "We make decisions based only on safety, unencumbered by financial interests."
Garay volunteered for the assignment, intrigued by the historic undertaking and new challenge. If successful, this will be the first winter fuel delivery to arrive in Nome by ship. Generally, Alaska's ice-clogged winter seas bring marine transportation to a halt, leaving the state's remote villages to rely on plane flights for supplies.
A private fuel supplier from Nome was forced to look for an alternate delivery method when the barge originally commissioned was delayed by a late November storm and subsequent heavy ice build up, stranding the fuel in Dutch Harbor, more than 600 miles away.
Early Tuesday, Garay had hoped to get the fuel load transferred to the Renda and get the Renda on its way by about 8 p.m. With stormy weather in the forecast -- the National Weather Service is calling for 4-foot seas, snow and 28-to-40-mph winds -- Garay prefers to get the ship moving. If it does leave Tuesday night, the Renda will steam at a slow pace to give its Coast Guard escort time to catch up, he said.
The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy will travel with the Renda as it makes its way to Nome. The newest and most technologically sophisticated of the U.S.'s polar ice-breaking fleet, the Healy is capable of punching nonstop through 4-and-a-half-foot-thick ice at about 3 mph.
The two ships will cut through hundreds of miles of ice on their anticipated four-day journey to Nome.
Contact Jill Burke at jill(at)alaskadispatch.com