TANKER'S FACELIFT MASSIVE
EXXON VALDEZ LOSES 1,600 TONS OF STEEL

By DAVID SEDENO
The Associated Press

SAN DIEGO- Shipyard workers have removed 1,600 tons of steel from the ruptured Exxon Valdez and on Tuesday will begin installing new plates to the hull of the tanker involved in the nation's worst oil spill, officials said Saturday.

The Exxon Valdez spilled nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound after the vessel struck a reef March 24. Repairs have been under way at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. yard for the past three months.

"I don't think anybody has ever seen any damage like this before," shipyard worker Mike Blouin said Saturday as he inspected a damaged section of the hull. "We haven't done any work on the ship that's hard. It's easy taking things apart, but it's more difficult putting it back together."

In the past seven weeks, workers stripped huge steel plates from the bottom center section of the hull, creating a 650 foot tunnel in the 987 foot ship.

Each of the 34 inch thick steel sheets are about 44 feet wide and 16 feet long and weigh about 100 tons. Many were twisted and contorted in the collision, and workers found at least three big rocks embedded in ripped sections of the hull.

Workers removed the damaged plates by cutting the steel sections free, allowing them to drop onto air bags set on flatbed transport trucks parked under the ship.

The repairs are being done as the tanker rests on blocks about 3 feet above the drydock floor.

Workers will begin the tedious task of replacing the steel plates on Tuesday, shipyard officials said.

After the center section has been repaired, workers will begin removing and replacing another 900 tons of steel on the right side of the ship's hull, said Dennis Krumweide, manager of the company's structural engineering department.

Another 800 tons of steel from other parts of the ship also will have to be removed and replaced, Krumweide said.

On the right side, where the tanker's hull was ripped open, the ship is being supported by beams connected to the side of the dry dock and welded to the ship. Inside, the tanker's right side is filled with wooden scaffolding and catwalks that allow shipyard employees access inside the hull.

Damage to the ship's left side was minor, Krumweide said.

About 300 employees will be working on the $30 million repair project and Krumweide said it would "be a piece of cake" rebuilding the Valdez by July 2.

"The reason that the repairs are going so well is because people who worked on it before are working on it again," Krumweide said.

The company's workers built the Valdez between 1985 and 1986. It weighs 30,000 tons and can hold 16 million gallons of oil.

But other officials said the tough job was still ahead.

"The most difficult part will be getting the sheets into the hull and getting the proper alignment because we have very little room to spare on each side," said Wayne Butterfield, the company's ship manager.

Critics of the crippled tanker have said that the oil spill could have been prevented if the ship had had a double hull, but company officials said Exxon did not request a double hull in the original design or repair orders.

"When we're finished, it will have exactly the same infrastructure as it did when we built it the first time," Butterfield said.

The Valdez was towed 2,500 miles from Alaska to San Diego for repairs, arriving off the San Diego coast July 10.

State and federal officials prevented the tanker from entering San Diego Bay for three weeks because of oil slicks sighted near the ship when it reached Southern California.

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