Tag: Alaska

The U.S. Coast Guard launched a search for five fishermen after their boat, Scandies Rose, sank near Sutwik Island in Alaska, during the late hours of Tuesday, December 31. In fact, when the 130-foot crab fishing vessel, homeported in Dutch Harbor, sank at roughly 2200 on Tuesday had seven crew members aboard. The USCG managed to rescue two survivors while the other five are still missing.

The US Coast Guard Alaska issued a statement informing that Sector Anchorage watchstanders are having intermittent communications in a 3,745 square-mile area of Prince William Sound, Alaska, and may not be able to hear mariners on VHF-FM radio.

The US Department of Transportation issued a $25 million grant to the Port of Alaska (Anchorage's seaport), in line with the Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) program, with the funds being used for the first phase of the port's upgrade, renovating its cement and petroleum dock, which is falling into disrepair. 

The Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings issued a statement informing that it will expand and boost its presence in the cruise market of Alaska, amid its rapid development, following a 30-year agreement with Ward Cove Dock Group, LLC, in order to construct a new double ship pier located at Ward Cove, Ketchikan, Alaska.

The new Alaska-based company Qilak LNG revealed plans to ship natural gas from the North Slope field to Asian markets, under a proposed Alaska North Slope LNG export project (Qilak LNG 1 Project). To this end, the company announced an agreement with ExxonMobil Alaska Production to ship LNG from Point Thomson.

Norwegian Cruise Line bought a three-acre waterfront lot in Juneau, Alaska for $20 million, and to use the site for a new cruise ship dock. In order to begin the construction of the newly-purchased lot, the company has to acquire the approval of Juneau's city assembly and get a conditional zoning permit, as the Juneau Empire reports. 

The last two years MV Columbia records the ocean’s vitals every three minutes, along a 1,600-kilometer route through the Inside Passage. This includes the coastal region from Puget Sound to the Alaska Panhandle. The ship measures the sea's temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen content, and carbon dioxide concentration, aiming to monitor ocean acidification.

The Coast Guard collaborated with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Office of Law Enforcement in Alaska, advising all fishermen to familiarise with the laws prior to going fishing and be compliant to them.

The Alaskan state legislature is to restructure the Ocean Rangers program, monitoring cruise ship traffic in the vulnerable waters of Alaska, in opposition with a recently-imposed veto by Alaskan Governor Mike Dunleavy, announced a month ago.  

Alaska's ferry system was shut down for a second straight day last week, due to a boat workers strike, who protest about stalled contract talks and big budget cuts imposed by the governor. Namely, about 420 members of the Inlandboatman’s Union of the Pacific walked off the job on July 24, after three years of labor negotiations with the state-run Alaska Marine Highway System hit a dead-end.