Barge adrift in Beaufort Sea likely to freeze in place
Rapid spread of ice impeding U.S. Coast Guard's rescue of unmanned vessel; plans to track it and recover it next spring
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 3, 2014
BEAUFORT SEA
An unmanned barge which has been adrift in the Beaufort Sea for the past two weeks is likely going to spend the winter frozen into the sea-ice.
The United States Coast Guard says an unmanned barge which has been adrift in the Beaufort Sea for the past two weeks is likely going to spend the winter at sea. The barge, which has been adrift since it broke free from a tow line during a storm, is slowly being encircled by the advancing sea-ice and will probably not be rescued until next spring. - photo courtesy of Transport Canada |
The 40-metre barge, which is owned by Northern Transportation Corporation Limited (NTCL), has been drifting westward into American waters since Oct. 20, when a tow line between it and a tugboat snapped on its way back to port during a severe storm.
The barge was part of a convoy carrying supplies to Komakuk Beach, Yukon, and was en route to Tuktoyaktuk when it broke free from the tow, according to Transport Canada.
Komakuk Beach is the site of a former DEW line station which was decommissioned at the end of the Cold War and is currently in the process of being cleaned up by the federal government.
As the barge is currently in American waters, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) is leading efforts to recover it, with the assistance of Canadian authorities.
According to Cmdr. Shawn Decker with the USCG, the barge was last spotted being blown North by strong southerly winds in Alaskan waters, 40 miles off the coast of Prudhoe Bay. The vessel is slowly being encircled by sea ice which is simultaneously spreading south from the Northern ice flows and North from the Alaskan coast, Decker said.
"Every day the temperatures are getting colder and colder ... so everyday new ice is forming along the Alaskan Arctic slope coastline," he said. "So that ice is forming everyday and it's moving out from the shoreline and getting thicker on a daily basis. And the winter ice pack is slowly moving down from the North everyday. What's going to happen is that eventually here in the next probably four to six weeks, that barge is going to become trapped in the ice where it likely is going to stay for the winter."
The USCG has Arctic-class icebreakers, but they are not currently deployed to the region, Decker said.
He added that all commercial tugboats on the Alaskan coast have already been hauled out and winterized for the season, making it difficult to dispatch a rescue operation. Even if there were boats in the water, he said it would be dangerous to try and rescue the barge.
Given the circumstances, Decker said NTCL planned to fix a GPS tracking device so that its movement in the ice flow could be traced and recovered in the spring.
The barge is currently empty, although it is carrying approximately 3,600 litres of light diesel in its own tanks. Although the U.S. Coast Guard takes all potentials spills very seriously, Decker said there is currently nothing that can be done to rescue the barge.
"We are very concerned anytime there is a barge or a vessel that is drifting in the Arctic with any kind of fuel on board. However, thinking of the big picture, that barge has (3,600 litres of diesel), which is a proverbial drop in the bucket," he said.
While the USGC is leading efforts to recover the barge, NTCL is responsible for creating a response plan that is acceptable to the coast guard, according to Glyniss Hutchings, regional communications officer for Transport Canada.
Hutchings said the department will review the circumstance surrounding the incident and verify that the vessel was operating in compliance with the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 and the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act.
NTCL president Patrick Schmidt did not respond to numerous requests for comment by press time.
