In a photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, two hose lines run from the Russian tanker Renda as they prepare for pressure tests Monday Jan. 16, 2012 in Nome, Alaska. The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy has been escorting and breaking ice for the Renda since Jan. 3, 2012, to help deliver approximately 1.3 million gallons of gasoline and diesel to Nome, Alaska. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric J. Chandler.)
In a photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, two hose lines run from the Russian tanker Renda as they prepare for pressure tests Monday Jan. 16, 2012 in Nome, Alaska. The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy has been escorting and breaking ice for the Renda since Jan. 3, 2012, to help deliver approximately 1.3 million gallons of gasoline and diesel to Nome, Alaska. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric J. Chandler.)
En esta foto proporcionada por la Guardia Costera de Estados Unidos, el buque cisterna ruso Renda se encuentra justo frente a la costa de Nome, con dos mangueras de trasiego de combustible que dan a una calzada en el puerto de Nome, el lunes 16 de enero de 2012. Despu?s de ser escoltados a trav?s del hielo por el rompehielo Healy de la Guardia Costera, el Renda comenz? a entregar m?s de 1,3 millones de galones de combustible el lunes. (AP foto/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 3rd Class Grant DeVuyst)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? A massive effort to pump fuel from a Russian tanker to the iced-in Alaska city of Nome is complete, moving an estimated 1.3 million gallons into the city that faced a shortage after missing its last delivery.
Stacey Smith, manager of Vitus Marine LLC ? the company that arranged for the tanker to deliver gas and diesel to the city ? said the operation finished up Thursday morning.
"Fuel is delivered to Nome," she said.
The pumping operation finished up at about 7 a.m., said Jason Evans, board chairman of Sitnasuak Native Corp., which arranged for the tanker delivery to Nome. But he said the mission was far from over.
"Now on to getting them out of Nome and back out of the ice there," Evans said of the tanker and Coast Guard icebreaker frozen into the ice near the Nome harbor.
The plan is for the icebreaker to help get the tanker back through the ice and to open water where the tanker will head back to Russia. The icebreaker will go to Dutch Harbor, Alaska to drop off supplies and then to its home port in Seattle, Evans said.
The two lines that pumped both gasoline and diesel fuel from the ship will have to be cleared of any residual fuel, which could mean up to 7,000 more gallons of fuel.
The city of 3,500 didn't get its last pre-winter barge fuel delivery because of a massive November storm. Without the Russian tanker's delivery, Nome would run out of fuel by March or April, long before the next barge delivery is possible.
Alaska has had one of the most severe winters in decades. Snow has piled up 10 feet or higher against the wood-sided buildings in Nome, a former gold rush town that is the final stop on the 1,150-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Smith said the pumping operation finished up with temperatures finally reaching above zero. Nome for weeks has been experiencing record cold temperatures, dipping to more than 30 below zero.
This is the first time petroleum products have been delivered to a western Alaska community by sea in winter.
The exact amount of fuel transferred to the tanks won't be known for a day or two. However, the amount will be enough to get Nome through the winter and to the next barge delivery in late spring, Evans said.
The Russian tanker Renda began its journey from Russia in mid-December, picking up diesel fuel in South Korea before heading to Dutch Harbor, where it took on unleaded gasoline. It arrived last week off Nome on Alaska's west coast, more than 500 miles from Anchorage.
A Coast Guard icebreaker cleared a path for the 370-foot tanker through hundreds of miles of a slow journey stalled by thick ice and strong ocean currents. In total, the tanker traveled an estimated 5,000 miles.
Two parallel hoses, 700 yards long each, stretched between the Renda and a pipeline that delivered the estimated 1.3 million gallons of fuel to storage tanks near the harbor of the iced-in city. The transfer was made without a spill, Evans said.
He said he had the opportunity to go aboard the Russian tanker where he was served a lunch of borscht soup, spaghetti, fried chicken and freshly-made bread while thanking the captain and crew for getting the fuel to Nome.
"I told him he was one of the most famous captains of the world and he told me not in Russia," Evans said. "He told me, 'We do this all the time.'"
Associated Presscupertino htc flyer review westboro stevejobs stevejobs steve jobs commencement speech sarah palin
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন