Page 61: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 1998)

VMS.

These 153 x 48 ft. boats are the result of a unique design-build- operate contract signed between

Crowley and the Alyeska Pipeline

Service Company for tanker escort and spill response operations in

Valdez harbor and Prince William

Sound. They are to be propelled by twin Caterpillar 3612Bs furnish- ing 10,192 maximum continuous hp to two Voith Schneider Model 36 GII/270 propulsors. This will result in a static bollard pull in excess of 100 tons and an indirect pull of approximately 260 tons.

The escort tugs will carry the same firefighting equipment as the

Protector class but will also be out- fitted with boom, spray dispersant arms and Desmi skimmers for oil spill recovery work. Internal tanks will be capable of storing 70,000 gal. of recovered oil. The first of the yet-to-be-named escort vessels is expected to enter service early next year while the second will fol- low three months later. There is the possibility that two further escort tugs, slightly smaller in size, will also be built.

Crowley has not limited its high-technology investment to machinery alone. Going beyond the capabilities of its state-of-the- art tugs, the company has joined with ARCO Marine, one of its main customers, in a bridge manage- ment training program to reduce the chance for error at the machine/human interface. Though it is unusual in the industry for a tug company and tanker company to team up for training, Crowley and ARCO consider it a logical out- growth of the cooperative relation- ship they enjoy.

In Alaska, the two companies work together in one of the world's most sensitive geographical loca- tions — environmentally and polit- ically — and there are a growing number of new operating require- ments to be met. A joint

CMS/ARCO simulator training program has been ongoing at the

MarineSafety International (MSI) facility in San Diego for over two years. The teaming of Crowley and

ARCO personnel for simulator training is an innovative approach that serves the dual purpose of sat- isfying regulatory requirements while reducing overall training costs for both companies.

The joint training utilizes two interactive simulators that enable the ARCO tanker crew, the

Crowley tug crew and even pilots to train on the same scenario simultaneously, viewing the same simulated scenes, reacting to the same set of simulated circum- stances, and interacting just as they would in actual situations.

While the provision of the latest in high-technology tugs and tanker escort vessels, along with up-to- date training methods, has gar- nered Crowley considerable praise from its customers, the company is not standing on its laurels.

In 1994, it initiated a multi-year program called Focus 2000 to revi- talize its long-standing philosophy that "Customers Come First." This program has also brought about the formation of two new joint ven- tures, the Marine Response

Alliance, set up in 1994, and Clean

Pacific, created in 1995, both to efficiently provide emergency ser- vices according to the require-

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November, 1998 Circle 259 on Reader Service Card 61