Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2004)

News

Crowley Refloats

Stranded Passenger Ferry

Crowley Marine Services refloated the passenger ferry Le Conte, which had run aground about 30 miles north of Sitka,

Alaska on Monday, May 10. Crowley, under contract with the Alaska Marine

Highway System, floated the Le Conte off Cozian Reef. The salvage team made internal and external surveys and the Le

Conte was towed to the Ketchikan Ship

Yard by the tug Chahunta with

Crowley's salvage vessel, the American

Salvor, escorting.

The 31-year-old ferry was transiting from Angoon to Sitka with more than 100 passengers and crewmembers onboard, when it struck the reef located in Peril Strait. All of the passengers were successfully evacuated by the Coast

Guard and local private watercraft

Alaska State Ferry LeConte, which went aground off Otstoia Island in Peril Strait about 30 miles north of Sitka. (Photo credit: N0AA) immediately following the grounding with only a few people sustaining minor injuries. The vessel has an approximate 50-foot gash down each side of the keel.

After conferring with Alaska Marine

Highway System officials and the oper- ators of the LeConte, Crowley immedi- ately dispatched an assessment team, including a project manager and senior naval architect, to the scene from San

Diego where they had just completed the successful salvage of an F-14 fighter jet that went down off of Point Loma.

Crowley worked closely with Marine

Response Alliance (MRA) partner Titan

Maritime, LLC, which provided the sal- vage master and additional support equipment. Crowley dispatched the

American Salvor, loaded with additional personnel and equipment, to the scene last week to provide the support base for the overall salvage effort. That vessel arrived Saturday morning. Crowley's

Incident Management Team was mobi- lized and will remain on site at the com- mand center in Juneau until the project is complete. Prior to extracting the Le

Conte from the reef, all fuel, with the exception of a small reserve needed to run generators, was removed from the ferry, as were the automobiles on its car deck.

A Tradition Carried On

On Friday, April 30, 2004, the SUNY

Maritime College Alumni Association distributed the first scholarship awards of its second century. Founded in 1903, the Alumni Association, a private- ly funded, volunteer managed, charita- ble association of graduates of the

Maritime College and its predecessor

Circle 316 on Reader Service Card

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