Vessel sits in Everett as probe of accident unfolds

EVERETT — The walrus has basked for months in the relative warmth of Port Gardner after an unlucky Alaskan winter.

She’s expected to linger on the waterfront, perhaps through the end of the year, in all of her white and blue metallic splendor.

The walrus visiting the Port of Everett is no tusked marine mammal. The 360-foot ice-class anchor handler is built to tow Arctic oil rigs.

The ship’s given name, Aiviq, means walrus in Inupiaq, a language spoken by northwest Alaska natives.

While physically at a standstill, the Aiviq sits at the center of a federal investigation with multibillion-dollar implications for Arctic oil drilling. The U.S. Coast Guard probe seeks to answer why a massive oil rig the Aiviq was towing last winter broke loose and ran aground in the Gulf of Alaska.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which was overseeing the operation, announced in February it would temporarily freeze its Arctic push. In the meantime, the Aiviq is likely to remain tied up in Everett.

“Our future exploration plans for offshore Alaska will depend on a number of factors,” said Megan Baldino, a Shell Alaska spokeswoman. “That includes the readiness of our rigs and confidence that lessons learned from our 2012 drilling program have been fully incorporated.”

At the time of last year’s mishap, the Aiviq was less than a year old. The ship left a Louisiana shipyard in March 2012. Shell had commissioned it from Galliano, La.-based transportation contractor Edison Chouest Offshore.

When the Aiviq was ready, Shell heralded the ship as “one of the most technically advanced polar-class vessels in the world and the first of its kind to be built in the United States.”

The Aiviq headed north.

On Dec. 21, the ship left Dutch Harbor in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands towing a drilling rig called the Kulluk.

The conical-shaped Kulluk is a hulking 266 feet wide with a 160-foot-tall derrick. Designed for icy water, it’s able to drill down 20,000 feet — nearly four miles.

Last fall, crews had used the Kulluk for exploratory drilling north of Prudhoe Bay in the Beaufort Sea, which is frozen over for most of the year.

After the drilling season, the Aiviq began towing the Kulluk toward Seattle for winter maintenance.

On Dec. 27, the Aiviq was pulling the Kulluk through the Gulf of Alaska when the tow line broke during rough seas.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation describes a frustrating chain of events that followed.

The next day, the Aiviq lost power as crews tried to reconnect the tow line. The ship switched to generator power.

The U.S. Coast Guard, the state of Alaska and the marine contractor, Edison Chouest Offshore, sent out response teams who spirited the Kulluk’s 18 crew members to safety.

Over the next several days, the emergency teams failed at repeated attempts to establish a line between the Kulluk, the Aiviq and other vessels.

Strong winds drove the Kulluk aground on New Year’s Eve on Sitkalidak Island, near Kodiak Island. At the time, sea swells reached 35 feet with the wind gusting up to 65 mph.

It took until Jan. 6 to refloat the rig. The Aiviq brought it to safe harbor off Kodiak Island.

The emergency teams deployed booms to control oil leakage, but in the end there was nothing to contain. None of the 150,000 gallons of low-sulfur diesel or other fuels aboard the Kulluk made it into the water, the Coast Guard and Alaska state officials confirmed.

Still, environmentalists said the accident shows the danger of oil drilling in remote areas.

Shell’s leaders also appeared to have had second thoughts.

“We’ve made progress in Alaska, but this is a long-term program that we are pursuing in a safe and measured way,” said Shell president Marvin Odum said in February, when the company announced it would suspend its Arctic program.

The Aiviq arrived in Everett in March.

In May, the Coast Guard conducted nine days of hearings in Anchorage to review the Kulluk’s grounding. Witnesses included representatives of Shell, rig operator Noble Corp., and Aiviq operator Edison Chouest Offshore.

The Coast Guard’s primary concern “is we want to ensure the safety of lives at sea while protecting the environment,” said Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow, a spokesman for Coast Guard District 17 in Alaska. “Our key goal is to determine the facts that led to the Kulluk running aground so we can prevent similar incidents in the future.”

The Coast Guard expects to release the report in early 2014.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has already completed a review of the grounding. The report, released in March, criticized Shell for a lack of preparation and poor oversight of contractors.

The Aiviq and the Kulluk are now at opposite ends of the Pacific Ocean.

A heavy lift vessel in March hauled away the Kulluk for repairs in Singapore. The Aiviq arrived in Everett the same month. It may not leave until Shell’s Arctic drilling resumes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.