Alaska natural resources go to market: commodities ride the waves.

AuthorSwann, Kirsten
PositionTRANSPORTATION

What do pink salmon from the Gulf of Alaska have in common with crude oil from the North Slope? They both move en masse through the Port of Valdez, loaded onto tankers and barges bound for the rest of the world. The same thing happens at other ports around the state, except instead of oil and salmon, vessels carry zinc and lead and Pollock and sand and other commodities. Alaska's natural resources are numerous, but when it comes to bringing them to outside markets, there's really only one way to go.

The state relies on marine transportation. Road and rail systems are sparse, and waterways can handle larger loads than any truck or train, so moving Alaska's natural resources happens primarily by sea. Whether it's ore, oil, or salmon, it most likely travels by tanker or tug and barge.

After moving eight hundred miles through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, North Slope crude is loaded into tankers at the Valdez Marine Terminal. Across the water, the Port of Valdez handles millions of pounds of seafood every year. Hundreds of miles northwest, massive barges carry thousands of tons of zinc and lead concentrates.

Crude Transportation

While people travel Outside predominantly by plane, it's marine transport that keeps natural resources moving.

Many of those trips begin in Valdez. Home to the northernmost ice-free port in the United States, the Prince William Sound community is the departure point for some of Alaska's most lucrative natural resources. Every year, the city-owned port sees off tons of seafood bound for markets to the south, and the TAPS (Trans-Alaska Pipeline System) Valdez Marine Terminal loads tens of millions of barrels of oil into tankers headed out across the Pacific. While the port and the TAPS terminal share the water, they operate independently, according to port officials.

The terminal covers more than one thousand acres of land at the northeast corner of the sound, according to Alyeska Pipeline Services Company, which operates TAPS on behalf of its numerous owner companies. Besides two functional loading berths, the terminal has a power plant and a facility to purify storm water, drainage water, and ballast water, stripping hydrocarbons from the oil fluid used to stabilize tankers' hulls. There are facilities to measure the incoming oil and fourteen storage tanks to hold North Slope crude while it awaits tankers.

Once a tanker ties into berth, it takes on oil via a loading arm. The whole process takes about a day to complete, Alyeska says. Spill prevention is a priority. To mitigate the risk, Alyeska does not load crude oil in winds stronger than forty knots.

During the loading process, crews protect the delicate Prince William Sound ecosystem by placing an oil spill containment boom around the berth and tanker, according to the pipeline services company. The Ship Escort/Response Vessel System provides oil spill response capabilities and prevention, working with the US Coast Guard to monitor tanker traffic through the sound. Two tugboats--loaded with booms, skimmers, and smaller work boats--depart with every tanker, helping guide them through the Valdez Narrows and Hinchinbrook Entrance.

Ship Escort/Escort Vessel System personnel are ready to respond to a spill around the clock, 365 days a year, staged in key areas around the sound, according to Alyeska.

The pipeline service company doesn't own the...

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