Crowley Tugs Safeguard Prince William Sound: More than $60 million is spent per year on oil-spill response in Valdez.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: Brief Article

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled more than 11 million gallons of crude oil into the waters of Prince William Sound. Crowley tugs were the first ships on the scene of the crippled tanker, and served as a prime supplier of marine equipment and personnel for the cleanup. Twelve years later, Crowley is still on the scene, making sure that the waters of America's northernmost ice-free port stay free of future oil spills.

"We provide everything from ship docking to ship escorts to spill response," said Alex Sweeney, vice president, Crowley Alaska. "We're here to provide just about anything the customer needs." Included in those duties is tanker lighterage, in which Crowley transfers product from a damaged tanker to one of its own barges.

Crowley is under contract to the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., who is responsible for the crude piped 800 miles from the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez. Since the pipeline opened on June 20, 1977, more than 16,000 oil tankers have been loaded in Valdez for transport to other ports, after being escorted by specially designed tugs through the waters of Prince William Sound.

Alyeska spends more than $60 million annually on oil-spill prevention and response in the sound, with Crowley providing all marine activities in support of the company's Ship Escort Response Vessel System, or SERVS. The function of SERVS is to escort tankers through Prince William Sound, assist laden tankers in emergencies, and to provide initial spill response. Alyeska SERVS is the largest oil-spill prevention and response organization in the world, according to Crowley.

"On a typical day, we dock and undock tankers, escort them out, and help keep them out of trouble-whether they have a breakdown, or a failure that requires us to take them under tow," said Sweeney. Crowley employs approximately 180 people in and around the city of Valdez, with an office staff of nine who support the operation year-round.

"We're in operation seven days a week, 24 hours day, 365 days a year," said Sweeney.

Crowley first began working for Alyeska in 1977, when the company won a unique design-build-operate contract with the company, which hired them to build two 155-foot, 10,192-bhp tractor tugs designed for tanker escort and spill response.

"When we first took the contract with Alyeska, we had three docking tugs," explained Sweeney. "After the 1989 oil spill, we expanded into escort work as well. Now we have 10 tugs and barges on contract."

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