OPINION: From the Publisher: Cooperation key to mission success

January 20th 3:16 am | Jason Evans    

The Russian Tanker Renda and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy's icebreaking mission to Nome truly shows the tremendous coordination and teamwork it took for these ships to get to Nome. These two captains and crews had never worked together. They come from different countries. They come from different cultures. They speak different languages.

But to get these ships through 300 miles of ice they needed to figure out a way to travel closer than one-fifth of a mile apart while breaking through 3 feet of ice and at times up to 6 or 8 feet of ice at the ridges.

The captain of the Healy said her ship is so modern you could operate the ship with just one person in the bridge. But during this mission through the ice, they had no less than five crew members actively working in the bridge, each with a single job to watch more closely than normal. One was working the radio, one working steering, one watching ice ahead, one watching the speed of the Healy, and one watching the speed of the Russian tanker Renda.

Add to the mix that state law requires a foreign ship coming into Alaska waters to have an Alaska Marine pilot. So on the Russian tanker Renda you have the Russian captain, an Alaska captain and a translator all trying to call out commands on how to navigate this ship closely behind the Healy. To keep confusion low, it took a high level of concentration by all, for hour after hour of travel.

With all of this activity going on it was determined it would be best to only travel during the day and take a break for rest and maintenance at night. During this time of year we only have five hours of daylight for them to travel. Some days they travel nearly 100 miles through the ice and others they stayed virtually still.

Off ship and far from view, there were people with the National Weather Service combing over photos of satellite images looking for the best path of ice to travel through. This analysis was critical in determining the path during the last 100 miles. On shore, a small remote-controlled unmanned aircraft took photos and mapped the last mile of ice, determining where the ships should make their final resting spot to off-load the fuel. This aircraft was small enough they nicknamed it the flying smoke detector.

Then there were countless numbers of Coast Guard staff from Sitnasuak Native Corporation, all working through the mountain of paperwork to allow Renda to place up to a half-mile of hose on the ice to start transferring fuel.

When you step back and take a look at how quickly this mission came together, and all the people working on getting these ships to Nome, you have to take a moment to pause and think of how this international coordinated effort worked so well. This is truly an example of not only our country working together, but working with a Russian company to solve a critical problem. If this can happen in the middle of winter in Alaska, we can do it again and again throughout the year, and Alaska can begin looking at opening more direct trade with Asian and Russian companies for our goods and products.