Crowley Maritime Corporation

Right: Crowley's ice-breaking technology has allowed the company to carry some of the world's largest modules through the most challenging conditions. sealift seasons were conducted as a joint venture before Crowley acquired Pacific Island's oceangoing equipment in 1975. Shortly thereafter, Crowley began regular summer sealifts to Prudhoe Bay and since then, 343 barges have carried more than 1.3 million tons of cargo to the North Slope – including individual modules the size of ten story buildings and weighing nearly 6,000 tons. "Since the first sealift in 1968, Crowley has moved oversized, overweight cargo from all over the world via tug and barge in support of energy exploration and extraction operations in this unforgiving, remote region," said Craig Tornga, vice president, technical services. From 1971 through 1973, the fate of the trans-Alaska pipeline was held in abeyance with the struggle between energy and ecological proponents. Finally in 1973, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act was signed into law and the largest commercial construction project ever undertaken in the world at that time, resumed. In support, Crowley acquired Mukluk Freight Lines, an established Alaskan trucking firm, which subsequently hauled more of the 48-inch pipe for the 800-mile pipeline than any other carrier through 1975. In addition to hauling pipe over land, Crowley also In the annals of ice and men, there has been no other event to compare with Crowley's 1975 sealift voyage, when the largest fleet of the multi-year project encountered the worst Arctic ice conditions of the century. 4 contributed to pipeline construction through its contract with Bechtel, a prime contractor for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (Alyeska), a corporation formed by the oil companies to operate and maintain the pipeline. Crowley staged and loaded general cargo and building materials in Seattle, then carried it by barge to Valdez. The company also took the pipe from the end of the rail in Seattle aboard its Hydro-Train barges to Valdez, then trucked it up the Richardson Highway. And, since there was no existing railway in Valdez, Crowley bought some of the waterfront and put a rail siding in place to discharge and unload the railcars. With pipeline construction well underway in 1975, the Crowley summer sealift flotilla to the North Slope departed only to face the worst Arctic ice conditions of the century. In fleet size, it was the largest sealift in the project's history with 47 barges amassed to carry over 154,000 tons of cargo, including 179 modules, some as tall as nine stories and weighing up to 1,300 tons each. Approximately 80 vessels stood by off Alaska's northwest coast for nearly two months waiting for the ice to retreat. The general cargo barges were rerouted to Seward for overland transport of their cargoes. Finally in late September, the ice floe moved out and the 10 Crowley barges carrying the heavy modules lined up behind a Coast Guard icebreaker for the slow and arduous five-day haul to Prudhoe Bay. When the ice closed again, it took as many as four tugs to shove the barges, one at a time, in single file through the ice. The remaining module barges, which were within a mile of the discharge site, were caught in the ice and while the tugs were brought out, the barges sat frozen in place until the oil companies extended a gravel causeway from the dock to the captive vessel. "There is never anything one can take for granted in a project of sealift magnitude," said Jim Van der Veen, former director of contract services and project manager for several sealift projects. "Crowley has met the challenge, year in and year out, developing the necessary expertise, equipment and capabilities to complete the job." watch our tugs and barges deliver modules and cargo to Prudhoe Bay at crowley.com/1975sealift 1975 sealift

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