Upper Cook Inlet was reopened to single-hulled tanker barges Dec. 27 after being closed for six days because of severe icing conditions.
Only two barges were affected by the closure, both of which were carrying aviation fuel and ethanol while being towed from Valdez, according to Stuart Greydanus, operations manager at the Port of Anchorage.
The fuel barges, owned by Crowley Marine and Petro Marine, were diverted from Anchorage to Homer until the closure was lifted, according to Petty Officer Keith Alholm, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman in Kodiak.
The Coast Guard closed Cook Inlet Dec. 21 after Carl Anderson, owner of Cook Inlet Tug and Barge, reported he was having difficulty maneuvering a 100-by 400-foot tank barge and his tug through the ice.
"The (harbor)master reported that after two hours of battling the ice pack he was able to turn about and head south to open water," the Coast Guard said in a press release.
The barge was not damaged, and no fuel was spilled, Alholm said.
"There were no real problems," Anderson said.
Anderson said the below-zero temperatures that lasted several weeks in Anchorage caused the severe icing conditions, which occur regularly in Cook Inlet, but this year's was earlier than normal, Anderson said.
Alholm said Cook Inlet was closed for similar conditions two years ago.
Special winter rules imposed by the Coast Guard since Nov. 29 remain in effect in Cook Inlet, Alholm said.
The rules affect all vessels transiting Cook Inlet and require that all shipboard equipment such as winches and ballast systems be operable in temperatures as cold as 40 below zero.
Vessels also must maintain enough draft to keep propellers below the ice, according to Coast Guard rules. Vessel crews also are required to have adequate cold weather gear.
