A spokesman for a wood chip manufacturing firm said Feb. 7 his company is considering blocking out several weeks in mid-winter as shipping dates in the wake of icy conditions at Port MacKenzie that prompted a ship to depart with half its cargo loaded.
"At this point we are reviewing the possibility of blocking out maybe January and early February, but we haven't made that decision yet," said Terry Nininger, manager for NPI LLC, which is owned by a Tulsa, Okla., entrepreneur.
Nininger said he expected the captain of the 725-foot Korean vessel, the Keoyang Majesty, to return by the end of the second week of February to complete its loading of upward of 40,000 tons of wood chips.
"Originally we hoped to have the first shipment going out in November or December," but that schedule was pushed back because of delays in getting the new dock completed, he said.
It was the first time the captain, Hwang Chin-Par, had brought a ship into Upper Cook Inlet, and the Keoyang Majesty was the first ship ever to tie up at the new dock. Several days after arrival, with three of six compartments loaded, the captain became alarmed at mounting ice conditions and decided to bring the vessel back to Homer to wait until conditions improved, said Nininger and Port MacKenzie director Marc Van Dongen.
Officials at the Port of Anchorage said the ice conditions caused no delays at that port.
Port MacKenzie lies at a narrower point of Upper Cook Inlet than the Port of Anchorage, and is subject to faster currents, which contribute to ice problems in winter, Van Dongen said.
Van Dongen said he had recommended earlier to the wood chip company that they schedule ships from April to December, "and then, you know, you wouldn't have ice to worry about," Van Dongen said.
"We had no problem bringing the ship in," Van Dongen said. "We moved the ship twice to load. No problem. Hopefully, they will come back. Otherwise they will go back with the ship half full."
Van Dongen said Port MacKenzie was planned to operate year-round, but everyone is aware of the ice.
"It varies from year to year," he said. "It hasn't been a problem this year until last week. It was 15 below zero and the ice kept getting thicker and thicker. The captain didn't have experience being in ice. Even though we had a couple of Alaska pilots on the vessel telling him the ice wasn't a concern, he kept getting antsy."
Van Dongen said ice conditions are a chance vessel captains take bringing ships into the area in the winter.
"The Alaska (tugboat) pilots were trying to convince him to stay here, but he's the captain of the ship and he decided to take it back to Homer and wait for the weather to get better," Van Dongen said.
Tugboats from Cook Inlet Tug and Barge of Anchorage routinely escort vessels from Homer to the Anchorage port. Given the increasing ice problems, and in keeping with recommendations of the Southwest Alaska Pilots Association, one tugboat from Cook Inlet Tug and Barge and another from Cook Inlet Marine in Homer stayed with the huge ship at Port MacKenzie after it was secured at the dock, Van Dongen said.
"We need two tugboats standing by at all times because of the ice," he said. "It's a safety plan the Southwest Alaska Pilots Association and port came up with. This is our first ship; we wouldn't want to risk anyone getting hurt."
The ice was getting worse and worse the first week of February, but warmer weather arrived the week of Feb. 7.
Port officials have heralded the arrival of the huge Korean vessel as a major step forward for the port. Matanuska-Susitna Borough manager John Duffy has estimated port fees from the wood chip vessels alone would bring in $80,000 to $100,000 annually to borough coffers. The next such vessel, from Japan, is due in late March, Van Dongen said.
The wood chips are being produced by NPI LLC, a company that manufacturers and exports hardwood and softwood wood chips. The second vessel is to pick up a load of spruce wood chips for use in Japanese paper mills, he said.
"NPI is also negotiating with China," he said. "I expect to have a ship in there (at the port) every four to six weeks for wood chips, year-round."
