(Photos courtesy Foss. Above, Aiviq departing this morning)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
More than a year after the first Shell support vessels arrived at the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 5 in West Seattle, the last of them have departed – headed for the Arctic, but not to drill.
We just confirmed this with Foss Maritime, which leased space at T-5 in February 2015, a half-year before Shell’s decision to abandon its Arctic-offshore-drilling plans.
While the protester-targeted drilling platform Polar Pioneer (which left T-5 almost exactly a year ago) did not return to T-5 after its Arctic efforts were stopped, assorted support vessels did, including the three that left today.
Our inquiry followed a tip from Jon in Luna Park, who reported seeing the three vessels – Aiviq, Dino Chouest, and Ross Chouest, heading out this morning.
(Dino Chouest departing this morning, with Ross Chouest at left)
Paul Gallagher of Foss Maritime, terminal manager for T-5, just confirmed the departures:
The three remaining Edison Chouest Offshore support vessels departed Terminal 5 this morning bound for the Arctic.
Over the past few months, the T5 team has been working closely with Edison Chouest and Fairweather LLC to prepare the vessels for the summer season and their mission to retrieve all of the mooring gear left on the seafloor by the Shell exploration rigs.
It is worth noting that the T5 team and associated partners (Jones Stevedoring, ILWU, Global Diving, Ness Cranes, Waste Management, USSA Security, etc.) had no recordable or lost time injuries during the project since we began in February 2015. I truly appreciate all the hard work and attention to safety which was evident in our day to day operations and engagement with our subcontractors and customers.
We are still looking for other business opportunities for the Terminal 5 facilities, but we do not have anything firmed up or contracted.
Under lease terms made public by the Port in February 2015, Foss’s lease is for $550,000 a month.
Separate from the interim Foss lease, Terminal 5 is proposed for a quarter-billion-dollar project to expand its capacity, and the comment period for that project continues until July 8th.
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