Foss Maritime tug Corbin Foss and Crowley Maritime tug
Ocean
Wave recently collided in Kiliuda Bay off the coast of Alaska,
according to the US Coast Guard.
According to Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer 1st Class
David Mosley, the vessels were “maneuvering in close proximity” to one another
in Kiliuda Bay off Kodiak Island Feb. 15, when the Corbin Foss accidentally struck
the Ocean
Wave at about 5:30 pm.
There were no injuries reported as a result of the collision
and the Ocean Wave only suffered minor damage, according to the Coast
Guard. The vessels subsequently headed to Kodiak for a Coast Guard inspection.
Mosley says no Coast Guard assets headed to the scene because the crash was a
non-injury collision.
The colliding vessels are two of the three that are expected
to tow a damaged Shell drilling rig, Kulluk, to Dutch Harbor. The rig ran
aground Dec. 31 near Kodiak Island as it was being towed to Seattle for
maintenance and broke free in a storm. It was refloated and taken to a
sheltered harbor, where it has been ever since.
The USCG says the Kulluk, which was taken to Kiliuda
Bay roughly a week after its grounding off Sitkalidak Island, was not under tow
at the time of the collision.
The command overseeing the response to the Kulluk’s
grounding had announced in a Feb. 13 statement that the rig would be towed on a 10-day trip to
Dutch Harbor, where it would be placed into a special dock and taken on to Asia
for repairs.
Poor weather has delayed the Kulluk from being towed to
Dutch Harbor, according to Shell.
The Ocean Wave, the Corbin Foss and another
Foss vessel, the Lauren Foss, are slated to conduct the Dutch Harbor tow. Shell
spokesperson Curtis Smith says the company doesn’t anticipate the recent
collision to result in additional delays to plans to move the Kulluk.
