Korean ship expected to be back at port

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

PORT MACKENZIE - After pulling out of Port MacKenzie last week due to heavy ice, the Korean sea vessel Keoyang Majesty is expected to return to the Valley's port Sunday or Monday, according to port director Marc Van Dongen.

Although this ship was only half-loaded with its cargo of wood chips, the Korean ship captain decided last Friday that ice and outgoing tides in the Knik Arm could endanger his boat. So he returned to Homer, where the ship has been moored all week.

The world's largest wood-chip cargo ship arrived at Port MacKenzie the morning of Jan. 31, at which time the on-loading process began - putting to the test the port's newly built $8-million conveyor belt and fixed-arm loader.

The bulk commodities carrier was being loaded with 100-percent birch wood chips - the highest quality wood for making paper. The load will eventually head to a South Korean paper mill.

The company selling the wood chips for export is NPI, which employs about 85 people at the port. Truckers, both independent and using NPI equipment, have been hauling wood chips from a harvest area by Montana Creek Road this and last month.

"I'm real happy with the way things went up until the ship left," Van Dongen said.

The ship could have easily stayed for three more days and left with a full load, he said.

"On Friday, the ship had just pulled forward, so its fourth hold could be loaded, and then the captain decided it was best to leave. Ultimately, it's the captain's decision. It's his boat," Van Dongen continued.

The ice wasn't as bad as it could be, the port director said.

Brash ice, which is not solid like ice on the North Slope, moves with the tide. A block of brash ice can be up a quarter-mile long. When brash ice begins to create potential problems, the Coast Guard shuts down Cook Inlet to boats.

"We haven't got to that point yet this year," Van Dongen said.

Although the on-loading process was running smoothly, Murphy's Law proved true: One of the tugboats that escorts the ship across to Anchorage's Ship Creek fouled its anchor line around the propeller. The tugboat lost its anchor and broke a piece of the propeller, putting the boat at half power.

"Last week, we had a series of days with extremely low and extremely high tides with a very fast current," Van Dongen said.

The ship will probably wait for slower currents, which begin Monday and last for about six days, Van Dongen said.

Van Dongen stays informed by contacting the ship agents, who speak Korean and English, as well as the two pilots from the Alaskan Ship Pilots Association. The two pilots came aboard the Keoyang Majesty after it passed through customs in Homer in late January; and they are still aboard the ship.

Van Dongen estimates it should only take three days to finish loading the bulk commodities carrier once it returns to Port MacKenzie in the upcoming week.

"I'd hate to see it return to Korea with only half a load," he said.