PORT ANGELES — The mammoth marine semi-submersible ship MV Blue Marlin arrived Saturday morning in Port Angeles and dropped anchor near the Polar Pioneer drilling rig.
It is in the harbor awaiting another drilling vessel — the Noble Discoverer — to arrive from the Port of Everett, according to Ken O’Hollaren, executive director of the Port of Port Angeles.
O’Hollaren said Saturday he didn’t know when Noble Discoverer would arrive or leave.
As for the huge oil rig that returned to the harbor in October, it may depart next week aboard another semi-submersible ship, the MV Dockwise Vanguard, according to O’Hollaren.
“It’s going to be a busy week in the port,” he said.
When either semi-submersible or drilling rig will depart remained unknown Saturday.
Peninsula Daily News telephone and email inquiries to Royal Dutch Shell, parent company of Shell Oil and lessee of the Polar Pioneer, and Transocean Ltd., the drilling rig’s owner, did not result in more information.
Curtis Smith, a spokesman with Shell U.S. Media Team, answered an inquiry by saying in an email: “I’m not in a position to confirm the vessel movements at this time,” adding that he would provide information as soon as he could.
Transocean Ltd. did not immediately respond.
Personnel at Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles and the 13th Coast Guard District in Seattle said they could not say where the vessels were headed.
The Noble Discoverer looks more like a conventional vessel than the Polar Pioneer. It has a 175-foot derrick mounted amidships.
The Blue Marlin had delivered the 355-foot-tall Polar Pioneer to Port Angeles in April.
It was taking on fuel from the Tesoro barge Saturday afternoon, according to Anthony Szczepczynski, supervisor at the Tesoro terminal.
Big rig gig
According to www.marinetraffic.com, the MV Dockwise Vanguard left Singapore in September and is scheduled to arrive Monday in Port Angeles.
At 902 feet in length, it is the world’s largest heavy-lift vessel, 174 feet longer than the Blue Marlin.
The Blue Marlin’s and Dockwise Vanguard’s forecast routes on the www.marinetraffic.com website showed no destination to a known port, and the previous port of call for both ships was blocked.
Heavy cargoes
The 738-foot-long Blue Marlin brought the Polar Pioneer from Malaysia to Port Angeles, where it remained for initial offloading from April 17 to May 14 before being pulled by tugboats to Seattle for outfitting.
About 130 workers spent some $130 million on lodging and services in Port Angeles during that visit.
The oil rig drew protesters when it arrived in Port Angeles in April. Demonstrations also occurred in Seattle when it was anchored there over concerns the company could not adequately combat an oil spill in the Alaskan Arctic.
The oil rig returned to Port Angeles in October, pulled by tugboats again, after an unsuccessful summer search for oil in the Chukchi Sea northwest of Alaska.
The Blue Marlin will mark its 16th birthday on Dec. 23, 2015. Built in Taiwan, it is owned by Dockwise Shipping of the Netherlands.
The Polar Pioneer is 30 years old.
Dockwise Vanguard was built in 2013.
Noble Discoverer was launched in 1976 and upgraded in 2007.
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.
Executive Editor Leah Leach contributed to this report.
