The Oriente Crest, a 561-foot, Panamanian-flagged bulk cargo ship, is spending this weekend moored to Port of Port Angeles Terminal 3.
She’s expected to remain there until Monday, when she is scheduled to depart for Lanshan, China, with approximately 4.5 million board feet of debarked logs that have been harvested from private lands in Western Washington.
The broker for the shipload of logs is Alcan Forest Products LP, a company with branch offices in Port Angeles, Aberdeen and Ketchikan, Alaska.
In January, Alcan installed a debarker in the shadow of the turquoise-blue chip loader that stands sentry over the log yard on Marine Drive on which the company processes and stores the logs it purchases for export.
I spoke with Roger Redifer of Alcan who said that the logs being loaded aboard Oriente Crest are hemlock, fir and spruce.
As has been discussed in previous columns, these are softwoods that are predominately used in the construction industry in China, where the construction material du jour is concrete and the softwood logs are milled into lumber to make forms for the construction of concrete buildings.
These include commercial high-rise buildings and high-rise condominium structures.
Roger said Alcan’s goal is to send a shipload of debarked logs to Northern China every couple of months, which is good news for the longshoremen and port personnel who depend upon a thriving seaport for living-wage jobs.
Welding repairs
Just before sunrise Friday morning, the 941-foot crude-oil tanker Alaskan Explorer moored to Port of Port Angeles Terminal 1 North.
According to Chandra “Hollywood” McGoff of Washington Marine Repair, the topside repair company at the foot of Cedar Street, the ship will be dockside for about three days undergoing some minor welding repairs.
Chandra said Washington Marine has personnel making piping modifications aboard the Explorer’s sister ship, Alaskan Legend, while she rides her anchor in Port Angeles Harbor.
Cat ’n’ cutter
Platypus Marine, the full-service shipyard, yacht-repair facility and steel-boat manufacturer on Marine Drive in Port Angeles, launched Full Circle on Tuesday.
She’s a custom-built catamaran that has been at Platypus for a couple of weeks for minor maintenance issues.
Platypus on Thursday put Sea Lion, an 87-foot Protector-class Coast Guard cutter, back in the water.
She spent much of March in the Commander Building, where she received a new coat of paint.
When she left the haul-out dock, the bright white cutter went to the fuel dock at the Port Angeles marina and took on a load of fuel for her trip to her homeport of Bellingham.
Tug in town
On Thursday, I saw the tractor tug Millennium Falcon moored to the paper warehouse dock at Nippon Paper Industries.
She is 105 feet long with a 34-foot beam.
I understand that the Falcon is maintaining a presence in Port Angeles with an eye toward snagging some of the ship-assist work in the harbor that usually goes to Foss Maritime.
Sea tales
Author Jan Ferris Koltun will be the featured speaker at this week’s Wooden Boat Wednesday event at the Chandlery in the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend.
Koltun recently penned the book The Master: Love, Latitude, Longitude & Laughter, which is a story about life with her father, Capt. Harold Benjamin Ferris, a master mariner who served on 48 ships, was master of 17 of those vessels and held licenses for all ship tonnages and all oceans of the world.
The book — and no doubt the presentation — is stocked with sea tales that include booze and women in the South Pacific islands, Capt. Ferris’ passion for “mastery” in his chosen profession and the struggles of a young family waiting for his return as they work to build a life on the San Juan island of Orcas.
Wooden Boat Wednesday is a free event that begins promptly at noon and typically lasts for 90 minutes.
Seating is limited and requires advance registration by phoning the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St., Port Townsend, at 360-385-3628, ext. 101.
Or send an email to chandlery@nwmaritime.org.
Harbor watch
Tesoro Petroleum on Thursday provided bunkers to Alaskan Legend in preparation for her Friday departure from her anchorage in Port Angeles Harbor for her trip to Valdez, Alaska, for another big gulp of Alaskan crude.
On Friday, Tesoro refueled the Panamanian-flagged tanker Puma.
Then on Saturday, Tesoro provided bunkers to the Crowley-owned articulated tug and barge Pride.
Today, look for the Tesoro barge refueling Vision, also a Crowley-owned articulated tug and barge.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area waterfronts.
Items and questions involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome.
Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears every Sunday.
