USA: Crowley Maritime Gets Safe Work Award

In recognition of Crowley Maritime Corporation’s safe harbor ship assist and tanker escort operations on the west coast, Tesoro Maritime Company recently honored Crowley’s harbor services team with safe work awards – one for each of the past four years – during a ceremony in Crowley’s Seattle office. Crowley’s Andrew Gauthier, port captain; Scott Hoggarth, general manager of harbor ship assist and tanker escort services; and tug crewmembers Abe Gueller, Tom File and Chuck Klausmeier were present to accept the awards from Captain Tim Plummer, vice president of Tesoro Maritime.

“It means a lot to all of us at Crowley – those at sea and ashore – to receive this recognition from Tesoro for our safe operations through the years. Our crews and shoreside employees ensure safe vessel operations through extensive training and environmentally sound practices,” said Hoggarth. “To be recognized by a significant petroleum transportation company, and valued Crowley customer, is very rewarding.”

Crowley has a long history of providing harbor ship assist and escort services to Tesoro tankers transiting U.S. West Coast ports and has been Tesoro’s primary tug provider since 2007. That year, the Crowley-operated tug Vigilant, stationed in Cook Inlet, Alaska, was chartered to Tesoro to provide ship assist and escort services for Tesoro-operated tankers moving in and out of the Tesoro Refinery dock in Nikiski, Alaska. Through the partnership with Tesoro, the Vigilant also provides assists for ships and barges carrying Tesoro product and for other third party entities needing an extra measure of safety and security in the heavy ice conditions that plague Cook Inlet during winter.

“Our relationship with Crowley is extensive and important to Tesoro,” said Plummer. “It’s a pleasure to see firsthand and also recognize the success of Crowley’s focus on safety and the environment.”

Tesoro has similarly honored the crewmembers of Crowley’s tug Vigilant with awards for each year that passes with zero spills or incidents. These awards, which have been given every year of the charter, recognize Crowley’s continued commitment to total customer satisfaction and the safety of people, property and the environment.

Tesoro Corporation, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a Fortune 150 and a Global 500 company with approximately 5,500 employees. As a leading independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products, Tesoro, through its subsidiaries, operates seven refineries primarily in the western United States with a combined crude oil capacity of approximately 660,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Since 1953, Crowley has provided various marine, petroleum distribution, and energy support services in Alaska – from the North Slope to Southcentral Alaska and both coastal and inland communities including those along the Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers – and today has offices and operations throughout the state with more than 650 employees. The company has consistently provided unique solutions to Alaska’s logistics and marine transportation challenges and played an important role in Alaska’s business development and in protecting its environment.

At the southern terminus of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, Crowley provides tanker escort and docking services in the Prince William Sound for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s Ship Escort/Response Vessel System, utilizing some of the most technologically advanced and powerful tugboats in the world. With a storage capacity of more than 39 million gallons, Crowley is strongly positioned as a leader in the Alaska fuel industry, providing transportation, distribution and sales of petroleum products to more than 280 communities across Alaska. Crowley supports the energy industry on the North Slope with summer sealifts of large production modules and various marine transportation services, and in the winter supports oil field development with CATCO® all-terrain vehicles. These heavy-lift overland transport units have large bag tires designed to work over the tundra without damaging the delicate Arctic ecosystem. Crowley also provides tanker assist and escort services at Tesoro Alaska Company’s Nikiski refinery in Cook Inlet.

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Source: CrowleyMaritime, June 22, 2011.