Port Commission hears of damage to Port of Nome docks
The Nome Port Commission met Thursday, Nov. 19 for a work session and a regular meeting. The meeting was by Zoom and in person at City Hall in Council Chambers.
Commissioners heard of an incident in October. On Oct. 18 a large barge crashed into the Middle and West Gold docks and did some damage. “The Nola Gail with Thelma 302 barge, one of the ones running rock down to Kotlik all season, was towing in here after one of the big storms we had,” explained Port Director Joy Baker. “Things were dying down and he made the call to come in in the evening when he didn’t have visual of the outer harbor water. He towed in with a southeast swell pushing pretty hard, and some wind. As he came in the stern started swinging to the west toward the docks.” The Nola Gail, owned and operated by DeForge Maritime Towing of Seattle, was unable to control the big barge and it slammed into Middle Dock and West Gold Dock, doing damage to the top of the sheets and the bullrail. The port’s security cameras captured video of the incident. “He made the wrong call to come in. He should have stayed offshore,” said Baker.
The port had an inspection and evaluation done by PND Engineers. They estimate a cost of $263,000 to do the needed repairs. DeForge does not dispute the findings and would like to do the repair work themselves. “I feel confident that the contractor will take care of it with oversight,” said Baker. The work will be performed sometime in May.
In the Harbormaster’s report Lucas Stotts handed out a list of the tasks port personnel has completed in preparation for winter and those still to be completed. “This is a real brief 20,000-foot overview,” said Stotts. “We have a more detailed operational and maintenance binder we are in the process of creating. We’re compiling all of our historical knowledge we have on all our operations into binders.”
In the Port Director’s report Joy Baker announced the anode replacement project went out to bid and has been awarded to Global Diving and Salvage. This led to a discussion of the port’s anode inventory. The port is short a $1 million to move forward with the concrete barge loading
ramp. Asked how much longer the current one can last, Baker answered maybe ten years or maybe just one more year.
In a discussion on the upland pad development, an array of port road maps displayed the possible routes for traffic once the pad is fully developed. Included were new drawings from the DOT. Some commissioners expressed their opinion that neither curbs, nor abutments, nor roundabouts should be part of the plan. There was an extended conversation about routing traffic and the paint and signs needed to do it.
In Old Business the commission approved one resolution recommending geotechnical work be done on the Thornbush Pad this winter. By drilling down into the permafrost the commission will have better information to act on in further development of the pad. The pad showed significant settling of the gravel and commissioners seek a solution to address the problem. The geotechnical work will determine the state of the ground under the pad and give some indications about how much more settling is going to happen.
In closing remarks the commissioners expressed their appreciation for Zoom. Several commented that it was a good work session and a good meeting.
The work session preceding the regular meeting dealt with the settling of the Thornbush Pad. The settling is most likely caused by the thawing of permafrost and consolidation of the organic layer by loading. The settlement appears to be an even two feet over the entire area. There will be 90,000 cubic yards of spoils coming out of the Snake River as it is dredged. According to engineers that should be enough for a four-foot lift all around the 18-acre lot.
“We’re seeing the loss of permafrost all around Nome,” said Commissioner Charlie Lean. “We’ve accelerated it even further by putting dark gravel on top and weighing it down. We could easily melt all the permafrost out from under the pad.”
“Is it possible the permafrost is just melting now, regardless of whether the gravel goes on top or not?” asked Joy Baker. “All the houses were sinking this year. Everything is a little cattywampus. It’s pervasive throughout town.”