Cargo ship headed to sea after weathering intense Unalaska storm

UNALASKA — After several days of waiting out a storm near Unalaska, the Pan Viva is on the move and headed to its destination port in Washington state. The U.S. Coast Guard order that kept the vessel in place for most of Monday has been lifted.

A pilot boarded the 738-foot cargo ship to bring it closer to Summer Bay, where the four crew members who were evacuated from the ship Saturday afternoon as a precautionary measure re-embarked. Two tugboats, the Gretchen Dunlap and James Dunlap, assisted.

The Pan Viva is still missing its starboard anchor after losing it Sunday afternoon outside Constantine Bay. The port anchor was successfully raised Monday.

Over the weekend, the Pan Viva’s port anchor dragged across the seafloor in high winds and rough waves, picking up old fishing gear and debris before securing in place. Jim Butler, the liaison officer for the Anchorage-based Unified Command leading the response efforts, said that both the raised and lost anchors did not interfere with the GCI AU-Aleutians fiber optic cable.

Butler said, “There’s no issues with the propulsion or maneuverability of the vessel, so once the crew embarks and they can clear some of the debris that was collected when the anchor drug and was pulled, they should have it secure and ready for sea.”

The Pan Viva was traveling from China to Washington state along the Great Circle route — a pathway used by mariners and aviators that creates the shortest distance between two points on the globe — when weather conditions forced it to reroute. The ship is expected to continue its journey to Kalama, Washington, once underway.

This story was originally published by KUCB and is republished here with permission.