Legislature(2013 - 2014)BARNES 124
03/26/2013 01:00 PM House TRANSPORTATION
| Audio | Topic |
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| Start | |
| Presentation Marine Exchange of Alaska by Captain Ed Page | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
JOINT MEETING
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION STANDING COMMITTEE
SENATE TRANSPORTATION STANDING COMMITTEE
March 26, 2013
1:15 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION
Representative Peggy Wilson, Chair
Representative Doug Isaacson, Vice Chair
Representative Eric Feige
Representative Lynn Gattis
Representative Bob Lynn
Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins
SENATE TRANSPORTATION
Senator Dennis Egan, Chair
Senator Fred Dyson, Vice Chair
Senator Hollis French
Senator Anna Fairclough
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Craig Johnson
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: MARINE EXCHANGE OF ALASKA BY CAPTAIN ED PAGE
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
CAPTAIN ED PAGE, Executive Director
Alaska Marine Exchange of Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on the Alaska Marine Exchange
System.
PAUL FUHS, President
Board of Marine Exchange of Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Thanked the legislature for all the support
it had given them over the years and explained funding sources.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:15:00 PM
CHAIR DENNIS EGAN called the Joint House and Senate
Transportation Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:15 p.m.
Senators Dyson and chair Egan; Representatives Lynn, Isaacson,
Feige, Gattis, Kreiss-Tomkins, and Chair P. Wilson were present
at the call to order. Senators French, Fairclough, and Dyson
arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^Presentation Marine Exchange of Alaska by Captain Ed Page
Marine Exchange of Alaska (MXAK) Presentation by Captain Ed Page
1:16:42 PM
CHAIR EGAN announced the only order of business, the Marine
Exchange of Alaska presentation.
ED PAGE, Retired Captain, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG);, Executive
Director, Alaska Marine Exchange of Alaska, Juneau, Alaska, was
accompanied by his Chief Technical Officer, Bill Benning, also a
retired US Coast Guard captain, and Paul Fuhs, President of the
Board of Directors.
He said this organization has existed for 12 years and he would
explain the maritime safety net that had been established over
the past few years and where it is headed, as well as the
importance of it to safety, efficiency, environmental
protection, and security for the State of Alaska, the most
complex, diverse, maritime state by far.
SENATORS FRENCH and DYSON joined the meeting.
1:18:18 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE said he had served in the USCG for some 30 years
and came to Alaska on a Coast Guard Cutter in 1973. He had
about 25-years' experience in Alaska sailing on tankers,
container ships, tugboats, fishing vessels, USCG vessels,
offshore supply vessels, drilling rigs, and platforms; he had
been fascinated with the state and its challenges, especially
its safety concerns. He was involved in the Exxon Valdez spill
for several years, as well as some search and rescue cases and
became somewhat obsessed with the idea of how having a vessel
tracking system would save a lot of lives.
He explained that marine exchanges started in places like
Baltimore and San Francisco back in the 1800s basically to
exchange maritime information. They were developed so that
merchants would know when a ship was coming in to port versus
standing on a dock waiting for it. When the USCG assigned
Captain Page to board a ship or inspect vessels he would call
the marine exchange to find out where the vessels were. In
fact, he routinely called during his time as Captain of the Port
for Los Angeles (L.A.), Long Beach, since the exchange had the
information he needed to carry out his business. When he got out
of the Coast Guard he decided to try that model in Alaska.
1:19:47 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE said different technologies have to be used here,
and one of the differences is that the L.A. marine exchange has
a 25-mile radar, which is totally useless in Alaska because of
the state's size. For maritime safety to be effective,
information is needed on vessel locations, areas that are
protected and off limits, and compliance validation, and that is
what this tool does. It has already saved lives and protected
the environment here.
He showed a display of 9,000 transits going from Seattle to the
Far East through Unimak Pass per year (the "Pacific I-5") that
was made with information from satellite tracking, automatic
identification systems (AIS), and other state-of-the-art-
technology.
1:21:35 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON said his friend, a vice president of a
shipping company, showed him an "app" on his IPhone and asked if
the marine exchange is like a "physical app."
CAPTAIN PAGE answered that if people get real time information
in Alaska from an app, it's coming from him and they must pay
for the service. Basically, the exchange brings information in
from 100 marine safety sites, and these include weather
stations, automatic identification system (AIS) receiving
stations, and even search and rescue receiving stations. One of
his customers is Lloyd's of London and he could show them where
ferries or tankers are with his IPad or IPhone.
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON asked if regular apps are not as
complete as what he provides.
CAPTAIN PAGE said that was correct and that the Marine Exchange
of Alaska has the best information available.
1:23:27 PM
CHAIR P. WILSON said it's amazing how much traffic is going
through the Arctic already.
CAPTAIN PAGE responded that it is in the neighborhood of 500
vessels (compared to 100,000 transits in the L.A. area) and
growing every year. He added that this whole concept works
because of the shared common commitment on the part of the
state, the maritime industry and the Coast Guard stemming from
incidents like the Exxon Valdez and the need to be safer and
more environmentally conscious.
1:25:10 PM
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH joined the committee.
CAPTAIN PAGE said $2.5 million/year came from the state, the
Coast Guard and the maritime industry to build the system, which
represents about 30 percent of overall costs. The Coast Guard
and the maritime industry - Shell, Trident Seafoods, Western
Alaska Marine Lines, Crowley Maritime - are supporters of the
system as well as being customers. The cruise ship head tax,
which is restricted to maritime related issues (enhanced safety
and efficiency of foreign commerce) is another funding source.
1:26:36 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE said MXAK is the leader of the pack of all marine
exchanges around the country. They can see vessels from Maine
and the Gulf of Mexico to L.A., Seattle, and Alaska. Their
office is located on the waterfront above the Juneau Electronics
Building, and their customers range from container ships,
tankers, and cruise ships to ports, terminals, ferries, and the
Coast Guard. He related that the founding members were from
every segment of the maritime industry - the ports, the pilot
associations, the shipping companies, the seafood and tanker
industries, and the container and tug lines; and the board is
headed by Paul Fuhs.
1:28:22 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE said they are trying to encourage more youth to
pursue maritime careers by offering training. They also print
accurate charts so vessels coming in can safely operate in our
waters; MXAK also does a lot of compliance work which helps pay
some overhead. All of this gets them flying all over the state.
He said vessel tracking and the data base are key components of
their system and that tracking vessels provides a safety net
that helps in assessing the risk of various trade routes; the
Coast Guard uses it now for the Bering Strait access study. The
Admiral had their app installed on his IPhone so he could track
the Kulluk incident from home.
CAPTAIN PAGE related that MXAK has had 99.9 percent success in
guiding vessels in and out of Prince William Sound, but that's
not good enough. It's a very high stakes game; the Exxon Valdez
being an example of ships that were not being monitored or
supervised. It was beyond the Coast Guard's oversight and beyond
Alaska radar, so the captain decided to go out of the channel to
avoid an iceberg and go below even though he was supposed to be
on the bridge. He never should have left the bridge and probably
wouldn't have if he was being monitored.
1:30:51 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE said such monitoring could only be pulled off
because of new technology. For instance, the Coast Guard
requires transponders that send out information every couple of
seconds for course, speed, cargo, destination, and dimensions;
all this information is brought into the system. MXAK also uses
satellite transponders and has added weather and environmental
sensors to their remote sites.
Most recently they worked on digital sector-calling radios where
if you push the red button the USCG will get a call and then
tell you the position and name of the vessel. However this
feature doesn't work in Alaska, because Congress didn't provide
enough money to the Coast Guard to build a system here. So, MXAK
is currently building the DSC (Digital Selective Calling)
receivers here pro bono.
1:32:01 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON asked if that would hook into the Alamar
system or if it were just dedicated to shipping and DSC.
CAPTAIN PAGE answered it won't go to an Alamar system; it goes
to the radio and then on to the Coast Guard into his command
center. The USCG could turn it into Alamar if it wanted to.
1:32:35 PM
He explained that PacTracs is a display system that basically
takes information captured by shore stations on vessels that are
in the global marine exchange and disseminates it.
Vessels on international trade sailing through our waters are
required to have an Automatic Information System (AIS); the
trick is in picking up that information without the Coast Guard
getting funding to build an AIS network in Alaska. This is the
same problem he had in Los Angeles/Long Beach. They did not have
a vessel tracking system and Congress did not provide the money.
So, he got interested parties working on it and partnered with
them and built it using the same model he is using up here.
He said the Arctic Maritime Shipping Assessment in the National
Academy of Science Report says we need to complete an AIS
network to make sure vessels can be tracked. It is a key
component in all the reports.
1:33:46 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE showed them a slide of their 100 Marine Safety
Sites from Kaktovik to Barrow to Adak and down to Ketchikan and
apologized for not being in the Interior but said they were
actually starting to work their way into rivers. Compared to the
11 countries on the Baltic that have come together to build an
AIS network, ours is much more complex and bigger, and only 16
people operate the MXAK in Juneau.
1:34:21 PM
SENATOR DYSON asked him to comment on the equipment he
"smuggled" into Canada last summer.
CAPTAIN PAGE clarified that he didn't smuggle anything, but
Senator Dyson helped him with some creative ways to get around
barriers to bringing foreign equipment into Canada.
He said that no ship is going to come into Alaska that is in
compliance with the law and not be picked up by the vessel
tracking system. They focused on having coverage where the
ferries go, where the high risk vessels go and at entry points
into Alaska. Their equipment is on schools, harbor offices,
light houses, pilot stations and tug offices. They have
leveraged their resources so they can get more done with less
and had recently put a lot of emphasis on building sites in the
Arctic.
1:37:53 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE explained that they apply all this information for
validation of cruise ship compliance, compliance with speed
limits in Glacier Bay, Shell's compliance with permit
restrictions in the Arctic, fiber optic cables for GCI and ACS
(if there is a break in a cable they can tell them where a ship
anchored on it - it happened a couple of times), preventing
collisions, port planning, risk assessments, vessel support
operations and security. They compile this information and turn
it in to Vessel Tracking Application ship security alert systems
that are required on ferries, tankers and other vessels.
He said all the information they collect goes to the Coast Guard
and the State of Alaska. So, over time, if mariners know they're
being monitored, they won't do things such as the Exxon Valdez
did, because they know they will get a call from the Coast
Guard. Someone is now watching where before they weren't.
1:39:31 PM
SENATOR BISHOP joined the committee.
CAPTAIN PAGE said they control traffic going to Kodiak Airport
as the result of a situation when a cruise ship was coming into
the port that was higher than the flight path. At the same time
a Coast Guard C-130 was flying in reduced visibility. The pilot
had to pull out, because all of a sudden the stack of a cruise
ship appeared. The FAA came to MXAK and asked what could be done
to keep it from happening again. So now alarms go off when a
high-masted vessel comes into that particular area. MXAK
contacts the tower and the pilots, and they coordinate so ship
and vessel are not in the same airspace.
1:41:07 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE said that Shell set up watch dogs and alarms and
buffer systems in the off-limit areas so that alarms would go
off in the MXAK operations center if those areas were breached
and to make sure Shell's operations are in full compliance.
1:41:43 PM
CHAIR P. WILSON asked if Shell was paying them for the use of
that system.
CAPTAIN PAGE answered absolutely; they have a lot of accounts (a
"power user") and all have to pay for use and operation of the
system, but they pay as they go in kind of a user pay model.
1:42:12 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE said they put a vessel tracking system on a state
vessel, which is exempted from having one, and got a call from
the Coast Guard about the, Noble Discoverer, a fishing vessel
that was adrift. He had been watching as it departed to the
Aleutian Islands and was able to direct a Coast Guard boat to
save the boat.
1:43:15 PM
SENATOR DYSON recalled how the Selendang Ayu was drifting by
Dutch Harbor and the Coast Guard commander, through a laptop,
knew that ship was dragging its anchor before the skipper did.
CAPTAIN PAGE agreed and said ironically that the vessel on scene
thought everything was okay, but the command center said the
Selendang Ayu was dragging anchor and sure enough it was. This
is amazing technology.
1:44:27 PM
Other examples were the Golden Seas that was drifting backwards
and had reported they had run aground, but they hit an island
with a Coast Guard aide to navigation on it. The Coast Guard,
using the PacTracs display screen to see who the closest vessel
was, contacted the F/V Columbia to render assistance. And
everyone knows about the Kulluk incident, which, incidentally,
he watched on his IPad from South America.
1:46:17 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE said they are also monitoring high risk events; for
instance a container ship was recently disabled in Unimak Pass;
they were able to see it and talk to the Coast Guard and other
players to be involved in that response. Alarms go off when
vessels come too close to shore, and they had recently
redirected a couple of tankers going through high risk routes in
the Aleutian Islands.
Similarly, Captain Page said, they watch others one was an ice
breaker in the Arctic - "snoop around" our waters, which
generates a tremendous amount of detail that they categorize.
They can also "look into Russia" from their office at vessels
operating out of the Bering Straits.
1:47:51 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON asked for the range of the radars on the
monitoring devices.
1:48:00 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE answered that they use data burst CMOS
[complementary metal-oxide-semicondutor technology used for
constructing integrated circuits] that travel much further than
conventional analog CMOS, generally going 100 miles, but on
mountain tops (on Adak, for instance) twice that.
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON asked whether the size of the seas also
affects it.
CAPTAIN PAGE answered, "To some extent". They sometimes access
satellite AIS information that is 4-12 hours old, which is
sporadic and doesn't get all the vessels. It's a piece of
information they use in a strategic context. Satellite tracking
transponders are on vessels used for tracking barges.
1:49:16 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE said they have also developed an emergency response
data base, so when an emergency does happen, you push the
emergency button and determine want kind of vessel is needed
(oil spill response vessel, towing vessel), and only those
vessels and their information show up on the display. That
information is shared with the Coast Guard and the State. When
people want to know where the ships are in the Arctic, they come
to them; they get calls from Washington, D.C. all the time.
1:50:17 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE turned to Alaska hot spot issues; for instance
there is a lot of talk about the dramatic increase in shipping
in Dixon Entrance, because of Prince Rupert activity, so they
are upgrading their system to make sure there is complete
coverage.
The National Academy of Sciences talks about the AIS being the
tool to minimize risk in the Aleutian Islands, so they are
continually building and upgrading their system to close the
gaps in the coverage in places like Barrow and Adak and putting
equipment even on Shell vessels; they also worked with the UAF
to rebuild a power module. Cook Inlet is always a hot area where
they have good coverage; they use a lot of risk assessment tools
and are now adding weather stations so they can disseminate ice
and weather information to vessels over AIS. This means you
don't have to listen to broadcasts but are able to see a clear
digital picture whenever you want. Benefits to the state include
to the Marine Highway System, Homeland Response, Veterans
Affairs, Fish and Game, Public Safety, Commerce, Pilotage
Program oversight, Environmental Conservation, Department of
Natural Resources' drilling operations and state boating safety,
monitoring environmental regulations for cruise ships, and shell
fish farming. He explained that shell fish farmers used to be
required to have a [Department of Environmental Conservation]
employee on board to make sure they went to the right area to
get the shellfish. Often that person was not available so they
didn't go. Now transponders are used to validate where they are
going, and a person is not needed any more.
1:53:06 PM
CHAIR EGAN asked why the observer program couldn't be automated.
CAPTAIN PAGE replied that it will probably happen over time.
They are just beginning to scratch the surface of the many more
applications for MXAK. Their future plans are to expand and
improve the network to fill gaps in weather and environmental
sensors, disseminate safety information, and search and rescue.
MXAK is "building on and getting more and more mileage out these
sites and are sending information - sensors and tracking
capabilities - to the whalers, so the big ships can see the
whaling boats minimizing the potential for a subsistence vessel
to be run over by other vessels.
1:55:10 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE said AIS inputs come from satellite and terrestrial
AIS, environmental sensors, search and rescue alerts, and vessel
monitoring systems, then gets disseminated to the state, the
Coast Guard, owner operators, oil spill response organizations,
agents and pilots. Everyone involved in the system ends up
contributing to its support, and that is how the cost to any one
party is amortized. Governor Parnell "is a big fan," as is the
Commandant of the Coast Guard, and MXAK has received the Coast
Guard's Meritorious Public Service Award for innovative efforts.
1:56:00 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE reiterated that their office is in Juneau and is
tied into the Coast Guard headquarters, the district, Lloyds of
London and all the marine exchanges throughout the country. It's
basically patched together, so they hope to upgrade it. Senator
Egan has supported the community of Juneau in providing the land
and use of the public works building that is on it. It is a safe
building that would be appropriate for the type of technology
they are using. It would have an exhibit on the ground floor
showing people the nature of the trade and professions that are
available to Alaskans. The Port of Juneau could be on the second
floor, and the Marine Exchange would be on the third floor. He
had shared this with the legislature and the Rasmussen
Foundation. The total cost of the 10,000 square feet is about $5
million. The funding would be provided through a combination of
local support (providing the land and building), some state
funding, [indisc.], Rasmussen Foundation and a Marine Exchange
loan.
1:58:09 PM
CAPTAIN PAGE demonstrated a live feed of the F/V Kennecott with
core speed, destination, draft, location and other specific
details over the last 24 hours and the search function.
1:59:51 PM
CHAIR P. WILSON said this was a fascinating office and
encouraged members to visit.
2:00:41 PM
CHAIR EGAN agreed recalling one of his visits during the Gulf
Oil Spill when it was tracking all the oil spill response
vessels.
2:01:42 PM
PAUL FUHS, President, Board of Marine Exchange of Alaska,
Juneau, Alaska, thanked the legislature for all its support over
the years saying the exchange was started by using Exxon Valdez
oil spill criminal money to set up the first GIS system to
display it. The board is diverse with only a couple of ports on
it, but other than that it is primarily a private sector board,
and that is because the industry wants to have safe operations
and if there is an accident they want the most responsible
response.
He also highlighted that they can pinpoint a break in the fiber
optic cables throughout the state, which is the lifeline of
state's communication system as it runs out to the entire US.
However, Mr. Fuhs said, the biggest concern the board has is the
age of the building; it's old and it sits on pilings. People
camp under it. Wiring isn't to code and fire is a real issue.
CBJ has said it would provide land, but the MXAK needs a safe
place to operate. He pointed out that cruise ship head tax
monies could be used, because they have to be used specifically
for the benefit of the passengers that paid it; in fact, he
suggested that the Marine Exchange of Alaska is the only one
that can qualify for those funds.
2:04:45 PM
CHAIR EGAN thanked him and finding no further business to come
before the committees, he adjourned the Joint House and Senate
Transportation Standing Committee meeting at 2:04 p.m.
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