VOL. 17 NO. 2 JUNE 2004 - Foss MaritimeVOL. 17 NO. 2 JUNE 2004 International Certification Will Help Drive Continued Growth in Overseas Business CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 The twin ocean-going

VOL. 17 NO. 2 JUNE 2004

International Certification Will Help DriveContinued Growth in Overseas Business

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

The twin ocean-going tugs LaurenFoss and Corbin Foss are now certifiedunder worldwide safety and quality stan-dards, facilitating expansion of thecompany’s international operations andits large-ship towing activities.

The “ISM” certification was madeofficial for the Lauren on February 9and for the Corbin on March 10. The150-foot, 7,200 horsepower tugs previ-ously held temporary certification.

ISM is shorthand for the “International

Management Code for the Safe Operationof Ships and for Pollution Prevention.” Thestandards are administered worldwide bythe International Maritime Organization

Spraying the SkylineThe downtown Seattle skyline provided a backdrop as the Garth Foss let loose with its water cannons during a May 8 work boatparade, part of the city’s Maritime Week events. Also during the festivities, Foss Marine Personnel Supervisor Norm Manly receivedthe Puget Sound Maritime Achievement Award (See story on Page 3), and the company was well represented in events including tugraces, survival suit races, and a fork-lift driving competition (More photos and stories on Pages 10 and 11).

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Tow Bitts is published quarterlyby Foss Maritime for Foss employees,customers and friends. Changes to theTow Bitts mailing list should be referredto the Marine Personnel office in Seattle,(206) 281-3821/3830. Tow Bitts editor isBruce Sherman, graphic designer is StacyMutnick and coordinator of productionis Gil Graham, Foss Vice President ofHuman Resources.

Foss’ two biggest ocean-going

tugs are awarded an important

international certification that will

help with expansion of the

company’s international business.

....................................................... Cover

In his Lines column, Foss President

and Chief Executive Officer Steve

Scalzo makes a case for federal

legislation to require all towing

vessels to be inspected.

................................................ This page

Longtime industry advocate

Norm Manly wins Seattle’s top

maritime award for his efforts to

attract youth into maritime jobs.

..................................................... Page 2

Southern California Tank Barge

Manager Ron Costin and his

son Trevor are both important

players in their region’s youth

baseball movement.

..................................................... Page 8

The Olson family’s maritime roots

go back to the mid-19th Century in

San Francisco and live on today with

two Olsons carrying on the family

tradition at Foss.

................................................... Page 13

Foss’ second double-hulled tank

barge goes to work in San Francisco

after its christening at Zidell

Marine in Portland.

................................................... Page 16

Company founder Thea Foss is

featured in an exhibit on “Women

and the Sea” at a high-profile

maritime museum in Connecticut.

................................................... Page 19

InsideBy Steve Scalzo,President & CEOLines

Inspection Program Is a

Logical Step Toward

Improved Towing Safety

The American Wa-terways Operators(AWO), the trade as-sociation of our do-mestic tug and bargeindustry, has beenworking with the U.S.Coast Guard for sev-

eral years on an inspection program thatwould cover all towing vessels.

I was honored to serve as co-chair ofthe Coast Guard-AWO Working Groupon Towing Industry Safety, which ledthe effort to establish the recommendedinspection program.

The new safety “regime,” as we callit, would be a logical step in improvingthe industry’s safety, se-curity and environmen-tal protection through a21st Century safetymanagement system.

The regime wouldimplement physical ves-sel inspections throughan auditable third-partysafety-management sys-tem. It also includesnew requirements in theareas of worker safety and health, crewendurance management and vessel oper-ating procedures that would help reduceaccidents caused by crew error and couldhelp save lives.

The Coast Guard is currently seek-ing authority from Congress to imple-ment the new system as part of a pack-age of legislative changes for FiscalYear 2005.

Our industry already has made sub-stantial progress in improving safety inrecent years. The number of spills fromtank barges is down 87 percent, and wehave experienced reductions in vesseland crew casualties.

That progress stems at least in partfrom the AWO’s Responsible Carrier

(RCP), a Coast Guard-approved andaward-winning safety and environmen-tal protection program. Conformancewith the requirements of the RCP ismandatory for all AWO members.

We are confident, however, that asafety management system like the onenow before Congress would bring con-tinuing and significant improvement.

The new regime has the support ofHomeland Security Secretary TomRidge and has been endorsed by Officeof Management and Budget.

In addition, the National Transpor-tation Safety Board recommended in itsSeptember 2000 report on the M/V AnneHolly that a safety management systemwith Coast Guard oversight be imple-mented for the entire towing industry.

In that accident, the Anne Holly wastowing 14 barges through St. Louis

harbor on the Missis-sippi. A bridge wasstruck, eight bargesbroke loose, and threeof them struck a perma-nently moored river-boat casino. Fiftypeople were examinedfor minor injuries.

The recommenda-tion for the newsafety program is to

be reviewed by House and Senate au-thorizing committees and consideredfor possible inclusion in Coast Guardauthorizing legislation.

I urge you to support it.

Editor’s Note: Steve Scalzo and hisco-chairs on the Towing IndustrySafety panel received distinguished-service awards recently from theCoast Guard. An article about theawards appears on Page 18.

The new safety regime

would be a logical step

in improving the

industry’s safety, security

and environmental

protection through a

21st Century safety-

management system.

3Foss Tow Bitts • June 2004

Foss Marine Personnel ManagerNorm Manly on May 7 received thePuget Sound Maritime Achievementaward in honor of his tireless efforts topromote interest in the industry amongyoung people.

The award, sponsored by the Propel-ler Club of Seattle, was presented at thecity’s annual maritime luncheon onboard Holland America Line’s newcruise ship, the Oosterdam, at Terminal30 in Seattle.

Manly, a 40-year veteran of Fosswhose late father was a Foss tug cap-tain, is credited with founding the Se-attle-based Youth Maritime TrainingAssociation (YMTA) in 1996. The or-ganization takes kids on tours of mari-time operations and sponsors other pro-grams designed to steer them into mari-time careers.

As President of YMTA, Manly alsoraised funds for and helped establish theBallard Maritime Academy (BMA), aschool-within-a-school at Ballard HighSchool. BMA now has one full-time in-structor, several part-time instructorsand about 50 students who are on a mari-time track in their academic program.

Manly and YMTA also are promot-ing youth maritime training at schoolsaround the state, including North KitsapHigh School in Poulsbo, Anacortes HighSchool, Harbor High School in Aber-deen, Edmonds Home School ResourceCenter, and Artondale ElementarySchool in Gig Harbor.

Through Manly’s efforts, the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administra-tion has become a primary sponsor ofBMA. The U.S. Maritime Administrationand the U.S. Coast Guard also are part-ners in the development of the school.

In addition, Manly and the YMTAsupport the Sea Scouts, help raisemoney to maintain their training vessel,the SSS Propeller, and are part of theeducation resource team for Seattle’sOdyssey Maritime Discovery Center.

Maritime Administration North-west Representative Lyn McLelland

presented the award to Manly at theMay 7 luncheon.

“Our honoree, in the most selfless andtireless manner, has created alliancesthroughout the maritime industry de-signed to assure that it will be populatedin the future by bright,qualified young peoplewho understand the in-dustry and its contribu-tion to the economy,”McLelland said.

“These young peoplewill be able to use thepassion for the industrythey share with him, andhis understanding of theopportunities it offers.”

Manly’s f irst job atFoss was as a deckhandon the Peter Foss. He laterserved on the HenriettaFoss and the Sam Foss.

Manly Wins Maritime Achievement AwardFor Efforts to Attract Youth into Industry

Before the recent Maritime Day lun-cheon, Manly’s co-workers at Foss wentto great lengths to ensure that he knewnothing of the award. His wife, Susan,and other members of his family at-tended the festivities.

Norm Manly receives the Maritime Achievement award from Lyn McLelland,Northwest Representative of the U.S. Maritime Administration. In thebackground is Maritime Day Chairman Tom Van Dawark, a former FossPresident and Chief Executive who now heads Todd Pacific Shipyard in Seattle.

After receiving the award, Manly was congratulatedby U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington.


The active clean-up fromthe Point Wells oil spill De-cember 30 on Puget Sound wascompleted in mid-April, givingway to long-term monitoringand weekly inspections ofbeaches and a marsh near PortMadison in Kitsap County.

The Unified Command —representing Foss MaritimeCompany, Kitsap County, theSuquamish Tribe, the U.S.Coast Guard and the Washing-ton Department of Ecology —determined that attempts toremove any more residual oilwould do more damage to theenvironment than leaving theoil in place.

The Unif ied Commandcoordinated the spill responseand assembled a team ofscientists to guide planningand implementation.

“We’ve pledged to see theresponse to this spill throughfor as long as it takes,” saidFoss Incident CommanderBruce Reed. “This importantmilestone is not the end of theresponse by any means.” Fosshas assumed financial responsibility forthe clean-up.

“There is almost no visible sign ofoil,” said Dale Jensen, spills managerfor Ecology. “The beach and marsh looknothing like the heavily oiled scenes ofDec. 31.”

“I am very pleased with the overall re-sponse effort. There was outstanding co-operation between Foss Maritime, theSuquamish Tribe and all local, state, andfederal agencies throughout the four-month response operation,” said Lieuten-ant Ted Hutley, the Coast Guard’s inci-dent commander. “The Coast Guard willcontinue to monitor the situation and sup-port the activities of the trustee agencies.”

Representatives of the SuquamishTribe, which owns some of the tide-lands where the oil came ashore, stated

that while damage couldnever be totally eliminated,they are generally satisfiedwith the efforts of Foss andits cleanup contractors to re-move oil from a place thatis of great cultural and spiri-tual importance.

“The day after the spillFoss Maritime made a com-mitment to us to do theright thing for the beachand marsh,” said LeonardForsman, tribal spokesper-son. “So far they have hon-ored their commitment.”

A specially-trained teamfrom the Suquamish Tribe

Puget Sound Oil Spill Cleanup Suspended, butMonitoring to Continue on Beaches and Marsh

Suquamish Tribal Member and Oil Spill MonitorVince Adams reviews a check list beforebeginning a beach inspection recently atJefferson Head on Puget Sound.CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

Members of the Unified Command toured Indianola Beach soon after the spill at the PointWells terminal. The hooded person in the background was not identified. UnifiedCommand representatives were, from left, U.S. Coast Guard Federal On-SceneCoordinator Ted Hutley, Foss Incident Commander Bruce Reed, NRC EnvironmentalBeach Supervisor Thom Davis, Washington Department of Ecology State On-SceneCoordinator Paul O’Brien and Suquamish Tribal On-Scene Coordinator Tom Ostrom.


and, in the United States, by the U.S.Coast Guard. Audits are conducted bythird parties such as ABS (the Ameri-can Bureau of Shipping).

Compliance with the standards,conceived mainly for full-sized ships,is required for vessels exceeding 500international tons operating in foreignwaters. The temporary certificationwas mandatory, for example, for theLauren Foss’ work last summer inRussia’s Sakhalin Islands.

ISM certification is also requiredfor the big tugs when they tow largeships, like the navy ships shuttled fromthe west coast to both the east and gulfcoasts by Foss over the last year.

“This allows us to participatein areas of business that we previ-ously couldn’t,” said Mike Sutton,Director of Safety and QualityAssurance, who oversaw the certi-fication process.

“We are looking to internationalprojects to grow certain business lines,”Sutton noted, “and we couldn’t do thatwithout vessels like the Corbin andLauren, with horsepower and capacitythat we didn’t have before.”

All Foss tugs already operate undersafety and quality standards of the Re-sponsible Carrier Program, developedby the American Waterways Operators.

Sutton said the ISM standards did notrequire significant changes in existingFoss procedures. “They blended neatlyinto what we are already doing and actu-ally streamlined our processes,” he added.

The certification process includedtwo elements. First, ISM auditors ex-amined the company’s safety-qualitysystem and issued a “Document ofCompliance” last January.

Then both the Corbin and Laurenwere audited for compliance with thatsystem, and issued Safety Manage-ment Certificates (SMCs). Each ISM-certified vessel is required to have itsown SMC.

Sutton said the company also willseek ISM certification for the en-hanced tractor tugs Garth Foss andLindsey Foss, large towboats thatsometimes escort tankers in Canadianwaters. Certification of the entire Fossfleet also is planned.

“We want to show our customers,”Sutton said, “that Foss has taken the stepsnecessary to assure that when we’re outthere pushing on their ships or movingtheir oil, or sailing internationally, thatour safety and quality assurance pro-grams are key elements of our businessculture that have been vetted and certi-fied by an independent third party.”

Our MissionFoss is a marine transportation com-

pany providing an “Always Ready,”quality-based, safe, reliable and envi-ronmentally responsible service.

— From the Foss MaritimeMission Statement

The Lauren Foss, shown at the company’s Seattle headquarters, and its twin the Corbin Foss recently were awardedcertification to operate in waters worldwide.

ISM CertificationCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1


The Barbara Foss on May 22 fin-ished its fifth season as rescue tug inthe Strait of Juan de Fuca after success-fully assisting four sea-going vesselssince last fall.

Stationed at Neah Bay since last Octo-ber, the Barbara Foss had its first assistof the season on October 9 when the 98-foot tug Altair experienced an engine fail-ure while towing a tank barge to Portland,Oregon. The barge was loaded with morethan 3 million gallons of diesel oil.

The other three assists during the2002-2003 winter season involved thecontainer ship Cristoforo Colombo onOctober 29, the fish-processing vesselSeafreeze Alaska on January 19 and thecontainer ship Buxsund on January 30.

All together, 22 ships have beenhelped since rescue tugs began operat-ing from Neah Bay in 1999.

The tug’s primary duty is to respondto ships in distress to prevent them fromspilling oil along the coast or in theStrait. Winter storms create a higher risk

of oil spills from the 9,000 transits bylarge cargo vessels and oil tankersthrough the Strait each year.

Funding for the tug has come from amix of state and federal sources, on ayear-by-year basis, until this springwhen Governor Gary Locke signed anew law that will provide a stable sourceof funding for the next five years.

“We appreciate the support for the tugby the governor and legislature,” said DaleJensen, who manages Ecology’s spillsprogram. “Protecting Washington’s coastand the Strait of Juan de Fuca is extremelyimportant to our mission, and the tug isan excellent prevention tool.”

Washington’s outer coastline and theStrait of Juan de Fuca area are consid-ered some of the most pristine marineareas in the lower 48 states. A major spillcould hurt Washington’s fishing andshellfish industries, endanger salmonruns, kill birds and marine mammals,ruin public beaches and dampen tour-ism, said Jensen.

Gathered on the stern of the Barbara Foss during a get-together on May 6 were,from left, Paul Stevens, President of Foss parent company Marine ResourcesInc., Ben Johnson, chairman of the Makah Tribal Council, Steve Scalzo, FossPresident and Chief Executive Officer, and Janine Bowchop, Executive Directorof the Makah Cultural and Research Center.

Barbara Foss Assists FourVessels During Its Fifth Seasonas Neah Bay Rescue Tug

The Behavioral Safety Programcredited with lowering the injuryrate at Foss Shipyard is now beingimplemented in the company’s ma-rine operations.

Tank barge operations will be thefirst on-the-water business group tohave the program, which addresseshuman behavior as the primarycause of accidents. Tank barge man-agers began their behavior safetytraining early this spring. Foss em-ploys 42 tankermen.

The program is scheduled to beimplemented in other marine op-erations by late 2005, accordingto Safety and Quality AssuranceDirector Mike Sutton, beginningwith harbor services groups inSan Francisco, and Portland.

The behavioral safety processfocuses on observing workers do-ing their jobs, identifying unsafe be-haviors that can lead to injuries andproviding positive feedback to helpcorrect those behaviors.

Stunt LandsAuto on FossRamp Barge

The Long-Beach based Fossramp barge PT&S 379 was featuredrecently as an auto-landing plat-form in a commercial drivingstunt staged by General Motors’Pontiac division. A video of thestunt was posted on the internet athttp://www.pontiac.com/stunts.

SuccessfulSafety ProgramExpands intothe Foss Fleet

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A Foss fleet of four tugs and twolightering barges in mid-June was setto embark from Seattle for thecompany’s 15th season at the Red DogMine on the remote Chukchi Sea inNorthwestern Alaska.

The tugs Iver Foss, Sandra Foss,Stacey Foss and Jeffrey Foss, plus thebarges Noatak and Kivalina, were ex-pected to arrive at the job site for earlyJuly startup, ice conditions permitting.

The barges carry zinc and lead oreconcentrate from the shallow-water portto bulk carriers at anchor.

This season’s tonnage is expected tobe similar to last year’s, in the range of1.35 million metric tons, said Foss VicePresident for Marine Transportation andPetroleum Don McElroy.

Foss was working closely with mineoperator Teck Cominco Alaska, Inc., andthe U.S. Coast Guard to implement aplan for anti-terror port security require-ments and vessel inspections requiredby law beginning July 1.

The Foss Red Dog fleet normallyreturns to Seattle in late October orearly November.

Initial crews this year at Red Dog are:Iver Foss. Captain Gary May, Mate

Nathan Jansma, Engineer DanCrosswhite, Able-Bodied Seamen DonGarrett and Jerimiah Rozell and CookHugo Padilla.

Sandra Foss. Captain Jeff Crooks,Mate Dave Black, Engineer Mike Denton,Able-Bodied Seamen Glen McVicker andMarcel Ion, Ordinary Seaman SteveCreech and Cook Doug Bender.

Stacey Foss. Captain StanStromme, Mate Doug Engdahl, En-gineer Dave Atkins, Able-Bodied Sea-men Nathan Nelson and DanMcGrath, Ordinary Seaman SteveWinter and Cook Greg Rankin.

Jeffrey Foss. Captain Todd Wilson,Mate Mark McKinley, Engineer JimStach, Able-Bodied Seamen DavidFloyd and Cole Brodie and CookRon Wolf.

Rovers. Captain Jack Finney.The Jeffrey Foss was drydocked in Seattle this spring in preparation for theannual Red Dog Mine project.

Tugs, Barges Head for Remote Red Dog Mine;Port is on Northwestern Alaska’s Chuchki Sea

A welder works high in the superstructure of the Kivalina at Foss Shipyard,preparing the lightering barge for Foss’ 15th Season at Red Dog Mine.


Trevor Costin has excelled as a youth baseballplayer in Southern California.

SoCal Manager Pitches in for Youth Baseball;Talented Son is one of Region’s Elite Players

Ron Costin’s in-volvement in youthsports started 11 yearsago when he volun-teered at the Itsy BitsySports Camp not farfrom his home inLakewood, California,where his four-year-old son Trevor wastaking up baseball.

From that point on,Foss’ Southern Califor-nia Tank Barge Man-ager and his son havebeen running parallelcourses, with the fatherdevoting countlesshours to youth baseballand Trevor placing him-self among the elite jun-ior ballplayers in South-ern California.

“Through the yearshis skills just keptgrowing to the point where it was in-credible to watch his improvementcompared to other kids,” Costin saidof his son, who played on the PonyLeague 2003 World Series Champion-ship team.

Meanwhile, the elder Costin, whonever played organized sports as a kidgrowing up in South Philadelphia, wasalso working his way up through theranks, serving as a coach, as businessmanager for several teams, and as com-missioner of a 750-player LakewoodJunior Baseball League.

Ron and Trevor, now 15, aren’t theonly Costins with impressive recordsof accomplishment.

Son Ethan, 13, who like his brotherwas adopted from Korea, is a straight-A student, who plays three instru-ments, for his school’s Jazz and ad-vanced bands. Mom Blenda (wife of24 years), works closely with her hus-band on his baseball activities and isan active fundraiser for Ethan’s juniorhigh school.

“We try to stay involvedin our kids lives and partici-pate wherever we can,”Costin said. “I believe, per-sonally, that it’s really impor-tant for people to be involvedin the community becausekids have to have somethingto do or they’ll find things ontheir own.”

And youth baseball is agood way to put that philoso-phy to work, he believes.

“If presented properly toyounger kids in a non-com-petitive way, baseball pro-vides a great opportunity forthem to grow personally andlearn how to work as part ofa team,” Costin said.

As a Pony (which standsfor Protect Our Nation’sYouth) player, Trevor hasplayed with four nationalchampionship teams andhas two World Series rings.

Members of the Costin family are, from left, Trevor, 15, Blenda, Ethan, 13, and Ron.


In the nationals for 10-year-olds inCooperstown, New York, he hit athree-run homer in the final game, at-tended by 2,500 people.

Trevor also has two California statesilver medals as a member of AAUteams for 11- and 12-year-olds.

Last summer’s Pony League WorldSeries in Washington, Pennsylvania,included eight teams that were the sur-vivors of elimination rounds involv-ing 1,200 Pony teams from citiesaround the world. The Lakewoodgroup outlasted teams from Texas,Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Kansas

and Upstate New York. An Asian teamwas unable to participate because ofthe SARS outbreak.

Trevor and his teammates rode backto Southern California with the LosAngeles Lakers on their team plane, andthe kids were presented keys to the cityof Lakewood.

In early May of this year, Trevor’shigh school freshman team completedan undefeated season and won itsleague championship.

“He has a gift, and he’s had a lot ofspecial people help him,” Costin said ofhis son, who will continue to participate

in amateur leagues, and hopes to playat the college level.

As for the elder Costin’s involvementin baseball, he said, “I’m fascinated bythe game. And because I came in withno premonitions of how things shouldbe done, I’ve enjoyed seeing what worksand what doesn’t.”

And he expressed appreciation to Fosscustomers and co-workers who showedsupport for him and his son last summer.

“They were following the games on theinternet, saving clippings from their home-town newspapers, and really rooting forhim,” Costin said. “They were just great.”

‘Impeccable’ 45-year RecordFoss Shipyard Assistant Dockmaster LeRoy Gustafson retired April 28 after 45 years of service to the company. Hejoined Foss in 1959 at the Tacoma Shipyard and transferred in the early 1970s to Seattle along with the “Ole No. 2”wooden drydock. Gustafson’s career saw him drydocking hundreds of vessels with what Shipyard Director Jim Stewartdescribed as “the utmost consideration for the safety of the vessel, crew and drydock. His record is impeccable.”Stewart described Gustafson as a “quiet and modest” individual often seen packing a drydock block (12-by-12 inchesand 4 feet long) on his shoulder as if it was a 4-by-4. In this May 2003 photo, Gustafson is shown at his post outsidethe control room of Drydock No. 2.


The enhanced tractor tug GarthFoss won the People’s Choice Awardas crowd favorite for its ballet perfor-mance at the Seattle Maritime Festi-val on May 8.

The Garth executed spins, skippedsideways and performed a number ofother dance moves to the delight ofthe crowd gathered on the Seattlewaterfront. The vessel is poweredwith a Voith-Schneider CycloidalPropulsion system, which featurespropellers with vertical blades forextreme maneuverability.

The 155-foot tug’s performancewas part of a festival that included aparade of work boats, tugs racing inthree separate classes, and a numberof on-shore competitions for maritimeindustry workers.

Foss teams landed both first andthird places in the popular survival suitrace, in which participants have to donthe heavy rubber garments and thenswim a relay.

Dan Amundson of Foss Shipyardplaced third in the Fork Lift Rodeo.

In the tug races, the Craig Foss wassecond and the Justine Foss was thirdin Class A, and the Wedell Foss was thirdin Class B.

Garth Foss Dances Way to Award in Seattle;Justine, Craig Place in Annual Tugboat Races


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The Justine Foss, left foreground,takes its place for the tugboatparade along the Seattle waterfront.

Guests assemble on the Garth Fossas the Seattle festivities begin.

The Jeffrey Foss, foreground, andJustine Foss promenade with theSpace Needle in the background.

The Justine Foss powers its wayahead of the competition in itsClass A tug race.

The Jeffrey Foss, foreground, andCraig Foss stand by.

Dan Amundson navigates his way toa strong finish in the fork lift rodeo.

Foss participants in the survival suitrace included, front from left, DanSnow, Steve Winter and MeganSweeney and in the back row, fromleft, are Jason Judkins, John Little,Don Daigle, Julian Bomar andNeftali Alas.

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Crane in AgainA 115-ton crane with a 239-footreach, owned by the U.S. Army,was an impressive sight in May atFoss Shipyard. The floating cranefirst visited the yard in 2001 forrepairs after it was damaged in astorm during delivery from itsbuilder in Louisiana to its Armyhome port in Tacoma. During themore recent visit to Foss, the yardinstalled a system of braces tosecure the operator’s cab structureduring transit. The cab structure,the vertical tower in the upperright section of the photo at left,received the most damage in the2001 storm. Above, WelderSheldon Murray works on thebracing system, about 70 feetabove the crane deck. Van Vorwerkwas Project Manager for the recentrepair project and Dave Palmerwas Superintendent.


Family Profile

Olson Maritime Tradition Goes Back toThe Days of Sailing Ships in 19th Century

Whit Olson III, left, and his father, Whit Olson Jr., were photographed recentlyat Foss’ offices in Portland.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

In a company like Foss Maritime,with strong West Coast roots and richin maritime tradition, E. WhitneyOlson Jr. and E. Whitney Olson IIIare a good fit.

The Olson family, one of a numberwith more than one member working atFoss, has some pretty strong maritimetraditions of its own. Whit Jr. is HarborServices Sales Manager in Portland, andWhit III is Captain of the tug Lynn Mariein San Francisco.

The younger Olson is the fifth gen-eration in his family since great, greatgrandfather Lewis Olson moved to theUnited States from Norway in the mid-19th century and established a shippingcompany in San Francisco.

His son Oliver J. Olson thenfounded the widely-known Oliver J.Olson Company, based in San Fran-cisco, which remained in the familyuntil 1976.

The company started out in 1891carrying lumber on sailing ships be-tween the Northwest and Californiaports and later was a common carrierbetween the Mainland and Hawaii. Atits peak during World War II, the com-pany operated 25 ships before switch-ing in the 1950s to more economicaltug-and-barge operations.

Highlights in the company historyinclude the sinking of one of its cargoships, the S.S. Cynthia Olson, by a Japa-nese submarine about 1,000 miles north-east of Hawaii on December 7, 1941.All 33 crewmembers and two army pas-sengers were lost in the incident, on thesame day as the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Like their forebears, the two WhitOlsons now at Foss have spent theirentire careers on the waterfront or onthe water.

“We grew up with it, and it’s sort ofin your blood,” said Whit Junior “I didn’t

The four-masted schooner Oliver J. Olson was part of a fleet that began carryinglumber from the Northwest to California ports in 1891.


Foss and National Response Cor-poration (NRC) joined forces in lateFebruary in an unusual and challeng-ing salvage operation, using a sub-mersible barge to lift and transport aderelict dredge that was threateningthe environment in the SacramentoRiver Delta.

The 140-by-60-foot dredge Mon-arch, built in 1916 with riveted ironsides and a wooden bottom, had beenabandoned by its elderly owner andsank at its mooring in Shag Slough,said Foss San Francisco Port CaptainDan Porter.

Last September, NRC (then FossEnvironmental, before its acquisitionby NRC) was called in by the CoastGuard when oil star ted spill ingfrom the dredge’s bilges and fueltanks. Crews put pumps on the bargeto keep it afloat, and they plugged theoil leaks.

Frank Igaz, a Bay Area salvage mas-ter, surveyed the dredge, and laterworked with Bob Ireland of NRC andPorter to put together a salvage bid.

Their challenge was to move thedredge about 40 miles to a scrappingfacility on Mare Island near San Fran-cisco without towing it, because theCoast Guard was afraid the dredgewould sink in the ship channel.

So the team came up with the idea touse a submersible barge, even thoughthey didn’t have one yet.

They solved that problem with thedeck barge MZB 287, leased by Fossfrom Zidell Marine in Portland and usedin last summer’s Sakhalin Island project.The 286-by-78-foot deck barge wastowed south from Seattle and refitted asa submersible for the job.

Foss Solves Sacramento River Riddle, Moving aDerelict Crane Barge 40 Miles Without Towing It

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The deck of the submersible barge MZB287, with the Monarch on board, breaks the water as the pumps run full tilt.

Captain Dave McCloy oversaw themodifications, including installation ofpumps, standpipes that would allow airto re-enter the barge after it wasballasted down, and fittings to securethe dredge to the deck.

On February 24, the Foss tug Twi-light pushed the CS Marine derrickbarge CSM Carquinez and a flat bargefrom Mare Island to Shag Slough and

The boom of the old crane barge Monarch is inspected before the derelict issalvaged on the Sacramento River Delta.


The Monarch, still resting on the MZB 287, is ready for scrapping.

alongside the Monarch to begin prepwork, including picking the dredgebucket from the bottom of the slough.

Two days later, the Arthur Foss andEdith Foss brought the MZB 287, al-ready heavily ballasted, to a locationnear Shag Slough, but with deeper wa-ter. The Edith then retrieved the olddredge and the derrick barge andbrought them to the work site.

McCloy pumped more ballast wateronto the MZB 287, completely sinking it,and on February 27, the Edith and Twi-light moved the Monarch into positionover the sunken barge. Then they beganpumping water out of the MZB 287.

“As she floated, Igaz, McCloy andFrank van Hoorn, the marine architectwho wrote the ballasting plan, moni-tored everything,” Porter said.

The dredge slipped out of positionthe first time the MZB 287 came up. Sothey re-sank the barge, held the dredgein place with a line to the tug SanJoaquin River and again began pump-ing water out of the MZB 287.

The dredge was towed the next dayto Mare Island.

“Zaccor Company scrapped her righton the barge,” Porter said.

The tugs Benjamin Foss and DavidFoss, known as “Super Ds” and con-sidered to be among the workhorsesof the Pacific Northwest fleet,are undergoing extensiveoverhauls that will extendtheir lives by about 15 years.

The two Caterpillar D-398engines on each tug are beingpulled and replaced withremanufactured engines. Bothtugs also are receiving new ma-rine sanitation systems andother upgrades, including re-newal of steel where necessary.

Pacif ic Northwest PortEngineer John Barrett isoverseeing the work, whichis being performed at Foss

New Life for ‘Super D’ TugsAs Engines are Pulled, Replaced

Shipyard. The Benjamin was in theyard in April and will be drydockedin August. The David was drydocked

last year and back in theyard in January 2005.

Both tugs were built atMain Ironworks inHouma, Louisiana, in1980. Regular work forthe two tugs includes tow-ing chip barges fromShelton to Tacoma, towingbarges with Boeing air-plane parts to Everett fromPuget Sound’s large ports.

The tugs also regu-larly tow Navy oil bargesand barge loads of Cana-dian chips.

Former Foss Maritime sister com-pany Foss Environmental Services(FES) is now NRC Environmental Ser-vices. FES was purchased by NationalResponse Corporation, the nation’s larg-est commercial oil response organiza-tion with operations on all three coasts.

Through the acquisition of FESfrom SaltChuk Resources, Inc., NRCpicks up 175 employees throughoutthe West Coast and becomes the larg-est commercial spill response and en-vironmental contracting organizationin the states of California, Oregon,Washington and Hawaii.

The David Foss,shown above, and theBenjamin Foss arebeing overhauled atFoss Shipyard.

FES AcquisitionBoosts NRCPresence onU.S. West Coast


The second of two double-hulled oilbarges built for Foss at Zidell Marine in Port-land is in service on San Francisco Bay.

The FDH 35-2 was christenedMarch 25 at Zidell. A sister barge theFDH 35-1, was christened last summerand is also at work in the Bay Area.

The sponsor at the christening wasJulie Henson, wife of Mike Henson,Regional Manager for ChevronTexaco’s Fuel and Marine Marketingin San Francisco. Foss personnel fromSan Francisco, Portland and Seattleattended the ceremony.

The christening bottle was dried, placedin a dark walnut gift box and presented toMrs. Henson. Foss San Francisco DirectorScott Merritt also gave the Hensons aframed, etched image of the barge.

The FDH 35-2 and its sister measure240 by 60 feet and have a capacity of35,316 barrels. Each of two pumps on eachbarge can deliver 2,570 barrels per hour.

The FDH 35-2 slides into the Willamette River at Zidell Marine in Portland on March 25 and is caught by the Foss tugsP.J. Brix, left, and America.

Second Twin-Hulled Tank Barge ChristenedAnd Reports to Work on San Francisco Bay

Sponsor Julie Henson receives a walnut gift box containing the bottle sheused to christen the FDH 35-2. Also in the photo are, from left, Foss SanFrancisco Bay Area Regional Director Scott Merritt, Zidell Marine VicePresident and Chief Operating Officer Bill Gobel, Fuel and MarineMarketing San Francisco Regional Manager Mike Henson, and Jay Zidell.

Donn

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Pho

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Spill CleanupCONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

A training program designed tohelp deck off icers assess theircrewmembers’ proficiency is enablingFoss masters and mates to keep upwith licensing requirements whilehelping the company to maintain apool of future marine managers.

The Pacific Maritime Institute stagedthe four-hour “assessor training” coursein Seattle three times in May and June.The instructor was Captain RichardBrooks, a 27-year veteran of Sea-LandService who spent 20 of those years asa ship master. As an instructor, Brooksis now certified by the InternationalMaritime Organization (IMO).

“Most people are reluctant to assesstheir fellow shipmates,” Brooks said. “Itry to help them overcome that reluc-tance and become objective observers.”

The class includes instruction on howto write a “skill sheet,” which identifiesthe skills required to perform a particular

‘Assessor Training’ Is HelpingFoss to Maintain its Talent Pool

task on a tug, such as pulling a barge awayfrom a dock.

Among other things, the deck offic-ers are coached on how to successfullydeliver a negative assessment to acrewmember. They also view aPowerPoint presentation put together bybehavioral psychologist Dr. AliceBarnes, who regularly works with themaritime industry.

“I am impressed with the quality of thepeople working at Foss,” Brooks said.“Many of them have years of experience,and learning how to do these assessmentswill help Foss meet federal requirementsand keep people in the pipeline.”

Deck officers must take assessortraining under new guidelines of theinternational Standards of TrainingCer tif ication and Watchkeeping(STCW95). The assessments becomepart of the training record of marinersseeking a license or a license upgrade.

Captain Richard Brooks of the Pacific Maritime Institute conducts a trainingsession for Foss deck officers in Seattle.

will conduct weekly inspections ofthe beach between Indianola andPoint Jefferson and the marsh.Warmer weather may soften andrelease some residual oil. Thetribal inspectors will be able to callin clean-up crews to respondif needed.

Unif ied Command memberswere developing a plan to samplebeach, marsh and tidal sediments tocheck contamination levels.

Ecology and the Coast Guardare investigating the cause of thespill and will issue separate find-ings. The spill occurred shortlyafter midnight December 30 as aFoss barge was receiving a load ofoil from the ChevronTexaco termi-nal at Point Wells. Oil driftedsouthward toward the center ofPuget Sound and then moved intoPort Madison with shifting windsand tides.

The initial response involvedmore than 200 people, eight skim-ming vessels, 13 support boats andthree helicopters.

Clean-up crews removed oileddriftwood and natural debris andscrubbed down larger logs left inplace. Teams used water to flushoil from the beaches, taking advan-tage of natural wave action orpumping water onto gravel andsand. In some areas workers hand-scrubbed cobble beaches rockby rock.

SatisfactionGuaranteedCustomers like positive people.

— From Satisfaction GuaranteedBy Byrd Baggett


Foss President and Chief Execu-tive Officer Steve Scalzo received aDistinguished Public Service Awardfrom the U.S. Coast Guard recentlyfor his leadership in helping tocraft a new safety regime for thetowing industry.

The award was presented by CoastGuard Vice Commandant TomBarrett at the American WaterwaysOperators (AWO) convention April 22in Washington D.C.

Also receiving the award for theircontributions to the safety effort wereCraig Philip, President and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer of Ingram Barge Com-pany, based in Nashville, and Ned

Scalzo Receives Award for EffortTo Boost Safety in Tug Industry

At the awards presentation during the American Waterways OperatorsConvention were, from left, Coast Guard Vice Commandant Tom Barrett,Ingram Barge Company President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) CraigPhilip, Foss President and CEO Steve Scalzo and Moran TowingCorporation Senior Vice President Ned Moran.

Family ProfileCONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

promote my son getting into it, but that’sthe way it was.”

Whit Junior star ted with hisfamily’s companies beginning in 1964,working on tugs in California whilegoing to college. Later, he managedcompanies in the Olson group, includ-ing serving as president of Starand Crescent Towboat Company inSan Diego.

Olson was subsequently generalmanager of Murphy Pacific, which op-erated ship assist tugs on San Fran-cisco Bay, and in 1972 moved to Port-land with Riedel International, start-ing out in sales and then becomingpresident of Willamette Tug andBarge. Willamette Tug assets wereacquired in 1988 by Knappton Tow-boat, which became Brix Maritime,acquired by Foss in 1992.

Meanwhile, Whit III was growing upin Hillsboro, Oregon, and hangingaround his dad’s companies’ tugs.

During a break in college, he rodetugs up and down the coast and was ontugs to stay after a delivery from Florida,through the Panama Canal and up theWest Coast in 1984. They had to stopfor a drydocking and repairs in Panamaduring carnival.

“I was kind of hooked after that,”said the young Whit Olson, now 39.He subsequently worked for Riedel inCalifornia and eventually ended upwith Knappton and Brix, in 1987.Olson has been sailing full-time ascaptain since 1994.

He jumped at the chance to skip-per the Lynn Marie last year when the6,200 horsepower ASD tug joined theFoss fleet.

“I’d been on the tractor tug DanielFoss on the river, and the Lynn Mariehas more power in one engine thanthe Daniel has in two,” Olson said.“With the Daniel on a ship assist, youmight have to be farther up on the bowor farther back on the stern to get le-verage. With the Lynn Marie , i t

doesn’t matter where you start push-ing or pulling.”

On ending up at Foss, the youngerOlson said, “It’s a great place to land.It’s a stable place to work and the peopleare awesome.”

Moran, Senior Vice President ofMoran Towing Corporation, based inNew Canaan, Connecticut.

The new safety regime would ex-tend mandatory safety management,already a requirement for AWOmembers through the ResponsibleCarrier Program, to the entire tow-ing industry.

The AWO and the Coast Guardhave worked together to seek legisla-tion supporting the extension. Scalzo,Moran and Philip were co-chairs ofthe Coast Guard-AWO WorkingGroup on Towing Industry Safety,which helped develop and rally indus-try support for the regime.

Said his father, “It’s the finest com-pany on the West Coast.”

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a seriesof articles on families at Foss that willrun from time to time in Tow Bitts.


Spotlight on

SafetyThe prestigious Mystic Seaport

Museum in Connecticut will featureFoss Maritime Company founderThea Foss in an exhibit on “Womenof the Sea,” that will open July 2 andwill run through the spring of 2005.

Mystic Director of ExhibitsJonathan Shay said the 2,000-square-foot exhibit will be housed in themuseum’s R.J. Schaefer Building, itslargest facility for changing exhibits.

“I think this is an important exhibitcovering a story that hasn’t been toldvery much,” Shay said. “It’s an exhibitthat has a lot of good intellectual meat,and these women can serve as a rolemodel for girls.”

Assembling the material for the ex-hibit was a collaboration betweenMystic Seaport and the Mariners Mu-seum of Newport News, Virginia,which staged its own exhibit onwomen and the sea several years ago.

The Foss Company was started in1889 when Thea Foss bought a rowboat,fixed it up, and parlayed her investmentinto a fleet of rowboats the companyrented from a small float in Tacoma.

Thea Foss was the real-life basis fora series of Saturday Evening Post ar-ticles and the novel “Tugboat Annie”by Norman Reilly Raine.

The novel was turned into two films,the first in 1933 starring Marie Dresslerand Wallace Berry as Annie’s husband.The second, in 1940, starred Marjorie

Rambeau, Alan Hale, and a youngactor named Ronald Reagan.

The Mystic exhibit will trace thesubject of women and the sea begin-ning with early-day mariners’ fascina-tion with mermaids and will includedisplays on women pirates, figure-heads and women who were left be-hind by their seafaring husbands andboyfriends. There also will be storiesof women who went to sea and had totake command of ships when theirhusbands collapsed.

Moving into the more modern era,the exhibit will focus on women in theNavy and Coast Guard, nurses, andwomen who have been tug captainsand held other jobs traditionally con-sidered the realm of men.

Thea Foss to be Featured inMystic Seaport Exhibition

Thea Foss

PROMOTIONS

Merridith ChumbleyHuman Resources Assistant toHealth & Safety Coordinator

David PalmerShip Repair Superintendent toEstimator/Project Manager

Tina WissmarTemporary Receptionist toHuman Resources Assistant

PASSINGS

James AgeeRetired Captain, SoCal

Elona LesnickRetired Benefits Administrator

George SchmidtRetired Deckhand/Engineer, PNW

Jerry UgeburtRetired Chief Engineer, PNW

People News

RETIREMENTS

Mel CorningDeckhand Engineer, PNW

Don JacobyDeckhand Engineer, PNW

U Hak SonWelder, Shipyard

Injuries

•Recordable injuries are injuries requiringmedical treatment.•Lost-time injuries are injuries whichcause a worker to miss time on the job.

Rate of recordable injuries per 100 workers, per year

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

2004

2003

2002

IndustryAverage

Lost-Time Injuries

Recordable Injuries

•Spills reported are those occurring duringoil cargo transfers.•A spill is defined as any spilled materialthat produces a visible sheen on the water.

Spills

2002 2003 2004

1 1 0

PRESORTEDSTANDARD

U.S. POSTAGE PAIDSEATTLE, WA

PERMIT NO. 15551660 W. Ewing St.Seattle, WA 98119

Mega-MarshallThe Marshall Foss, themost powerful harbor tugat the ports of Long Beachand Los Angeles, had afilm crew on boardrecently for production ofan episode of theDiscovery Channel’sMega-Machine series. The98-foot tug, packs 6,300horsepower and waschristened in 2002. TheDiscovery Channelprogram is tentativelyscheduled to airWednesday, July 28,at 9 p.m., with a repeatthe following Saturday,but check last-minute listings.

Documents

VOL. 17 NO. 2 JUNE 2004 - Foss MaritimeVOL. 17 NO. 2 JUNE 2004 International Certification Will Help Drive Continued Growth in Overseas Business CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 The twin ocean-going