Coast Guard hires Ketchikan firm to handle fuel, oil on boat aground in Raymond Cove

The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday committed $35,000 to Alaska C-Dive LLC of Ketchikan to deal with fuel and oil aboard the M/V Sultan, a vessel aground in Raymond Cove. The agency did not seek competing bids.

The company is to provide labor, materials and equipment to "mitigate the harmful effects from an unknown amount of fuel and oil onboard," according to the federal contract record, which classifies the job as oil spill response. The "unknown amount" refers to what is aboard; the record does not say whether any has spilled. Raymond Cove is a bay in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, according to the federal geographic names database.

The work period runs from Oct. 14 through Dec. 13, so it began two weeks before the order was signed.

The Coast Guard cited urgency as its reason to skip full and open competition. The record lists only one source and one offer received.

The order is priced on time and materials, meaning the firm is paid fixed hourly rates for labor plus the cost of materials. The $35,000 is what has been committed so far, not necessarily what the work will cost.

The Sultan record does not say when or how the vessel went aground, what kind of vessel it is, how much fuel and oil it carries or whether it will be removed. NOAA's IncidentNews archive records a Coast Guard response on Oct. 5 to a fishing vessel named Sultan near Ketchikan. That Sultan was under tow when the towing vessel lost propulsion and fouled its propeller, and a Coast Guard towline to the Sultan later broke, leaving its location unknown. The records do not establish whether it is the same boat.

The Coast Guard's Arctic District news page carries no release about the Sultan, and the Department of Environmental Conservation's spill response summaries list none for the Sultan.

The record does not name the Sultan's owner or say who will ultimately pay for the cleanup.