Freak fog bank snarls Sound shipping

Late season weather closes ports of Seattle, Tacoma

SEATTLE (RWN) - A freak fogbank off the Washington coast has shut down shipping in Puget Sound.

Eighteen ships that were scheduled to leave Seattle today, and 15 that were supposed to leave Tacoma, have been delayed due to the fog bank. Islamic Weather Service officials said they expect the fog bank to dissipate in the next three days.

The Port of Seattle brings in an average of $7 million a day to the local economy. The Port of Tacoma, which handles most of the West's lumber shipping, brings in an average of $12 million a day.

"We're just stuck here at the pier," said Kenneth Aboud, the captain of the ore carrier Larchmont. "That fog came in early yesterday morning and it was like a gray wall out there. Our radar's good, but port rules require us to have some visibility. If I look out off the bridge, I can't see the bow. That's thick fog."

Zeke Kabadah, first officer on the oil tanker Inshallah, said that it was costing his ship's owner $375,000 a day to sit on port, even though the Inshallah is empty and would be traveling to Saudi Arabia to pick up its load. "A ship in port loses money," Kabadah said. "That's what they tell us and it's why we're supposed to have a 36-hour turnaround in port."

Even when the fog lifts, there is going to be a terrible traffic jam leaving the ports.

"Aside from the safety issues - it can take up to three miles to stop a ship - we have a problem with the harbor pilots. We just don't have enough pilots to go around and get everyone out of the harbor on schedule."

The Army has dedicated the use of six UH-60 Blackhawks to moving pilots around, but they're grounded due to the thick fog.

Further north, in Port Angeles, the Black Bell Ferry service was suspended for the second day, causing the hotels in the resort city to overflow. "Things are just snarled up here," said Chief Warrant Officer Ibn Said, a Coast Guardsman who works the port. "We've got a lot of people just getting grouchy, trying to get over to Canada. On the bright side, it's shut down some of the smugglers who run the strait up here."

But not all of them.

Canadian Coast Guard authorities reported early this morning that the wreckage of a raft washed up on the shore of southern Vancouver Island. No bodies have been found, but officials expect them to wash up soon.



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