The crew of the Stena Polaris successfully completed 18 underway refueling operations during a 90 day span.
The M/V Stena Polaris, an Ice Class Tanker operated by Crowley Government Services on a five-year contract to Military Sealift Command, recently completed a 145-day mission as a consolidated cargo operations (CONSOL) tanker supplying underway fueling with other MSC vessels. This mission included 96 days supplying needed diesel and jet fuel to ships engaged in keeping the sea lanes safe and open to shipping.
In the beginning of February, the Stena Polaris, which is part of the newly formed Tanker Security Program, was asked if it could support the mission and be prepared to be on station within three weeks. The vessel normally manned by up to 29 crew had to be modified to handle upwards of a total of 44 crew and support personnel. To complete this task, additional berthing space and lifesaving equipment had to be created and approved by the United States Coast Guard.
The Stena Polaris also had to load cargo at two separate ports and was delayed in the first load port by almost a week due to extremely high winds. This was followed by racing across the Mediterranean Sea to make the timeline. Logistics included supplying the ship with 90-120 days of provisions and stores at a third port, embarking all required support personnel and completing last-minute crew changes. Despite all the delays, setbacks, obstacles the vessel made our transit check-in time only 20 minutes late. All things considered this was a massive logistical accomplishment that could not have been completed without the entire ship’s crew giving it 110 percent effort.
The Stena Polaris completed a total of six transits through the Suez Canal and completed 18 CONSOL operations without incident over the period of 95 days, delivering a total of approximately 25 million gallons of clean product. The crew conducted multiple back-to-back evolutions involving three different types of MSC vessels while rapidly changing products from both stations with minimal down time while alongside.
On top of delivering the fuel without incident, accidents, or any down time the Stena Polaris also completed its annual COI inspection and a SIRE inspection for its upcoming ice mission.
Bravo Zulu to all who helped support our good ship to allow this to happen. Special mention should be given to our four-member Steward Department who did a phenomenal job of providing a wide variety of great healthy meals over the course of this evolution.
Captain Carl Schoenbucher
Master, MV Stena Polaris
American Maritime Officers members aboard the Stena Polaris in August included (standing) Second Assistant Engineer Mike Ventresca, First A.E. Sean Hall, Second Mates Asfaw Surafel and Kenny Rosol, Chief Mate Joe Mainella, and Third Mates Tristan Woolf and Russel Combs. (Kneeling) Chief Engineer Kyle Mathews, Captain Carl Schoenbucher and Chief Engineer Dan Petrocelli. Additional officers that were not pictured but were onboard were Chief Mate Leroid “Junior” Jones, Second Mate Robert Brice, Third Mate Kirsten Snyder and Chief Engineer Brandon Schreck.
The Stena Polaris conducted conducted CONSOL operations with three different class of MSC vessels on multiple types of fuels without incident or lost time.
Captain Carl Schoenbucher oversees CONSOL operations from the observation deck of the Stena Polaris during an underway replenishment.