It's Offload Time

The M/V American Tern is anchored at the
Ice Pier again this year and has already
been relieved of much of it's cargo (notice
how high it's sitting in the water). We're
not supposed to get as much cargo this year
so that's not surprising. What is surprising
(at least to me) as how smoothly everything
nautical is going this season. The Oden made
it in on time and cut a clear path to McMurdo.
The Paul Buck steamed in, unloaded it's cargo
of fuel and as quickly as it arrived, it left.
Now the American Tern finds herself here and
everything is going like clockwork. In the
past, it always seemed like there was some
sort of issue slowing things down. One year
the ice was too thick so the tanker couldn't
make it in, causing all the fuel to be
transported for miles via hose. Another
year one or more icebreakers broke down, causing
all sorts of problems for the other boats.
Another year, a crane broke on the cargo vessel,
slowing down both the offload and onload process.
Here's knocking on wood that everything continues
to go smoothly.