How’s this for a winning streak? SIU-contracted Alaska Tanker Company (ATC) recently reached what’s believed to be an unsurpassed safety milestone: more than six calendar years and 12 million man hours without a lost-time injury.In a communication dated March 30, ATC President and CEO Anil Mathur noted that the company also has not had “a single drop of crude oil spilled to sea in over five years. Since our inception in 1999, we have transported well over a billion barrels of crude oil out of Valdez, Alaska.”
Others have noticed ATC’s outstanding safety record as the years pass. The Alaska State Legislature honored the company in 2006. Two years earlier, the U.S. Coast Guard did the same.
ATC’s fleet includes four Seafarers-crewed vessels: the Alaska Class tankers Alaskan Legend, Alaskan Frontier, Alaskan Explorer and Alaskan Navigator. Those ships transport Alaskan North Slope crude oil from Valdez, Alaska, to refineries in Washington State, California and Hawaii.
Many of the company’s mariners have undergone safety training at the SIU-affiliated Paul Hall Center, located in Piney Point, Md.
Mathur, in his recent missive, was characteristically quick in sharing credit for ATC’s latest achievements. “This remarkable performance by the ATC employees, ship and shore, has been enabled by our union leadership (SIU and MEBA), our contractors, our client BP Alaska, our owners, our external stakeholders and our regulators,” he said. “Meaningful and lasting results at this level require a supportive environment. I am very grateful to each of these entities.”
He also conveyed a pragmatic view of what lies ahead, even while expressing profound appreciation for the “quality and thought that ATC employees put into their work that produces these extraordinary results.” Recognizing that safe operations are an unending goal, he added, “Each task we perform in ATC presents hazards that must be overcome anew in order to do the job safely, regardless of how many times we’ve completed that same job safely in the past. Overcoming the next challenge does not create a panacea where no other challenges can exist. As we continue to improve our operations and our performance, it is clear to me that our journey towards flawless operations has essentially no finish line.”
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