Scene on the Sound: The Midnight Sun

The Midnight Sun photo by Jan Hansen

By Jan Hansen

It was great to see a U.S. cargo ship sailing by on Friday. The Midnight Sun is a cargo ship, detailed as a Vehicles Carrier. It belongs to the Tote Shipping Company. 

This trip is from Anchorage to Tacoma.

From Marine Traffic:

MIDNIGHT SUN (IMO: 9232278) is a Vehicles Carrier that was built in 2003 (18 years ago) and is sailing under the flag of USA.

Its carrying capacity is 24917 t DWT and her current draught is reported to be 9 meters. Her length overall (LOA) is 255.73 meters and her width is 35.97 meters.

Shoreline resident John Crawford added this information:

From the TOTE website: "In 2017, TOTE Maritime Alaska began converting our Orca Class vessels to liquefied natural gas power, bringing the world’s most advanced, environmentally friendly technology to Alaska." 

(No more bunker fuel !!!)

Also: these TOTE ships (AKA: roll-on, roll-off's) sail between Tacoma to Anchorage in about 72 hours. Turn around in each port is about 24 hours. They are the supply lifeline for Alaska, supplemented by the tug and barge industry for non-perishable supplies.

Happy and proud to be retired from TOTE's sister company, Foss.