CPA lifts restrictions at Saipan, Tinian docks

The Commonwealth Ports Authority has lifted all restrictions at the Saipan and Tinian seaports, after a U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender repositioned all navigational aids at both docks.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sequoia came to Tinian and then Saipan earlier this week to reposition and replace buoys that were dislocated or got lost during Supertyphoon Chaba.

CPA had urged ship captains to apply extreme caution when navigating the Saipan and Tinian docks due to off-stationed or missing aids to navigations, or ATONs.

Port of Saipan manager Antonio Cabrera said yesterday that the restrictions have now been lifted, as the ATONs are now all back in place. “We are grateful that the Coast Guard provides this service to ensure that commerce at the port will not be hampered,” he said.

Cabrera noted that the docks had been placed under restriction following Typhoon Tingting in late June. The U.S. Coast Guard then sent a buoy tender from Honolulu, Hawaii to reposition the ATONs, helping to normalize the operation of the ports.

The navigational aids, however, were again thrown out of position when Chaba directly hit the Northern Marianas in August.

The Rota port remains closed because of structural problems, Cabrera said. In the meantime, small vessels—or those that draw a shallow draft—may use only Berth 1 of the west harbor at daytime.

A draft refers to the depth of a vessel’s keel below the water line, especially when loaded.

The USCGC Sequoia recently made its 15,000-nautical-mile maiden voyage to its new homeport, Apra Harbor on Guam. The 225-foot cutter replaces the USCGC Sassafras, which was decommissioned earlier this year. It is responsible for servicing 99 ATONs in Micronesia, including Guam, the Northern Marianas, and Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.

Unlike the original Sequoia built in 1907 for only $213,499, the new cutter that was launched in Wisconsin last year cost $29 million, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Sequoia is the fifteenth Juniper Class cutter of seagoing buoy tenders constructed by Marinette Marine Corporation. Aided by automated engineering controls and sophisticated computer-based navigation and communications equipment, Sequoia is equipped to perform search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, and pollution response as well as servicing aids to navigation.