The 656-foot cargo vessel Morning Cedar is adrift in the western Bering Sea.  The ship was 10 miles northeast of Tanaga Island, near Adak, on December 5 when a hydraulic leak left the rudder stuck hard to starboard.

Using a combination of the ship’s bow thrusters and forward propulsion, the crew was able to direct the vessel away from land and keep it from turning in circles.  On December 6 crew were able to release the rudder from its fixed position, but still aren’t able to control it.

The Singaporean-flagged vessel is carrying packaged timber and was en route from Vancouver, Canada to Japan.  There are 23 crewmembers onboard.     

The Coast Guard has deployed a Jayhawk helicopter and a Hercules airplane to Adak as a precaution and has also diverted the cutter Sherman from its Bering Sea patrol to assist the vessel.

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation on-scene coordinator Steve Russell says his department is also monitoring the situation closely.

“Anytime they have a vessel of that size, has a mechanical problem like that in the Aleutians and then they become slave to the weather conditions there.  Certainly there’s a concern about them running aground.”

The Morning Cedar has 227,000 gallons of bunker C oil and 60,000 gallons of diesel onboard.

The vessel's parent company, Eukor Car Carriers, is flying rudder specialists out to Adak to see if the problem can be fixed at sea.  They should arrive on Thursday.  

Eukor has also contracted a tug out of Seattle in case that doesn't work, but it will take at least nine days for it to arrive.

As of 1pm on Wednesday, the Morning Cedar was 27 nautical miles north of Tanaga Island.

Update:

The Coast Guard cutter Sherman arrived on scene at 6:30pm on December 6.  The rudder specialists were airlifted onto the vessel on December 8 and are working on repairs to the faulty system.