PORT ANGELES — Although it is massive, the Polar Pioneer, which arrived April 17 in Port Angeles Harbor, hasn’t impacted the flow of maritime commerce here, a Coast Guard official said.

Ensuring there are no delays because of the 355-foot-tall, 400-foot-long semi-submersible oil rig has been a priority for the Coast Guard.

“Port Angeles boat harbor specifically is kind of a staging point, if you will, for everything that is going into Seattle/Tacoma,” said Boatswain’s Mate Chief Petty Officer Philip Ketcheson of Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles, on Friday.

“The main pilot office is here in Port Angeles, so if that commerce was affected, the ripple effects would have been dramatic to everything that is going in and out of Seattle.”

According to the federal Department of Commerce, in 2014, about 1,320,568,950 pounds of export products worth $97.4 million spent time in Port Angeles Harbor before heading out to sea.

Some 73,854,857 pounds of import products worth $18.9 million also spent time in the harbor before progressing into the interior of the country.

“That was our main concern: the free flow of commerce for one of the major West Coast ports for the United States,” Ketcheson said.

The presence of a large vessel such as the Polar Pioneer “is not too uncommon,” Ketcheson said.

“This is probably the tallest, most massive structure” he has seen while stationed here, “but I have seen” cruise ships and cargo ships greater in length.

“Some of those cruise ships heading up towards Alaska are just as big.”

The Coast Guard based on Ediz Hook performs patrols around the Polar Pioneer for security purposes but incorporates those into routine operations already in progress.

“We just randomly patrol,” Ketcheson said. “My crews are out all times of day anyway. It is nothing we are not used to.”

________

Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.