EDITOR’S NOTE — See related April 26 story and photos, “Oil rig Polar Pioneer, heavy lift ship Blue Marlin now separate in Port Angeles Harbor [PHOTO GALLERY]” — https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20150426/NEWS/304269980
PORT ANGELES — The heavy-lift ship MV Blue Marlin is headed to Singapore after leaving Port Angeles Harbor.
The ship — which arrived in the harbor carrying the oil drilling rig Polar Pioneer on April 17 — left at 11:06 p.m. Thursday, traveled west through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and is in the Pacific Ocean, heading southwest, according to www.marinetraffic.com.
It is expected to reach Singapore on June 8, according to the website.
The Blue Marlin had carried the Polar Pioneer from Malaysia starting in early March.
The Polar Pioneer was offloaded from the Blue Marlin the morning of April 26.
The rig is expected to remain anchored in Port Angeles Harbor through the weekend before being towed to Seattle at an unspecified date in the near future, according to Megan Baldino, Shell spokeswoman.
The 400-foot-long, 355-foot-tall drilling rig owned by Transocean Ltd. is one of two vessels Royal Dutch Shell plans to use for exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northern shore.
The second rig, the drill ship Noble Discoverer, will pass through the Strait of Juan de Fuca on its way to Seattle sometime in May and will not stop in Port Angeles, Baldino said.
