In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard the Russian tanker Renda transits through the Bering Sea with the Coast Guard Cutter Healy’s assistance Jan. 10, 2012. The Renda is carrying 1.3 million gallons of petroleum products for delivery to Nome. Progress was stalled by thick ice and strong ocean currents Tuesday. The vessels made nine miles but drifted with the ice while at rest for a total gain of just six miles, Coast Guard spokesman David Mosley said. Ice conditions remained tough Wednesday. The Coast Guard said the two vessels were in densely concentrated ice about 100 miles from Nome by mid-afternoon
This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard from the bridge camera aboard the Ice Breaker Healy taken at 8:01 p.m. EST shows the tanker Renda approximately one mile from Nome Alaska Friday Jan. 13, 2012. Nome's harbor is iced-in, preventing the 370-foot tanker from getting to the city dock. It will have to moor at this location offshore to transfer its 1.3-million-gallon payload across the ice and to fuel headers that feed a nearby tank farm
In this photo provided by the US Coast Guard, the cutter Healy, left, breaks ice around the Russian tanker Renda in the Bering Sea Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012, 97 miles south of Nome, Alaska. The two vessels departed Dutch Harbor for Nome on Jan. 3, 2012, to deliver more than 1.3 million gallons of petroleum products.
In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Bill Walker, with the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, prepares an unmanned drone at the Nome causeway Jan. 10, 2012. Walker is using the UAV to gather aerial photos and video of daily ice conditions in preparation for the planned Nome fuel transfer. The camera-equipped drone looks like a smoke detector with wings and legs. It glides on 20-minute missions ranging from 10 feet to 320 feet above the ice, and its images can be instantly viewed on a tablet-type computer screen.