PORTLAND, Ore. — A Royal Dutch Shell icebreaker that was the target of environmental protesters is bound for an Arctic drilling operation.
The Fennica headed out Thursday after authorities forced protesters in kayaks from a river and removed others dangling from a bridge.
The demonstrators had been trying to stop the vessel from leaving dry dock and making its way along the Willamette River toward the Pacific Ocean.
The Fennica arrived in Portland for repairs last week.
It attempted to leave earlier Thursday but turned around when activists dangling from St. Johns Bridge refused to let the vessel pass.
The icebreaker is a key part of Shell’s exploration and spill-response plan off Alaska’s northwest coast. It protects Shell’s fleet from ice and carries equipment that can stop gushing oil.
Earlier, Sgt. Pete Simpson, a Portland police spokesman, said safety was the main priority as authorities tried to move protesters away from the area. Police and Coast Guard officers were joined by firefighters and a rope-rescue team.
“This is, obviously, a very unique situation,” he said.
Greenpeace spokeswoman Cassady Sharp had said the people on the St. Johns Bridge over the Willamette River would leave peacefully if they thought they were in danger.
The move by authorities came hours after a federal judge in Alaska ordered Greenpeace USA to pay a fine of $2,500 for every hour that other protesters dangle from a bridge over the river to block the ship.
The bridge is at a key location on the Fennica’s route from Portland to the Arctic.
The ship’s journey would take it beneath the bridge and down the Willamette to the Columbia River.
In May, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason granted Shell’s request that activists protesting its Arctic drilling plans be ordered to stay away from company vessels and beyond buffer zones.
The Fennica was damaged this month in the Aleutian Islands when it struck an underwater obstruction, tearing a gash in its hull.
Environmentalists had hoped to delay the ship long enough for winter weather to prevent Shell from drilling until 2016.
By that time, they hoped, the Obama administration would have a change of heart.
At the hearing in Anchorage, Gleason said the hourly fine against Greenpeace would increase over the next few days.
