New York, October 21: A tanker ship collided with a supply vessel offshore Texas early Wednesday, spilling 18,000 gallons (68,140 liters) of fuel oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
“The leak has been secured and there were no injuries reported on either vessel,” the Coast Guard said in a release.
An 820-foot (250-meter) tanker, the Liberian-flagged Krymsk, collided with a 166-foot offshore supply vessel, AET Endeavor, damaging one of the Krymsk’s two fuel tanks and spilling oil.
The crew transferred the ship’s remaining fuel to the undamaged tank, the Coast Guard said.
The incident around 40 miles (65-km) southeast of Galveston, Texas is in a lightering zone and shouldn’t affect normal tanker traffic near the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Coast Guard and cash crude traders said.
Clean-up efforts will begin later Wednesday, when a DC-3 airplane will drop dispersants on the spill, a Coast Guard spokesman said. The spill of around 18,000 gallons of heavy, No. 4 fuel oil, which was used to power the Krymsk, is relatively small and should dilute quickly, shipping sources said.
Containment by vessels at sea may be complicated by bad weather.
“It’s kind of tricky because it’s 40 miles offshore and there are 5-foot swells and 40-knot winds right now,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Prentice Danner.
AET’s support vessel hit the Krymsk, which had just completed a transfer of fuel with another tank ship, the Coast Guard said. AET’s vessel was servicing the tank ships when the accident occurred in windy conditions and high seas.
—Agencies