Fuel spill from barge in Alaska
An unknown amount of fuel leaked from a fuel barge at 10:30am yesterday morning in waters near Port Frederick, approximately 1 nautical mile from Hoonah, Alaska, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) has confirmed, Ship & Bunker reports.
The report said the crew onboard the tug Altair which was transporting the Kirby Offshore Marine (Kirby) fuel barge Leo, noticed sheen in the water and reported the incident to ADEC at 10:40am after they traced the source back to a 2‐inch fracture between the raised cargo tank bulkhead and deck of the barge.
The impacted cargo tank on the barge was reported to have contained 8,100 barrels (340,200 gallons) of gasoline.
The amount spilled is currently unknown, and the cause of the fracture is also unknown but was said to be under investigation.
To reduce the volume of any further spill, four feet of fuel from the fractured tank was initially transferred to another cargo tank on the vessel and a temporary seal placed into the fracture while Kirby developed its plan to completely transfer the fuel from the impacted tank.
Talking to Ship & Bunker today, Sarah Moore from ADEC's Southeast Alaska Response Team said that the plan had since been given approval by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) with all fuel now transferred to another tank on the barge.
The barge, which she said was no longer leaking, is currently on its way to Juneau.
The initial report issued 5 hours after the incident said there had been no reports of impacts to wildlife or the shoreline, but rainbow sheen has been reported in Port Frederick.
Moore said calculations to determine the volume of the spill are currently in progress and a further report was expected this afternoon or tomorrow once they had been completed.
Kirby Offshore Marine is a subsidiary of Kirby Corp. [NYSE:KEX] who last week announced an agreement to acquire fellow U.S. barge operator Allied Transportation Co. and two affiliated companies from Allied Marine Industries Inc. for $116 million.