USCG: Aframax Tanker Allides Twice in New Orleans

File image courtesy Transmar Shipping Agency By The Maritime Executive 02-03-2016 11:07:03

The U.S. Coast Guard Eighth District reported Tuesday that it was responding to two allisions in New Orleans at mile markers 104 and 94 on the Mississippi River.

According to the USCG’s initial statement, the 120,000 dwt aframax tanker Nordbay struck the water intake for Jefferson Parish at mile marker 104. However, Jefferson Parish Councilman-at-Large Chris Roberts suggested that the water intake showed no sign of an allision. “Contrary to early reports, according to the Jefferson Parish Public Works Director, after visual inspection none of the water intakes in unicorporated Jefferson Parish have been impacted by an incident . . . involving a tanker in the Mississippi River.”

A USCG spokeswoman told Maritime Executive that the tanker was indeed involved in an allision at mile marker 104, but that their latest information suggested that the object struck by the tanker was a piling associated with a water intake facility, not a water intake.

Authorities directed the Nordbay to proceed to the New Orleans General Anchorage following the first allision. While en route to the anchorage, the tanker struck a derelict wharf near New Orleans’ Crescent Park, the USCG spokeswoman said.

Image credit Paul Murphy

The Cyprus-flagged Nordbay reportedly sustained a hole in her hull, discharging some ballast water, but the USCG said that there was no apparent pollution. She was in ballast at the time, with no cargo aboard.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Nordbay's AIS status shows her at anchor on the Mississippi, three nm downriver from the Governor Nicholls Street Wharf.

The USCG was not able to discuss the cause of the allisions as the incident remains under investigation.

Separately, on Wednesday the USCG Eighth District announced the reopening of the Mississippi to navigation at mile markers 50 to 53. The river had been closed to commercial traffic in the area since mid-January due to the breakaway of 22 barges from the United Bulk Terminal at mile marker 54, near West Point a la Hache, which damaged three deep draft vessels in subsequent collisions.