Maritime News

An oil barge carrying 6.3 million gallons of oil had to wait out a storm off the Oregon coast after reporting mechanical problems.

 
he barge and its tug are owned by U.S. shipping Corporation. On April 2, 2010, the Corpus Christi tug was tugging the Petrochem barge south from Puget Sound with a full load of heavy vacuum gas oil. The connection between the tug and the barge began overheating and the tug experienced flooding into the emergency generator room. Because of the storm, the tug was left stranded 40 miles offshore with no emergency electrical power.

 
The electrical problems were repaired on April 4, but there were still concerns about the overheating of the pins connecting the barge and tug.

 
On April 5, the emergency response tug Hunter accompanied the Corpus Christi and the barge to Port Angeles for repairs. After repairs are made, the tug will continue to its original destination of Long Beach, CA.

 
Barges and tugs are common in the Gulf of Mexico.  Similar incidents could occur off the coasts of Louisiana or Texas. In this case, the safety of the crew was protected by the decision to wait out the storm. If the vessel operators had put profits before safety, seamen may have been injured or even killed.

 
To learn more about your rights if you are injured at sea, contact The Young Firm and request our free book: 6 Secrets Your Company May Not Tell You When You Get Injured Offshore.

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