Capsized Oil Barge Removed After Hitting Sunken Oil Platform

Published Dec 28, 2005 12:01 AM by The Maritime Executive

A barge that capsized and leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico last month has been raised to the surface and is on its way to Alabama, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. The crippled barge was headed for the Holcim dock in Theodore, Ala., to be salvaged.

Over the past two weeks, crews raised the barge to the surface and off-loaded more than 2 million gallons of oil, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The 441-foot barge was en-route from Houston to Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 10, when it struck a platform sunk by Hurricane Rita about 100 miles east of Galveston. Three cargo tanks of the double-hulled barge were damaged, allowing as much as 3 million gallons of oil to spill onto the ocean floor.

The leaked oil, a heavy petroleum product known as number-six fuel oil, has not reached the Texas or Louisiana coasts and is being monitored by divers, sonar and video. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has determined that the likelihood of the oil impacting coastal areas was low, according to the Coast Guard.