MERATUS AMURANG

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Oil spill response continued

The Coast Guard, Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinators Office, Gallagher Marine and response personnel continued cleanup efforts on the Mississippi River near New Orleans, on Apr 13. Algiers and Canal Street Ferries have resumed operations. The Coast Guard has lifted its waterway restriction on the Mississippi River near New Orleans. The intracoastal waterway between the Algiers Lock and Inner Harbor Navigation Canal was open. The transit through Algiers point was being evaluated. Response teams were continuing cleanup efforts after the "Pac Antares" struck a pier near Nashville Avenue Wharf, releasing heavy fuel oil into the Mississippi River.

Hull breach caused oil spill on Mississippi

On Apr 12, 2018, at 10.30 a.m. the "Pac Antares" was breached in an allision with a pier on the Mississippi at mile marker 100 in New Orleans during the mooring manovoer upon its arrival. The hull was breached, and an estimated 4,200 gallons of oil fuel leaked into the river. The vessel was moored at theNashville Avenue Wharf, and the leak has been plugged.The Coast Guard and local agencies responded to the oil spill. Response personnel conducted an assessment of the impacted area and established an Incident Command Post to coordinate response efforts. OMI Environmental Solutions deployed containment booms, sorbent booms and pads around the spill to contain and collect the oil. They have deployed one skimmer at the site to skim the oil off the surface of the river, and four more were en route. The Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health and Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality were maintaining stations in the vicinity of Riverwalk mall. The Mississippi was closed to vessel movements from mile marker 91 to mile marker 101. The closing stalled 12 commercial vessels on the river. Parish governments downriver from the spill had been notified. The RTA shut down the ferry that runs between the French Quarter and Algiers Point, but a bus shuttled passengers between the two ferry terminals until the river was reopened. Security guards at the renovated Moonwalk were advising people not to sit on the steps nearest the water because of the fumes. Dark bands of diesel fuel drifted past the docked Natchez riverboat and under the wharf where Alex McMurray's band performed to a large French Quarter Festival crowd. The agency's water intake near Algiers had not been affected by the spill. Involved in the response were: Coast Guard Sector New Orleans; Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans; National Response Corperation; Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinators Office: Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and OMI Environmental Standards. No injuries were reported and the cause of the incident was under investigation. The ship had arrived from Houston. Reports with photos: http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/article_4e168dd4-3e7a-11e8-9fad-9f8998380ed0.html http://www.nola.com/traffic/index.ssf/2018/04/oil_spill_visible_along_missis.html