By Angel Gonzalez and Naureen Malik
of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

HOUSTON (Dow Jones) – A collision between an oil tanker bound for Exxon Mobil Corp.’s (XOM) Beaumont refinery and an outbound vessel towing barges resulted in a major crude oil spill in the port of Port Arthur, Texas on Saturday.

The U.S. Coast Guard said that the towing vessel and the two barges it was pushing tore a hole on the side of the 807-foot tanker Eagle Otome at about 9:30 a.m. CST, spilling an estimated 450,000 gallons of crude oil, or about 11,000 barrels. The Sabine Neches Waterway is closed to all vessel traffic along Port Arthur’s river front, the Coast Guard said in a press release.

• KEEP READING »
• NOAA Office of Response: T/V Eagle Otome-Barge Collision (photos and map) »
• news video report »
• UPDATE: Washington Post / January 24, 2010; 11:10 AM: Coast Guard: Oil spill in Texas waterway Contained »

You may find comments on this collision by professional mariners on gCaptain forum post: Port Arthur -Tanker Eagle Otone holed by barge.

This weeks Ship Photo of The Week is of the Alaskan Navigator docked at BP Terminal Pier T at The Port of Long Beach. What’s exciting about this is that it is the world’s first oil tanker terminal equipped with shore power to eliminate air emissions from docked vessels.  Instead of running its diesel engines while at berth, the 941-foot Navigator plugged into a shore-side electricty grid to power its off-loading operations.  The Port of Long Beach tells us: [Continue Reading →]

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Video of the Hebei Spirit Oil Spill In South Korea.

Video not working in your browser? Try the direct link.

Tim’s Times has a conversation that put a big smile on our faces and reminded me of my favorite TV commercial. Here’s the story:

You have to imagine a heavy French accent and a heavy East European accent replying

French VTS- What kind of vessel are you?

Tanker- We are oil tanker.

French VTS- What kind of ‘ull ‘ave you? (silent h in front of ave and ull)

Tanker- ‘ull ‘ave?

French VTS – yes ‘ull, what kind of ‘ull ave you?

Tanker- please repeat question, not understanding?

French VTS- You are a tanker, what of ‘ULL ave you, a single ‘ULL, a double ‘ULL ?

Tanker- no we have no HOLE in ship, everything OK, no HOLE

French VTS-(exasperated) you have no ‘ULL? You have single or double bottom?

Tanker( penny finally drops) ah we are double HULL vessel…….

Frsnch VTS (audible relief in voice) OK sir sank you, ‘ow many crew onboard?(silent h in front of ow)

Tanker(confused again) ‘OW?

and so on and so on, maybe we should all learn French…..

SMILE

Tim has many other interesting sea stories at his blog: Tim’s Times