Tandem Tow Goes South in U.S. Gulf of Mexico

A close up photograph of the motor vessel Ken Tide and motor vessel Louie Tide listing into each other, Thursday, Oct. 31, approximately two miles offshore and south of Mansfield Jetties. U.S. Coast Guard Photo

The tow of two aging offshore supply vessels took a turn for the worse Thursday when the two vessels apparently started smashing into each other, causing one of the vessels to list into the other.

The U.S. Coast Guard says it was alerted by the captain of the towing vessel at approximately 8 a.m. Thursday requesting assistance as one of the vessels was listing heavily into the other about 2 miles offshore and South of the Mansfield Jetties.

The vessels, both Offshore Supply Vessels, were being towed, apparently side-by-side, from Louisiana to the scrap yard in Brownsville when they started ramming into each other. Correction: A tandem tow would imply one vessel after the other, which actually doesn’t seem to have ever been the case here.

The vessel names are Ken Tide and Louie Tide and both measure about 200-feet in length. There are currently no persons onboard either OSV, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard said that the owner of the vessels has been notified and has reported that neither vessel has an oil supply onboard that could pose a pollution risk to the environment, but Coast Guard pollution response personnel are on-scene investigating.

The name of the towing vessel has not been released in the Coast Guard report.