M/T Stena Primorsk Runs Aground on Hudson River Near Albany

Updated: December 31, 2012 (Originally published December 20, 2012)

Update: The owners of the Stena Primorsk have contracted commercial environmental response experts to monitor for any pollution and assist in the salvage of the vessel. There continues to be no reports of pollution from the Stena Primorsk. Divers are scheduled to conduct a thorough examination of the ballast tanks today (Friday).

Original: The U.S. Coast Guard responded this morning when the 65k DWT double-hulled oil tanker, Stena Primorsk, ran aground on the Hudson River near Stuyvesant, N.Y.  The ship had departed Albany, New York after loading light crude oil and the cause of the incident appears to be a steering gear failure.

The tanker is currently at anchor nearby Stuyvesant Anchorage.

The tanker crew reported that no pollution or injuries resulted from the incident and Coast Guard Auxiliary and New York State Police air crews have performed over-flights of the Hudson River and reported no pollution in the vicinity of tanker. The USCG says that the incident resulted in a hull breach to the Stena Primorsk’s ballast tank. However, the second hull was not breached and no oil appeared to have spilled, according to Richard Hendrick, who is the Port of Albany’s general manager.

The vessel is loaded with about 11.7 million gallons (279,000 barrels) of crude, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Erik Swanson, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard.

The British-flagged Stena Primorsk is the first of many tankers that will be carrying Bakken crude to Irving Oil Corp.’s St. John refinery in New Brunswick, Canada, from Albany, New York.  The ship was expected to return to Albany every eight days, which would make the crude shipment rate about 35,000 barrels a day, according to Bloomberg.

“This is the first of a long string of planned shipments from the Port of Albany to Irving,” Hendrick said.

Coast Guard Sector New York pollution and marine emergency responders, working closely with state and local partners, have been dispatched to the tanker to investigate the incident.

Photos of the grounded tanker can be found HERE.

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