NEW YORK - Ships were moving slowly into and out of the Port of Philadelphia Tuesday after the Delaware River was partly shut by a crude oil spill last Friday, US Coast Guard officials said.
"Traffic is open on a case-by-case basis," said Petty Officer Jamie Bigelowe. "Ships are allowed through once they are inspected," he said about the port, which normally receives about 1 million barrels of crude oil per day for refineries upstream.
The inspections slowed traffic. About five commerce ships were waiting to enter the river from the Atlantic Ocean at midday Tuesday, said Petty Officer John Edwards.
About 20 miles of the Delaware River was shut to allow for the cleanup of about 30,000 gallons, of heavy Venezuelan crude oil that had spilled from two gashes in the hull of the Athos I, a Cypriot-flagged tanker. Monday, officials said up to 450,000 gallons had been spilled.
The cause was still under investigation, said Edwards, who added that on Tuesday or Wednesday crude from the Athos I would be lightered onto another ship. He said the lightering would lift the Athos I in the water and allow divers to inspect the gashes, which would help determine the cause of the leaks.
The ship was to deliver the crude to the Citgo Corp. refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey, south of Philadelphia. Citgo is the US-based refining unit of Venezuela's state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.
The single-hulled vessel is owned by Frescati Shipping Co. Ltd. of Cyprus.
US legislation passed after the Exxon Valdez ran aground and spilled crude oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989 called for the phasing out of single-hulled tankers in favor of double-hulled tankers by 2015 as a preventive measure.
The US Army Corps of Engineers was surveying the bottom of the river to determine if anything there caused the gashes.
Edwards said more than 550 workers on Tuesday were cleaning up the spill. Federal and local wildlife officials captured 48 oil-soaked animals, of which 16 died.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
