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The U.S. Coast Guard investigated a ship in Oakland on Wednesday as part of its investigation into whether a ship’s anchor damaged an oil pipeline off Orange County and spilled 144,000 gallons of crude.
The container ship was in the pipeline area before the spill was discovered, according to a source close to the investigation, and then headed north. Investigators are likely looking for data showing vessel movements and other mechanical information.
The review is only part of a larger investigation into how the spill happened over the past weekend, sources familiar with the investigation told The Times. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to comment publicly.
A final determination of the cause of the spill can take months, but the vessel’s investigation points out that investigators continue to focus on a ship anchor as a possible cause. The investigation is still in its early stages.
Shipping canals off Los Angeles and Orange counties have been blocked for months due to congestion at the port, forcing more ships to anchor near the pipes that carry oil from offshore platforms to land .
Global positioning data provided to The Times shows that the Rotterdam Express, a German container ship, was anchored near the area of the oil spill on Friday and was in the port of Oakland on Wednesday. A port spokesperson confirmed the ship arrived on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Hapag-Lloyd, the German company that owns the Rotterdam Express, said the container ship was anchored near the oil spill, but was “quite far from the pipeline”.
“At the moment, we believe that we are not linked to the oil spill,” spokesman Nils Haupt said by telephone. He said the company will cooperate fully with investigators.
John Amos, president of Skytruth, a nonprofit that uses satellite technology to track environmental issues, said his company analyzed ship movement data on Friday evening when the spill was first detected. times. Skytruth examined the location data of the Rotterdam Express for several days while it was anchored in the area and discovered that it was the closest vessel to the pipeline.
But Skytruth also discovered that the Rotterdam Express was never within 1,500 feet of the line, according to satellite data. Instead, the ship retained a semi-circular pattern that would be expected of an anchored ship moved by wind and current. This distance, Amos said, makes it unlikely that his anchor could be the culprit.
“I don’t think there is enough leash for a vessel to be anchored and pushed to around 1,500 feet,” Amos said. Perhaps the Coast Guard investigation, he said, “will rule them out.”
He added that the actual location of the pipeline may differ from what is shown in federal map data. Amos said the 40-year-old line could have shifted over time, moved either by natural events or by other anchor strikes that did not cause leaks, with the change unreported. in official sources.
Hapag-Lloyd is aware that some information on maritime traffic showed that the Rotterdam Express had moved while anchored, but this “appears to be wrong,” Haupt said. The ship’s captain provided logs, updated hourly, showing the ship has not left its anchorage for several days, he said.
The spill, which was not reported by the rig owner until Saturday morning, came from a pipeline connecting the Port of Long Beach to an offshore oil rig known as Elly.
Diver reports and remote-controlled submarine footage showed that a 4,000-foot section of an almost 18-mile pipeline had been moved about 105 feet and had a 13-inch division along its length. , according to the Joint Unified Command overseeing the investigation.
The move, according to federal sources, is best explained by the anchor of a ship dragging on the ocean floor and catching the pipeline. There were several large freighters in the immediate area of the leak before the oil was spotted.
Martyn Willsher, president and CEO of the pipeline operator’s parent company, Amplify Energy Corp., described the force as pulling the pipe in an almost “semicircle.” “The pipeline has basically been pulled like a bowstring,” he said.
With the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach nearing capacity, container ships and tankers have had to drop their massive 30-ton anchors at designated sites that place them near oil rigs and infrastructure. submarine oil lines, sewage treatment lines and communications equipment.
Much like an air traffic control center, the Marine Exchange organizes the movement of ships in and out of ports. Their work begins when a ship arrives within four days, or 800 miles, of ports.
At this point, for safety reasons, each commercial vessel or yacht weighing more than 300 tonnes must submit a Notice of Arrival to the Coast Guard which reviews the vessel’s manifest.
Under normal conditions, vessels are assigned a berth if a berth is not available. But in recent months, ships arriving within 25 miles of ports have been assigned a “drift zone” either between Catalina Island and the Palos Verdes Peninsula or off Dana Point. They then shut down their engines and drift in the current and wind, with occasional repositioning.
When there is an opening in the mooring area, they head to a specific latitude and longitude, where they drop anchor. The Marine Exchange can direct them to an area near the Long Beach breakwater or along the coast off Huntington Beach.
The spill contaminated sensitive marine areas along the Orange County coast.
Clean-up efforts continued to intensify. By the end of the week, authorities expect 1,500 people to help extract the oil from beaches and offshore, officials said.
Oil has slowly moved south over the past three days, with one slick still floating off Newport Beach and Huntington Beach and another off San Clemente.
More than 5,000 gallons of oil had been removed from the water on Wednesday, but light oil remains along about 15 miles of shore. Authorities have deployed 11,360 feet of dams to protect the coast, according to the Coast Guard.
On Wednesday morning, anti-pollution vessels were seen off Newport Beach, Dana Point and San Clemente.
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