At least 20 killed in Nigeria

     At least 20 people drowned when an overloaded vessel capsized 23 Jan.
in the Qua Iboe River near Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. Thirty-six people were
rescued by a local oil company.

About 100 rescued as vessel takes on water off Italy

     About 100 migrants were rescued 24 Jan. from the Manolia
(Turkish-registry wooden vessel) that began taking on water three
kilometers/two miles off the Apulia Region of Italy. The vessel was later
towed to Gallipoli. The passengers were from Iran and Sri Lanka.

U.S. Coast Guard rescues 64 in the Mona Passage

     The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 64 Dominican citizens on 29 Jan. in the
Mona Passage. The 44 men and 20 women were aboard an 11-meter/37-foot
sailboat sailing from Akku-Akku, the Dominican Republic, to Puerto Rico.
The vessel began taking on water 27 kilometers/16 miles north of Cabo
Macoris, the Dominican Republic. Six were treated for dehydration.

Armenistis suffers fire in Aegean Sea

     The Armenistis (Greek-registry 1,102-dwt, 1,623-dwt general cargo
vessel built in 1965, operated by Armenistis Naftiki Eteria) suffered am
engine room fire on 2 Feb. about 5.6 kilometers/3.5 miles off Laurium,
Greece, near Attica. The crew of eight or nine abandoned the ship and were
rescued by the launch Kastelorizo from Laurium. The tug Karapiperis 14
(Greek-registry) later towed the ship to Piraeus. The ship was sailing in
ballast from Laurium to Crete.

Vessel fire off South Korea

     An Algerian-registry vessel, carrying 488 tons of vehicle tires,
suffered a fire 6 Feb. off Pusan, South Korea.

Crew rescued as fishing vessel capsizes off Florida

     The 21-meter/68-foot fishing vessel Sissie & Me (U.S.-registry) sent
out a distress call on 23 Jan. about 16 kilometers/9.8 miles south of
Sanibel Island, Fla. A U.S. Coast Guard 12-meter/41-foot utility boat from
Coast Guard Station Fort Myers, Fla., responded with the "Point"-class
Patrol Boat U.S.C.G.C. Point Stelle (WPB 82359). Assisted by a good
Samaritan, the crew was rescued and taken to shore. The fishing vessel
capsized shortly after.

Barge capsizes on Hudson River

     While pushing two barges on the Hudson River in New York on 26 Jan.,
the tug Buchanan 10 encountered 15 centimeters/six inches to 20
centimeters/eight inches of drifting brash ice. The forward
40-meter/130-foot barge listed and the tug held the barge against the shore
for three hours. The U.S. Coast Guard Capstan-class Small Harbor Tug
U.S.C.G.C. Line (WYTL 65611) arrived just as the barge capsized and dumped
700 tons of scrap metal.

German submarine, loaded tanker collide

     A German Navy attack submarine collided with the bow of the Natura
(Finnish-registry 91,263-dwt tanker built in 1993, operated by Neste Oy) on
3 Feb. south of Langeland Island, Denmark. No one was injured. The Natura,
carrying crude oil, was not damaged and the submarine reported some damage
to a radio antenna and a radar mast.

Gasoline spill in Maine during barge loading

     About 63,800 liters/16,800 gallons of unleaded gasoline spilled into
the harbor at South Portland, Maine, on 5 Feb., as a tank barge was being
loaded at Gulf Oil Corp. Local firefighters sprayed the spill with water to
disperse it. The BFT-39 (U.S.registry, 79 meters/260 feet long, owned by
Boston Towing and Transport Co.) was reportedly to sail to Boston. Boston
Towing and Transport speculated that a tankerman did not see a floating
gauge on one of the 12 cargo tanks, and let it overflow for six minutes. As
of 6 Feb., 95 percent of the spill evaporated or was collected.

Containership runs aground in Florida marine sanctuary

     The Contship Houston (Liberian-registry, 41,815-dwt,
183-meter/600-foot containership owned by Transportacion Maritima Mexican
S.A. de C.V.) ran aground late 2 Feb. off the Florida Keys. The ship is in
5.5 meters/18 feet of water about 19 kilometers/12 miles southeast of Key
West, about 1.6 kilometers/one mile inside in the Florida Keys National
Marine Sanctuary. The Contship Houston, with a crew of 25, has a draft of
nine meters/30 feet at present. The grounding was not reported until 0530 3
Feb. Ships more than 50 meters/164 feet in length are banned from the
sanctuary. The Contship Houston was carrying containers from New Orleans to
Valencia, Spain, and has 3.04 million liters/800,000 gallons or 2,500 tons
of fuel aboard. The grounding comes less than a week after Florida's
governor and cabinet approved the federal sanctuary, which was first
proposed after three groundings in 18 days in 1989. The containership ran
aground at about 16 knots, damaging an unknown amount of coral reef. The
bow is on sand and rock and about 20 percent hard and soft coral.

Ada Gorthon runs aground in the St. Lawrence Seaway

     The Ada Gorthon (Swedish-registry 13,525-gt, 10,565-dwt ro/ro built in
1984, operated by Gorthon Lines) ran aground in the St. Lawrence Seaway on
5 Feb. near Pointe-au-Pic, Quebec, Canada. Heavy ice was reported in the
area. The ship was sailing to Pointe-au-Pic with paper, and suffered damage
to a tank. The Ada Gorthon was later escorted to Quebec.

Ship runs aground at Riga

     The Austvik (Bahamian-registry 2,768-gt, 3,750-dwt general cargo
vessel built in 1980, operated by Torleivur Mikkelsen) ran aground 1.6
kilometers/1 mile off the breakwater at Riga, Latvia, on 4 Feb. The ship
had left Riga with 2,358 tons of scrap iron. The Austvik was refloated with
tug assistance and towed back to Riga.

U.S. Coast Guard aids two fishing vessels off the U.S. east coast

     On 5 Feb., the 25-meter/82-foot trawler Celtic Pride II, with three
crewmembers, began taking on water about 56 kilometers/35 miles east of
Rockland, Maine. At 1103, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter from Coast Guard
Air Station Cape Cod, Mass., lowered two dewatering pumps to the vessel. A
13-meter/44-foot motor lifeboat from Coast Guard Station Rockland arrived
at 1249, followed by the "Point"-class Patrol Boat U.S.C.G.C. Point Hannon
(WPB 82355) at 1340. The U.S.C.G.C. Point Hannon was relieved by the
"Island"-class Patrol Boat U.S.C.G.C. Wrangell (WPB 1332) at 1410. After
flooding aboard the Celtic Pride II was contained, the vessel was escorted
to Rockland. The Patriots (U.S.-registry 26-meter/84-foot fishing vessel
homeported at New Bedford, Mass.) sent out a distress call at 1228 5 Feb.,
about 40 kilometers/25 miles southeast of Chatham, Mass. The vessel's
lazarette had filled with water, and at 1257, a U.S. Coast Guard HU-25A
Guardian from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod dropped two dewatering
pumps. Later that day, the Bear-class Medium-Endurance Cutter U.S.C.G.C.
Spencer (WMEC 905), homeported in Boston, arrived and sent personnel to the
Patriots by boat to make repairs.

Elgurdabia has windlass problems

     The Elgurdabia (Libyan-registry 74,939-gt tanker built in 1976) had
windlass problems on 2 Feb. while preparing to enter the Suez Canal. As a
result, the ship missed a southbound convoy. The Elgurdabia was sailing
from Italy to Yanbu.

Barge towed to Seattle

     After temporary repairs, the Oregon (U.S.-registry 121-meter/398-foot
barge owned by Crowley Marine Services) has been towed to a Seattle
shipyard. The barge, loaded with 12,500 tons of urea and 6,100 liters/1,600
gallons of diesel fuel, capsized 25 Jan. in Cook Inlet, Alaska, after
colliding with the Crowley Marine Services tug towing it from Unocal Corp.
at Kikiski, Alaska. The tow was sailing to Sacramento, Calif. The barge
arrived at Homer on 26 Jan. where the urea was found to have been washed
overboard.

Nakhodka update

     A British oil spill team arrived in Japan on 2 Feb. at the invitation
of nine Japanese prefectures to assess the spill from the Nakhodka
(Russian-registry 13,157-gt, 20,471-dwt tanker built in 1970, operated by
Primorsk Shipping Co. and owned by Prisco Traffic Ltd.). The ship broke in
half 0250 2 Jan. about 130 kilometers/81 miles northeast of the Oki
Islands, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. Thirty-one of 32 crew were rescued and
the master was killed. The Nakhodka carried 19,000 tons of grade C heavy
fuel, or 19 million liters/five million gallons or 133,000 barrels. The
spill is estimated at more than five million liters/1.3 million gallons or
5,000 tons and has affected eight Japanese prefectures. The group, from the
British Transport Department's Marine Pollution Control Unit, visited Hyogo
and Kyoto prefectures. On 4 Feb., they held a seminar in Kyoto for
government and others affected by the spill. Also, 20 meters/65 feet
remains to be built of a causeway to the bow, which is aground of Mikuni,
Fukui Prefecture. On 4 Feb., it was decided to continue pumping of oil from
the bow without the causeway being completed. When the road is 180
meters/590 feet long, a crane with a 70-meter/230-foot arm will be
positioned at the end to convey a hose to tank trucks. It will take at
least 10 days to remove the oil. The spill has damaged 29 fisheries in
seven prefectures with costs estimated at 910 million Japanese yen. Two
more people have died while cleaning up the spill. A 55-year-old fisherman
died of a heart attack on 24 Jan. after helping in the clean-up at Joetsu,
Niigata Prefecture. A 68-year-old man died on 3 Feb. after suffering a
heart attack. He worked at Amino, Kyoto Prefecture. Japan has announced
that 1 million Japanese yen posthumous awards will be made to each
volunteer who died. On 4 Feb., the International Oil Pollution Compensation
Fund said clean-up will cost 9 billion Japanese yen, with the total cost of
the spill estimated at 16 billion to 17 billion yen. Officials from the
governments of Japan and Russia met 5 Feb. to discuss the Nakhodka
incident. The three-day meeting is focusing on the cause of the wreck,
clean-up and how to prevent future spills. Before weather conditions
worsened on 6 Feb., about 400,000 liters/104,000 gallons, or 360 tons, of
oil and seawater was removed from the bow. It is believed that two million
liters/520,000 gallons remain. A starboard tank and a center tank have been
drained, while another center tank and a port tank remain to be emptied.

No class-action lawsuits in Bright Field case

     U.S. District Court Judge Morey Sear has ruled that firms and
individuals cannot file class-action lawsuits to get damages in the case of
the Bright Field (Liberian-registry 36,120-gt, 68,200-dwt, 23,035-nt bulk
carrier built in 1988, owned by Clearsky Shipping Co. and managed and
operated by COSCO Hong Kong Shipping Co. Ltd.). The ship allided with a
Riverwalk mall and hotel complex in New Orleans at 1430 14 Dec. At least
116 people were injured and some 15 shops and 456 hotel rooms were
destroyed as the ship slammed into a 16,200 square meter/180,000 square
foot building. Sear ruled that all lawsuits must be filed separately.