he 623-foot motor vessel Sparna, with the help of two tug vessels, is moored to a pier in Kalama, Wash., March 23, 2016. The Sparna will endure injury evaluation and repairs after briefly working aground earlier within the week
MARCH 24, 2016 — The 54,881 dwt Panamanian flagged bulk service Sparna is now awaiting repairs pierside in North Kalama, WA, after briefly grounding close to river marker 36 in Oregon on Monday morning.
The 623 ft Sparna is owned by Japan’s Santoku Senpaku Co Ltd and was totally loaded with grain in its cargo holds, and carrying 218,380 gallons of excessive sulfur gasoline and 39,380 gallons of marine diesel.
A injury evaluation was submitted to the Coast Guard by Ballard Marine Construction early Tuesday morning. Shared with each Washington and Oregon state responders, the evaluation confirmed that the ship had sustained a number of fractures, the most important being a 25-foot by 5-foot large fracture with a visual boulder lodged inside. The injury to was contained to 2 flooded compartments.
A Unified Command consisting of the Coast Guard, operators of the motor vessel Sparna, Columbia River Pilots and the National Response Corporation Environmental Services determined that the vessel needs to be moved up river and oversaw the protected transit. It was made with the help of two tugs and a Coast Guard security zone escort.
As a precaution, the Sparna was adopted by a NRC vessel with air pollution response capabilities.
The vessel’s gasoline tanks remained intact all through the incident.
“The main objectives during the transit was to maintain the safety of the Sparna crew, maintain a safe navigational channel throughout the transit and respond as necessary to environmental concerns,” mentioned Cmdr. Jonathan Hellberg, USCG, incident commander. “The successful transit was a unified team effort, and we are very pleased with the outcome.”
A 100-yard security zone surrounding the motor vessel Sparna was put in place by the captain of the port all through the transit. After the protected transit upriver the captain of the port lifted the protection zone and the Columbia River is now open to all visitors.
