By EILEEN STILWELL
Courier-Post Staff
PHILADELPHIA -- Crude oil dumped accidentally Saturday into the Delaware River hasn't harmed the environment or wildlife or halted recreational activity, according to Coast Guard Commander Mike Riley, safety chief for the port of Philadelphia and Camden.
The spill of 16,800 gallons occurred when oil was being transferred from a barge owned by Maritrans, a private lightering company, to the Sun Oil Hog Island Terminal, near Philadelphia International Airport.
Lightering is the marine term for making a ship lighter by transferring its cargo to another ship, generally so the heavy ship sits higher in the water and can navigate a shallow channel.
In this case, the tanker Kishore was sitting too deep for the 40-foot Delaware Channel and its cargo had to be transferred to the shallow draft Maritrans barge to reach its destination.
The Maritrans barge leaked about 400 barrels of oil into the Delaware through a 4-inch-by-8-inch hole in the hull before the problem was discovered.
Favorable tides and mild weather allowed more than 150 cleanup workers to contain the oil around the spill and minimize the damage, said Riley. The cleanup should be completed by Thursday.
The origin of the hole in the barge is being investigated. Penalties against Maritrans could be issued if the investigation finds the company is at fault, Riley said.
The most recent spill of this magnitude occurred last July when the tanker Kentucky discharged 12,000 gallons of crude at Marcus Hook on the Pennsylvania shore of the Delaware.
