Local Man’s Ship Hits Logjam

At the Mouth of the Mississippi

Among the hundreds of boats prevented from entering the Mississippi River last week because of a massive oil spill was an oil tanker under the control of Randolph Center’s experienced ship’s captain, Tom Malanchuck.

The oil spill occurred at 1:30 in the morning last Wednesday, July 23 when the oil tanker Tintomar, running under the Liberian flag and towed by the Mel Olivar, struck Barge #932 about 98 miles from the outlet of the Mississippi. The collision split the barge in two pieces and caused a spill of an estimated 42,000 gallons of #6 oil into the Mississippi.

Investigation quickly established that the towboat did not have a properly licensed operator.

The first "incident report" was sent out at 4:07 a.m., Malanchuck said reporting that seven miles of the Mississippi was closed to traffic because of the oil spill. By 8:30 a.m. the spill had spread 20 miles downriver and by 1:30 it had traveled 50 miles. At 6 p.m. a bulletin stated "the entire river is closed" from mile 98 to the Gulf of Mexico.

At the time Malanchuck, the master of the Keystone Texas, was in the Gulf of Mexico, one day away from entering the river. Twenty-four hours later he anchored just outside the river’s outlet, the Southwest Pass, along with 30 other huge ships.

"Cargoes are of all types on these ships," he reported, "grain, steel, dry cargo, containers, phosphates, coal and of course petroleum products and chemicals. It took two hours of "tough navigating" to position and anchor his ship, he said.

Eventually the area filled up with hundreds of ships (see radar photo), and the Randolph Center man speculated that a similar number were already in the river, prevented by the oil spill from exiting to the Gulf.

Petroleum Traffic

The spill, as chronicled by Malanchuck in emails to The Herald, showcases just how much industrial traffic the Lower Mississippi River carries and the number of refineries that depend on oil shipped up the river.

Refineries are spotted along the river as far north as Baton Rouge, La., 240 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, which is as far upriver as large ships can navigate, Malanchuck explained.

Malanchuck speculated that gasoline prices may move upward again because of the disaster, which potentially forced many huge refineries to close. Even a short shutdown means a costly start-up operation, he said.

"Ships like mine trade back and forth from Louisiana to Florida, and even up the East coast, weekly supplying petroleum product," he said. "I know of at least 10 tankers and half a dozen or more others which run between Florida, Louisiana and Texas weekly.

Malanchuck also said he understands there are many unqualified tugboat operators on the river, though it is "a dangereous piece of navigation" especially with the floodwaters that started down the river in early July. Foreign-flag vessels like the Tintomara are almost totally dependent on the pilots, he said, unlike ships like his whose captains are familiar with the river currents.

More challenges remain, even after the clean-up is complete, he said.

"When the river is finally opened for traffic, it will be extremely busy, and more dangerous to transit until things slow down."

Tuesday Update

As of Tuesday Capt. Malanchuck reported that he had been one of the first boats allowed up the river. There was a "sheen" on the river in places, and spots of black oil along the shore, but the main part of the river was mostly clean, he said.

"So, I expect to leave tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) late," he said, "with my cargo of gasolines, and ultra low sulfur diesel for discharge in Tampa. We'll have approximately 13 million gallons aboard."

That’s over 100 million pounds of gas.