MER Savannah responds to spill on the Savannah River

1.31.2012

MER responded to a fuel oil spill early Tuesday 1/31/12 on the Savannah River. A local terminal alerted the Coast Guard that a container ship was leaking fuel while at it's berth at the Garden City terminal. MER, the contract holder for the Savannah Spill Response Co-op (SSRC), deployed our Moran Emergency Management Team (MEMT) personnel to manage the incident. Within two hours, a combination of SSRC and MER assets were used to fully contain the spill, and begin clean-up operations.

During this time, vessel personnel identified the source of the leak as a crack in the vessel's hull. They immediately transferred the fuel, and placed a temporary patch to stop the leak.

US Coast Guard Lt. Marvin Kimmel commented that the spill doesn't appear to be large, although it will be some time before they have a solid estimate, as the ship was fueling when the leak occurred.

To learn more about the incident, please click here.

Information obtained from http://savannahnow.com, "Update: Garden City Terminal Oil Spill Draws Coast Guard," 1/31/12