Barge and Tanker Collision; Mobile Bay, AL

Mobile Bay, AL | 2003-Dec-02

Initial Notification: On the afternoon of 2 December 2003, the NOAA SSC was notified of a collision between a barge and tanker at the intersection of the Mobile Ship Channel and the Inter-coastal Waterway (ICW). Two tanks were reported holed on the tanker: a 5000 bbl gasoline cargo tank and a 7000 bbl diesel cargo tank. The location of the incident was reported as N 30 deg 16.659' Latitude W 088 deg 02.090' Longitude. NOAA investigated the potential threats from the reported collision. While the collision did result in significant damage to the tanker, the USCG reported that very little gasoline and probably no diesel fuel was released to the environment.