T/V Thompson Pass; Alyeska Terminal, Port Valdez, Alaska

Alyeska Terminal, Port Valdez, Alaska | 1989-Jan-03

Initial Notification: At 2400 on January 2, 1989, oil was observed leaking into the boom around the tanker Thompson Pass as it had completed loading North Slope crude at the Alyeska Terminal at Valdez, Alaska. The capacity of the tanker was approximately 1,170,000 barrels of oil. The U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP) for Prince William Sound had earlier received reports of a light sheen emanating from the Thompson Pass while the ship was in Panama discharging cargo. On the return voyage to Valdez, the Thompson Pass stopped in Long Beach, California, where a surveyor found no cracks in the suspect tank. However, as a loading requirement, the COTP Prince William Sound required the vessel to be boomed off while loading its cargo. An estimated 500 barrels of a potential 1.1 million barrels of crude oil was lost. Alyeska crews moved immediately to deploy skimmers, booms, and sorbents to begin collecting the contained oil. USCG district 17.