A Japanese-owned ship picking up American cars crashed into a pier owned by Conoco Oil early yesterday morning in Fairfield, cracking several pipelines and spilling oil, gasoline and other substances into the Patapsco River.
The small spill will not harm the river's wildlife, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official said.
The 500-foot, 8,801-ton ship Eastern Highway, sailing under the Liberian flag, attempted to dock at the Chespeake Terminal with the help of several tugboats. But the large vessel hit the pier near the 2000 block of Chesapeake Ave. about 4:30 a.m.
The impact of the crash submerged about two-thirds of the 120-foot pier, along with five pipelines. Three of those pipelines contained soap-making materials owned by the Vista International chemical company. The others contained No. 2 diesel fuel and an oil-gas mixture.
Divers determined late yesterday that three of the pipelines had cracked, and about 420 gallons of the oil-gas mixture had leaked out between 5 a.m. and noon, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. A light sheen extended on the river from the Conoco pier to the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
"A light rainbow sheen could oil feathers slightly on the waterfowl, gulls and terns, but it's probably not lethal," said Bob Foley, the Fish and Wildlife Service's environment contaminate specialist. "This is not a significant amount of oil."
Coast Guard Lt. Beverly Buysse said a preliminary inspection of the ship, which was carrying 449,142 gallons of oil, did not reveal any damage.
Officials at the scene contained the spill by setting up two harbor booms.
The accident is being investigated by the Coast Guard.
But Conoco terminal manager Mark Scheper said the damage is more widespread than he envisioned when he was awakened at 4:40 a.m.