Tugs work to free a barge stuck on a sandbar near Egmont Key.
ST. PETERSBURG – A barge and its tug that had been stuck on a sandbar near Egmont Key since Wednesday evening are free.
According to Mike Hanson, spokesman for K-Sea Operating Partnership LP, offloading of 20,000 barrels of oil Friday afternoon lightened the barge enough that it was able to move away from the sandbar into deeper water under its own power.
The 138-foot tug Yankee was transporting a 441-foot barge, both owned by K-Sea, from Houston to Tampa when it ran aground on a sand bar about 5:45 p.m. on April 2. The double-hulled barge was carrying 119,000 barrels fuel oil.
Multiple attempts to free the barge from the sandbar were unsuccessful, and officials decided to enlist the help of Bouchard Transportation Company of New York who brought in a tug and barge to assist in the fuel oil transfer Friday afternoon.
Hanson reported just after 5 p.m. that the plan to remove about one-sixth of the oil allowing the grounded barge to float higher in the water had worked.
The barge and tug were in route to an anchorage area nine miles of Egmont Key where they can be inspected by American Bureau of Shipping vessel surveyors and Coast Guard members.
“Divers will thoroughly inspect the hull to make sure it’s fully intact,” U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Robert Simpson said.
Simpson said the inspection would include going into the “voids,” which are gaps between the two hulls to look for any signs of damage or leakage.
“If everything checks out OK, then the barge will be allowed to travel to the Weedon Power Plant in St. Petersburg,” he said.”
Simpson said thus far no signs of leaking had been detected. He also said that the sand bar where the barge went aground was not in a protected area, so there had been no environmental impact.
The second barge left to deliver the 20,000 gallons of fuel that was offloaded from the grounded barge to the power plant immediately after the operation concluded.
Simpson said the barge, which had been grounded since Wednesday, could remain at the anchorage site for two days or so while inspections are done to the hull and other parts of the vessel as part of the investigation into why the tug navigated the barge outside the shipping channel.
After the barge is cleared to be moved from the anchorage, additional inspections will take place at the power plant as part of the investigation, Simpson said.
Hanson said K-Sea had been operating in the area for at least 10 years and transports barges through the local shipping channels about two times a week.
The Captain of the Port of Tampa has lifted the safety zone in the vicinity of the barges.
"While not a routine event, the grounding of a large vessel is an event we and our partner agencies plan for and train for," Capt. Joseph A. Servidio, Captain of the Port of Tampa, said in a press release. "This joint response demonstrates the benefits of that planning and training."
"We would like to thank the Coast Guard, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Bouchard Transportation Company and everyone else who has worked so hard alongside us to safely re-float our barge," Richard P. Falcinelli Vice President of K-Sea Transportation Partners L.P. said.
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