Thursday storms slow diesel clean

MANISTEE — The M/V Manitowoc, a 612-foot bulk carrier, stopped leaking diesel fuel and a temporary patch is in place, but late afternoon storms slowed crews from cleaning up the spill, said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Seth Parker of the Sector Lake Michigan Command.

The M/V (motor vessel) Manitowoc, at around 2:50 p.m. Wednesday reported a leak from its starboard diesel tank, and Parker said the maximum potential spill was 45,174 gallons. Parker did not know an estimated amount of fuel was spilled from a hole that was about an inch in size, and the size the hole was not validated by the Coast Guard.

“The ship is no longer leaking,” Parker said. “Temporary repairs have been made to the vessel. Those repair plans are currently being reviewed by the U.S. Coast Guard and the American Bureau of Shipping.”

The ship won’t move until the repair plans are approved by the Coast Guard or the agency, Parker said.

The Manitowoc dropped anchor 1.5 nautical miles off the shore of Manistee, easily seen from the beaches of Fifth Avenue Beach. Because of the wind and wave direction, a sheen of red was observed with helicopters that was 200 yards wide by 1.6 miles long going toward to the north and northwest from the vessel.

“As the vessel was making transit out of the port, getting underway outside the lake, they started noticing their fuel gauges rising, taking on (liquid),” Parker said. “They had a hull breach, to the side of their starboard tank and what is being reported as water intrusion into the tank. That’s when the vessel started its emergency response plan.”

The cause of the hole is still being investigated, Parker said.

A sheen was observed as far as 8 nautical miles from the ship, near Portage Lake. The sheen was 2 nautical miles long by 0.75 nautical miles wide. It was within 0.5 nautical miles of Portage Lake.

“An aggressive and rapid response was initiated by the U.S. Coast Guard and partners and port stakeholders. It will be sustained as long as necessary,” Parker said. “The response has mobilized all necessary resources to respond to the potential discharge from the motor vessel.”

The Manitowoc is owned by Traverse City-based Grand River Navigation, a subsidiary of Rand Logistics of Williamsville, New York. It carries grain, iron ore, aggregates, salt and other bulk commodities, according to an information sheet on Rand’s website.

“The motor vessel has activated its response plan, and currently, an oil spill organization is currently on scene working to clean up the sheen,” Parker said.

The Manitowoc had a survey completed in April, Parker said, and it was within current Coast Guard inspection regulations.

“This vessel itself has no prior knowledge of a hull breach or discharge of fuel in Lake Michigan,” he said.

The oil spill recovery organization attempted to tow a boom through the area to clean up the diesel fuel, he said.

Parker said local agencies as well as the shipping company were conducting shoreline assessments, and there were not any reports of diesel fuel reaching the shores from the teams or the public.

Parker said local partners were assisting, and he repeated a warning that was issued from District Health Department No. 10 about how hazardous diesel fuel can be.

District Health Department No. 10 and other agencies are asking residents to avoid skin contact with the surface water in the area of the Fifth Avenue Beach in the City of Manistee because of the spill.

“Residents are advised to avoid body contact with surface water along the shoreline in Manistee County, if they observe the presence of any diesel fuel contamination,” stated Matt Fournier, DHD10 environmental health supervisor in a release from the health department.

The DHD release stated that diesel is a potentially hazardous material that can present significant health impacts with prolonged exposure. The health department also advised people not to attempt to rescue wildlife and instead to call 231-723-6241 of any confirmed sightings or contact with diesel fuel on the shoreline.

“There will be wildlife impact in the water columns as it dissipates,” Parker said. “We’re in close consultation with our state and local representatives to make sure that if we have any wildlife (affected), we have a plan and respond to those.”

Signs along the shores of Lake Michigan at Fifth Avenue Beach warned potential swimmers to stay out of the water. Outside of a few people walking further inland on the beach’s sands, seagulls dotted the beach.

“Right now, the City of Manistee decided to close the Fifth Avenue Beach and the North Access Beach, which is just north of here,” said Manistee Fire Chief Ted Herndon. “We decided to close this beach because of the close proximity of the Manitowoc to these beaches and these heavily used areas.

“There’s no contamination on these beaches. This was done out of caution.”

There was no sheen or contamination within Manistee Lake or the Manistee River Channel, Herndon said.

The Coast Guard responded with two helicopters, both of its vessels at the Manistee Station, local officials and booms — 4,000 feet of booms to contain the spillage and another 400 feet of sorbent booms to help soak it up.

“Additional sorbent booms are being ordered into the area and they are currently being staged out of Portage Lake,” Parker said.

He did not know how long it would take to clean up the sheen and the vessel.