Western Mariner, an 83-foot tug, ran aground in Neva Strait March, 21, 2022, while towing Chichagof Provider, a 286-foot containerized barge. No injuries were reported.
The company that owns a tugboat that crashed around 18 miles north of Sitka last month now estimates that 5,307 gallons of diesel fuel were spilled into the ocean as a result of the accident. The Western Mariner was towing an Alaska Marine Lines barge in Neva Strait early on the morning of March 21 when a steering failure caused the two vessels to collide,. The wreck caused a diesel spill, leading to a coordinated response from multiple state and federal agencies. The cleanup effort is ongoing.
The Western Mariner can hold around 50,000 gallons of diesel, but the Western Towboat Company estimates that the boat was only holding about 43,000 gallons of fuel when it crashed.published by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation on April 5 reported that salvage crews had recovered around 33,000 gallons of fuel directly from the boat. A mix of oil and water recovered by skimmers yielded an additional 4,000 gallons of fuel.