Tanker removed from Long Beach port on explosion fears
A tanker unloading gasoline at the Port of Long Beach last week was found to high dangerous levels of oxygen in its storage tanks, prompting U.S. Coast Guard officials to order the ship out of the port.
The tanker High Harmony was unloading gasoline at Long Beach's berth 78 Friday night when inspectors from the California State Lands Commission, who are responsible for monitoring petroleum cargo transfers, found oxygen concentrations in the vessel's tanks as high as 20 percent. The Coast Guard Captain of the Port determined that a significant hazard existed to the port and ordered the vessel to immediately cease cargo operations and vent its cargo tanks.
Tankers are required to operate an inert gas system (IGS) that pumps inert gas into their tanks as they offload their cargo in order to maintain oxygen levels below 8 percent. Oxygen levels higher than 8 percent may present an explosive hazard for some cargoes.
The High Harmony was ordered to move from its berth to an outer anchorage in the Port of Long Beach until an investigation into the cause of the high oxygen levels is complete.
Los Angeles Harbor, comprising the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, is no stranger to the effects of tanker mishaps. While docked at the Port of Los Angeles in 1976, a massive explosion ripped the Liberian oil tanker Sansinena into three pieces and obliterated multiple port buildings. The blast shattered windows for miles around and triggered a fire that spread across the dock and around the remains of the tanker. The explosion was so violent that the center portion of the 810-foot-long tanker was blown onto the dock.
Six members of the vessel's Italian crew and three civilians on the dock were killed. A Coast Guard investigation later concluded that the incident was caused by flammable vapor buildup on the deck of the ship.
Since the Sansinena explosion, all tanker ships transiting into and out of Los Angeles Harbor are inspected.
