A 35,000-ton ship laden with wheat ran aground in the Columbia River hours after leaving the Port of Vancouver on Thursday afternoon and began taking on water. It was safely escorted by tugs to the Port of Longview Friday morning, where it was due to be examined and repaired.
The vessel, the KM London, is a 656-foot bulk carrier that was drawing 42 feet of water when it ran aground near Crims Island, a few miles downriver from Longview near the hamlet of Stella.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the vessel ran aground on the north side of the navigational channel. Water began leaking into two forward compartments, but the crew followed its emergency response plan and was able to get the flooding under control.
A pilot was aboard the ship and notified the Coast Guard of the grounding at 8:10 p.m. After it was reported, the Coast Guard sent an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and a 29-foot response boat to check for oil leaking into the river, but none was spotted. No injuries were reported.
The vessel was refloated on Friday morning’s high tide with the help of three tugs, which helped it to the Port of Longview. At 11 a.m. Friday it was moored just upstream of the Lewis & Clark Bridge.
Tracking provided by the website marinetraffic.com shows the KM London left the Port of Vancouver grain terminal about 4:40 p.m. Thursday and was bound for Nagoya, Japan, where it was due to arrive on the afternoon of Dec. 31. The KM London is a new ship, delivered for service on Nov. 16 by its Japanese builder, and had arrived to the Columbia River on Monday. The vessel sails under the Liberian flag, and is owned by Kuang Ming Shipping Corp., a Taiwan-based subsidiary of Yang Ming Marine Group, one of the world’s largest ocean transport companies with approximately 100 ships at sea.
Engineers and divers inspected the vessel throughout the day Friday, but the damage appeared minor enough to be repairable in Longview, said Tony Anderson, a representative of the ship’s agent, Transmarine Navigation. But it appears that the London will spend much of the weekend at least docked in Longview, he said.
It was not clear what caused the vessel to veer out of the channel, and the cause remained under investigation late into Friday afternoon, according to the Coast Guard. The shipping channel is 600 feet wide and a minimum of 43 feet deep.
The Daily News of Longview contributed to this report.
