Tanker cleaned offshore in Gulf

Tanker cleaned offshore in Gulf    The Port of New Orleans said Tuesday a ship entering the Mississippi River requested to be cleaned because of oil it encountered following the Deepwater Horizon spill.
   The port said the Mississippi River remains open to maritime traffic, and no ship calls have been canceled because of the spill.
   A tanker requested to be cleaned after encountering oil and was cleaned by two offshore workboats outfitted with fire hoses. The cleaning process took about 30 minutes to complete, and was conducted roughly four miles from the entrance to the Mississippi River at Southwest Pass around 10:30 a.m.
   The tanker was inspected further after it entered Southwest Pass, where two launch vessels equipped with pressure washers are stationed to conduct more detailed cleaning while the ship is slowly moving upriver. No oil was detected at the second cleaning site and the vessel proceeded upriver.
   The tanker was not calling the Port of New Orleans, but was headed to another facility elsewhere on the lower Mississippi River.
   A few other vessels were inspected Wednesday morning but did not require cleaning.
   Chris Bonura said some ships are altering course to avoid oil and that a Carnival Cruise ship changed its arrival time at the mouth of the river so that inspectors could more easily inspect it. He noted ships that require cleaning will be able to request compensation from BP.
   In addition to the cleaning stations for inbound ships, a cleaning station has been located 125 miles south of Southwest Pass to clean ships departing the river, if needed, he added.
   The port’s board of commissioners are to receive a briefing on the oil spill Thursday from the Coast Guard, Associated Branch Pilots and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. ' Chris Dupin