New Carissa
MV New Carissa was a freighter that ran aground and broke apart on a beach near Coos Bay, Oregon, United States, during a storm in February 1999. An attempt to tow the bow section of the ship out to sea failed when the tow line broke, and the bow was grounded again. Eventually, the bow was successfully towed out to sea and sunk. The stern section remained on the beach for over nine years until it was dismantled and removed in 2008.
The United States Coast Guard performed an investigation and found that error on the part of the captain was the main cause of the wreck; however, neither the captain nor the crewmembers were charged with any crime. There were significant financial consequences for New Carissas owners and insurer. Fuel on board the ship was burned off in situ with napalm, but a significant amount was also spilled from the wreckage, causing ecological damage to the coast.
Vessel
New Carissa was a Philippine-flagged dry bulk freighter optimized for carriage of woodchips. The vessel was built by Imabari Shipbuilding of Japan using an all-steel construction and was laid down on 30 August 1989. She was long and wide, with a draft of when fully loaded. She had a gross tonnage of 36,571 and a net tonnage of 16,524 and was powered by an direct-drive diesel engine.New Carissa was owned by the Japanese shipping concern Nippon Yusen Kaisha through a Panamanian subsidiary, Green Atlas Shipping. Her operator and manager, Taiheiyo Kaiun Co. Ltd. and TMM Co. Ltd. respectively, were also based in Japan. Her home port was Manila, Philippines, and her crew at the time of her grounding consisted entirely of Philippine nationals, commanded by Benjamin Morgado. New Carissas protection and indemnity insurance was provided by the Britannia Steam Ship Insurance Association Ltd. The ship's Certificate of Financial Responsibility, which is required by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and included US$23 million of environmental liability insurance, was provided by Shipowners Insurance and Guaranty Company Ltd. of Hamilton, Bermuda.
Grounding
In February 1999, New Carissa was bound for the Port of Coos Bay to pick up a load of woodchips. The local bar pilot advised the vessel not to enter the harbor on the evening of 3 February because of high seas and strong winds. Captain Morgado ordered the ship to drop anchor off the coast in order to ride out the storm. The crew used a single anchor to secure the ship. According to a United States Coast Guard review of the incident, the chain used was too short, which, combined with winds of, caused New Carissa to drag her anchor.Poor navigational techniques and inadequate watchkeeping led to the crew's failure to notice that their ship was moving. Once movement was detected, the crew attempted to raise anchor and maneuver away from the shore, but the weather and sea conditions made this difficult. By the time the anchor was raised, New Carissa had been pushed too close to the shore to recover. The ship ran aground on the beach 2.7 statute miles north of the entrance to Coos Bay. Attempts to refloat her failed. Two of the ship's five fuel tanks began to leak fuel onto the beach, eventually spilling approximately of viscous "bunker C" fuel oil and diesel onto the beach and into the water.
Neither the captain nor any of the 22-man crew was injured in the incident.
Rescue and recovery operations
Recovery operations began immediately when the grounding was first reported by the ship's crew. Several factors combined to severely complicate the operation. A Unified Command for the operation, consisting of representatives from the Coast Guard, the State of Oregon, and rescue party operations, was quickly established.Initial rescue attempts
Initial rescue operations were hampered by inclement weather. Attempts to move New Carissa under her own power failed, and tugboat assistance was not available immediately after the grounding. Only one tugboat was available locally, but she was unable to cross the Coos Bay bar because of safety concerns. It was also uncertain whether or not the locally available tugboat could have successfully rescued New Carissa. The nearest salvage tugboat capable of towing a large ship off a beach, Salvage Chief, was moored at her home port of Astoria, 200 statute miles to the north, a 24-hour journey away. Salvage Chief had not sailed in over a year, and it took 18 hours to fuel, provision, and find a crew for the ship. Once mobilized, poor weather in the Astoria area prevented the tugboat from crossing the treacherous Columbia River bar for an additional two days. Salvage Chief did not arrive in the area until 8 February, four days after the grounding occurred.Continued poor weather drove New Carissa closer to the shore. Technical teams from two salvage contractors, Smit International and Salvage Master, had been working with the Coast Guard since 5 February and had drawn up plans to attempt to refloat the vessel, but when cracks in the hull and oil leaks were observed on 8 February, any refloating attempts were precluded by the focus on preventing of a large-scale oil spill. In addition, Salvage Chief, upon her arrival, was unable to reach New Carissa with her tow gear. On 10 February, New Carissa suffered major structural failure when the hull breached near the engine room, flooding the engines with seawater. The ship's insurers declared the vessel to be a total loss. As a result, New Carissa was no longer a salvageable vessel; instead, she had effectively become a shipwreck.
Wreck recovery operations
Since the vessel was no longer seaworthy and could not move under its own power, even if freed from the beach, the focus of the operation changed. Oil from the ship's fuel tanks continued to pose an environmental hazard, a situation exacerbated by both the ship's structural failure and continuing pounding from the surf. In order to mitigate the damage the Unified Command decided to set the fuel tanks on fire in order to burn off the oil. The first attempt was made on 10 February. Napalm and other incendiary devices were used to ignite the fuel, but only one of the diesel tanks was burned effectively. A second attempt was made on 11 February when US Navy explosive experts placed 39 shaped charges to breach the top of the fuel tanks from within the cargo holds. of napalm and nearly of plastic explosives were also used to ignite the fuel on board. The ship burned for approximately 33 hours. Additional smaller-scale attempts were made to burn more oil over the next two days, with limited success. The total amount of oil that was burned is estimated to be between. The structural stress caused by the fire, combined with continued severe weather, caused the vessel to break into two sections around midnight on 11 February.After additional weather-related delays, on 26 February salvors managed to float the bow section and began the process of towing it out to sea for disposal. By 1 March, the tugboat Sea Victory had towed the bow from the beach and out to sea, initially followed by an oil skimmer vessel, OSRV Oregon Responder. However, another severe storm forced the skimmer back to port, and when the tug was off the coast, the tow line broke. The bow section floated for fourteen hours until it ran aground near Waldport, Oregon on 3 March, approximately to the north of the original grounding site. On 8 March, the bow was again refloated, and by 11 March it was successfully towed off the coast by Sea Victory and a second tug, Natoma. At this location, the Pacific Ocean is approximately deep. The bow was sunk by two US Navy ships, the destroyer and the submarine. of high explosives were attached to the bow and detonated. Sixty-nine rounds of gunfire from David R. Rays deck guns then punctured the hull. After 40 minutes, the ship was still afloat with darkness and a storm approaching. To expedite the sinking, Bremerton fired a Mark 48 torpedo at the underside of the ship. Within ten minutes, the bow section flooded and sank stern-first, trapping the remaining oil within.
The stern section remained aground, but did not pose a significant oil spill threat as the majority of the oil on board had already leaked or burned. Some remaining oil that was found on board was skimmed or pumped out manually. In June 1999, Green Atlas awarded a ship breaking contract to Donjon Marine Co. and Fred Devine Diving and Salvage. Although the two companies were able to remove approximately one-third of the stern, their attempts to dismantle the largest section or tow it to sea were unsuccessful and had to be abandoned over the winter. Work did not resume in the spring of 2000, and in 2001, a salvage expert hired by Green Atlas asserted that the stern should not be removed because it would create a dangerous work environment. The state later accused Green Atlas of sabotaging the stern removal effort in order to save money and a protracted legal battle ensued.
Dismantling and removal of stern section
Although the initial attempts to dismantle or tow the stern to sea failed, the State of Oregon still intended to see the remainder of the vessel removed from the beach. In 2006, the state's lawsuit against the ship's owners was settled, clearing the legal obstacles that prevented removal and providing the funds necessary to finance the project. Removal plans were complicated by the fact that the stern had become deeply embedded in the sand in the seven years since the wreck, with some portions of the stern estimated to be below the sand line.A project to remove the stern by dismantling it on the beach was started in June 2008, after Oregon legislative approval. The dismantling, expected to cost US$18 million, was approved by the State Legislative Emergency Board in September 2006. The move was originally scheduled for 2007, but delays in the negotiations pushed the project back a year. Due to weather and surf conditions, the project had to be undertaken during the spring and summer months. Titan Maritime Company, a subsidiary of Crowley Maritime Corporation, signed a US$16.4 million contract with the Oregon Department of State Lands. Titan Maritime used large jackup barges, Karlissa A and Karlissa B, for the New Carissa dismantling project. Once the barges were in place, a cable car system was installed to allow the crews and their equipment access to the barges from the beach. The barges allowed the crews to access the wreck from above the surf. The crews cut New Carissa into removable pieces and then lifted them to the barges with cranes. The cutting portion of Titan's plan was largely completed by 31 July 2008, and the company then focused on pulling the stern from the sand, a process that was measured in inches. The project's managing director expressed confidence that the removal deadline of 1 October 2008 would be met. By September 2008, Titan had successfully removed the majority of the wreck; no part of the ship was visible from above the water and only a few small pieces remained submerged. Karlissa A and Karlissa B were relocated on 12 October 2008, and Titan's shore operations were completely removed by November 2008.