PORT ANGELES — A Swedish freighter docked Thursday, one day after it spilled 12,000 gallons of oil off the Oregon coast.
The 654-foot car carrier MV Tristan, based out of Stockholm, will stay in port until Coast Guard officials declare it fit and an oil stain on the hull is cleaned, said Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Tucci, chief of the Coast Guard’s Puget Sound marine and environmental response department.
An area of the green and white ship’s hull was visibly blackened by oil as it sat anchored in the harbor midday Thursday.
Later in the day, the boxy freighter designed to transport wheeled vehicles — especially cars — docked at T-Pier near the KPly Inc. plywood mill on Marine Drive.
Tucci said droplets of oil dropped from the hull into harbor waters, but were quickly cleaned by spill response crews.
Sandy Howard, a Washington Department of Ecology spokeswoman confirmed that there was little chance of oil from the Tristan contaminating the harbor.
While docked at the pier, investigators will conclude their inspections and crews will clean the oil from the hull of the vessel.
Howard said the fuel oil was being transferred from one tank to another when it overfilled and began pouring over the side about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The ship was 40 miles west of Florence, Ore., said Lt. j.g. Jeff Pile, spokesman for the Coast Guard Office of Marine Safety in Portland, Ore.
