New Orleans Spill Incident: Barge DM932

Tugs hold sections of Barge DM932 as black oil continues to leak. Photo Credit: USCG

On July 23, 2008 at approximately 1:30 am CDT, the chemical tank ship Tintomara collided with the American Commercial Lines barge DM932, which was being pushed by the tug boat Mel Oliver near downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. The collision resulted in a spill of over 9,000 barrels (380,000 gallons) of #6 fuel oil. The barge was reported as "ripped in half," discharging its entire contents.

Responders from the U.S. Coast Guard, Louisiana State, and NOAA continue their work on-scene.

Following the release of the fuel oil, the Coast Guard closed the Lower Mississippi River to all vessel traffic from mile marker 99 to mile marker 70, above Head of Passes, and will continue to monitor the spill conditions.

Investigation into this incident continues.

For More Information

Incident News: Barge DM932 OR&R's IncidentNews Web site provides publicly available information related to oil and hazardous material spills. [leaves OR&R site]

NOAA Responds to New Orleans Barge Collision Oil Spill Article from the NOAA Web site, describing the response efforts for the Barge DM932 oil spill. [leaves OR&R site]

Fact Sheets

No. 6 Fuel Oil (Bunker C) Spills (Document format: PDF, size: 611.3 K)

Updates

Tanker and Barge Collision in New Orleans, LA: Update July 23, 1:00 pm EDT (Document format: PDF, size: 117.7 K)