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Tanker Dragged Ashore By Sandy Finally Hauled Away
By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 12, 2012
Modified Dec 12, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 12, 2012
Modified Dec 12, 2012
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The morning after Hurricane Sandy struck our shores, one of the first images that really emphasized the storm's intensity was that of a giant tanker on the Staten Island shore. Now, six weeks later, the tanker (technically the John B. Caddell) has finally been taken away. "It is a sad ending to what was a beautiful run," said Gary Cutler, co-owner of Poling & Cutler Marine Transportation. "She did a great amount of service and moved a whole lot of fuel in her day, and it's a shame this is the end of the road for her."
Since the storm, the Coast Guard and contractors have been combing the single-skin ship—which had essentially been sitting fallow since 2009—making sure she was free of any oil that could spill into the harbor. And while they did that they also tried, in vain, to find the ship's owner. "The Coast Guard has conducted an exhaustive search for the owner of the vessel. However no responsible party has been identified," Sara Romero, Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class with the Hurricane Sandy Pollution Response, told the paper.
So without an owner, the feds decided to just move her themselves. Yesterday morning at high tide the tanker, which once fueled ships during World War II, was moved to a Rossville scrap yard run by New Jersey-based Donjon Marine Company, which also moved the ship. Her fate is now up to Donjon, the Coast Guard and (if they are ever found) the boat's owner.
But just how does a ship that big just sit around without an owner? Good question! Like this:
After the war, until about 2009, the gasoline and heating oil tanker dutifully traversed the waterways of New York. It would fill up in oil terminal shore tanks, then deliver the product to smaller terminals in Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester and Nassau.
But its antiquated, single skin design was being phased out in this country after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and in 2009, the ship was sold to a Nigerian company, said Cutler, recalling the price to be roughly $175,000.
"It was gradually becoming obsolete -- in anticipation of her phase-out we have been replacing single skins with double hulled vessels," said Cutler.
The purchaser had intended to pilot the ship across the Atlantic to Nigeria and put her to use there, but his crew was stopped by the Coast Guard, concerned the vessel would not successfully make the trans-Atlantic journey. It has been moored in Rosebank ever since.
Tagged
coast guard
hurricane sandy
staten island
tanker
Garth Johnston
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