Perry Street Wharf News

Divers patched a hole in the motor vessel Pac Alkaid Nov. 1, preventing further spillage of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and enabling the freight ship to successfully transit up the Mississippi River to a shipyard in New Orleans. The initial discharge of an estimated 12,000 gallons of bunker oil was caused by a hole in the Pac Alkaid's hull which was approximately five centimeters in diameter and five feet below the waterline. At 2 a.m. Oct. 30 while the Pac Alkaid was anchored five miles southeast of Southwest Pass, the vessel's captain notified the Coast Guard that the ship was leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico. O'Brien's Response Management hired divers who patched the hole on Sunday afternoon.