Vessel Runs Aground in Columbia River near Skamokawa

The Coast Guard is monitoring the transit of a motor vessel that ran aground in the Columbia River near Skamokawa, Washington, but was refloated, inspected and given a captain of the port order to transit to Kalama, Saturday morning.

There was no report of pollution or injuries stemming from the grounding of the Nenita, a 738-foot Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier fully laden with grain.

Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Columbia River were notified of the incident at 3:21 a.m. The vessel was headed outbound the Columbia River from Kalama, Washington when the vessel reportedly lost propulsion and ran hard aground and was taking on water. The vessel’s crew found, isolated and secured the flooding in the forward peak of the vessel.

The pollution potential is less than 300,000 gallons of high-sulfur fuel oil, diesel fuel and gas oil.

The vessel initiated their response plan and notified the National Response Corporation as the designated oil spill response organization. The vessel is not blocking the channel to traffic, but other vessels transiting have been notified.