The US Coast Guard allowed the Dublin Express to leave the New York Container Terminal in Staten Island, on April 5. The departure was approved following completion of repairs and cleaning of the vessel.
The Unified Command, including state and federal agencies and the responsible party, will continue cleanup operations until all affected parts of the Arthur Kill Waterway are completely restored. Cleanup operations in Jacob Riis Park finished on April 2, and there are no new reported impacts in that area.
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Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Technique (SCAT) teams reported a small amount of tar balls in Atlantic Beach, which the Unified Command positively identified that were caused by the container ship Dublin Express, on the Arthur Kill Waterway.
By evaluating data collected on board by US Coast Guard marine investigators and additional data provided by ship representatives, the Unified Command believes that up to 100,000 gallons of heavy fuel-oil were released by the vessel during its transit along the East Coast to New York. The Unified Command reports the total amount of oily-water recovered in the Arthur Kill Waterway is about 35,000 gallons.
Capt. Jason Tama, Federal On-Scene Coordinator, stated:
This response was a joint effort between state and federal agencies and the responsible party. We take any release of oil into the maritime environment extremely seriously, and we are thankful for the quick and efficient response from all agencies involved