THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010553
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
A federal judge in Norfolk decided that a tugboat captain's negligence caused a December 1993 oil spill from a Saudi Arabian freighter on the Elizabeth River.
However, in one of the first court decisions nationwide involving the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, Judge Rebecca Beach Smith said the tugboat company's liability was limited.
Moran Towing Corp. was ordered to reimburse only about a third of the $1.6 million that National Shipping Co. of Saudi Arabia spent on the spill and its cleanup, according to the April 25 decision in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.
``Moran, I think, is pleased with the judge's analysis as far as the limitation of liability,'' said Mark Coberly, the Norfolk attorney who represented Moran. ``From our perspective this is a win.''
The Saudi Arabian national shipping line will likely appeal the judge's ruling, said John Crumpler Jr., the Norfolk attorney who represented it.
``We are disappointed (Judge Smith) didn't use the state law, which has no cap,'' Crumpler said.
The Oil Pollution Act was passed by Congress in 1990 following the catastrophic Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. The act limits the liability of some vessels involved in a spill based on their size.
In the case of a tugboat, which does not transport oil other than for its own fuel, liability is limited to $600 per gross ton of the vessel or $500,000, whichever is greater. The tug involved in this case, the Harriet Moran, is 252 gross tons.
The Harriet Moran was helping the Saudi Diriyah move from Norfolk International Terminals to Lambert's Point Docks on the Elizabeth River. The tugboat's stern struck the Saudi freighter's flared hull during the move, gashing a fuel tank and causing 9,000 gallons of fuel oil to spill into the river.
The spill caused little environmental harm, thanks in part to the size and the rapid response of Navy, Coast Guard and private oil-spill control personnel.
The Saudi line paid for the clean-up as the ship from which the spill originated, which is required under the Oil Pollution Act. Ultimate liability for the spill is meant to be determined later.
Smith's decision found that the collision was ``caused solely by the negligence of Moran's agent,'' the tugboat captain William Lusk.
According to the decision, Lusk couldn't explain how the stern of his tug collided with the Saudi Diriyah when he should have brought his tug's starboard shoulder against the freighter to help guide it down the river.
``We dispute that,'' Coberly said of the negligence finding against Moran. ``We don't agree with that aspect of the decision.''
Smith ordered Moran to pay National Shipping $19,300 for the lost fuel and damage to the ship, and $500,000 for the cleanup.
The dispute over the limit of Moran's liability hinges on Smith's interpretation of Congress' intent when it included a clause in the Oil Pollution Act that lets states impose liability beyond the act's limits to force the cleanup of a spill and repay victims.
Smith decided that the Saudi freighter could not be considered a victim of the spill. The clause ``was clearly not intended to affect liability between two vessels involved in an oil spill,'' Smith wrote in the decision.
``We think we're as much a victim of the collision and spill as the property owners,'' Crumpler said. ``The polluter here, Moran, should pay in full and we, the victim, should be compensated.
``We only got back a third of our damages. There must be some way in a just system that we can get back all our expenses.''
Moran Towing, based in Greenwich, Conn., operates tugs and barges in harbors along the East Coast, including about 10 tugs in Hampton Roads.
Vessels operated by National Shipping call at port terminals in Norfolk and Portsmouth at least once a week. The line provides shipping to the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia and the Far East. by CNB