Old marine terminals seen as a danger

LOS ANGELES – A tanker was unloading a highly flammable chemical when the wake from a passing ship pulled the vessel 20 feet from the dock. The tanker’s hoses were stretched almost to the breaking point before the vessel slammed back into its aging berth, splintering more than a dozen beams, state officials say.

That happened last August in the Port of Los Angeles. There was no spill, but the incident focused attention on what state officials say could be an environmental catastrophe in the making.


Many of the marine terminals handling millions of gallons of petroleum products every day in California were built in the early 1900s, when oil was carried by ships one-tenth the size of today’s tankers. And many of them are in disrepair and vulnerable to devastating spills and fires, particularly in the event of an earthquake or other calamity, state officials say.

“The disasters are out there waiting to happen,” said Gary L. Gregory, chief of the California State Lands Commission’s Marine Facilities Division, which oversees terminal safety.

AP