Anchors fall off 2 oil tankers from Alaska in Pacific storm

Anchors fell off two oil tankers during heavy weather as they were carrying crude oil from Alaska to Long Beach, Calif., and the Coast Guard and state of Washington are investigating.

The anchors were discovered missing in late December when the 941-foot tankers were being unloaded at Long Beach, said Anil Mathur, chief executive of the Alaska Tanker Co. of Beaverton, Ore.

The ships were allowed to continue to Washington where they finished unloading at a BP refinery at Cherry Point. Now the Alaskan Frontier is at Port Angeles and the Alaskan Navigator in Seattle while they await new anchors.

Each ship has two anchors and the remaining anchor on each ship is cracked. So the company is flying four anchors _ 15 tons each _ on Sunday from Holland to be installed next week, Mathur said.

Each anchor is more than 13 feet tall and hangs at the bow of the tanker.

It's unknown exactly when and where the anchors fell away because it happened in transit late last month during storms.

Mathur told the Anchorage Daily News that the crews found the anchors missing after each ship had plowed through heavy seas.

"Whenever we have heavy weather, we don't allow anyone on deck," he said. ``So once the weather passed and people went to do their rounds, they found the anchors were missing."

The company, shipbuilder National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. of San Diego, the Coast Guard and the Washington Department of Ecology are investigating what went wrong.

"Preliminarily it looks like a defect in the manufacturing process of the anchors," Mathur said. ``It is unusual but it has happened before.''

All the parties involved said in a joint statement there was no harm to the environment.

"We immediately advised the Coast Guard and other agencies as required and have worked cooperatively since this discovery," Mathur said in a statement.

"We commend the company for taking these actions that are paramount for safe vessel operations in state waters," said Dale Jensen, who oversees oil spill prevention, preparedness and response activities for the Washington Ecology Department.

The company said it will inspect the anchors on two other similar tankers, the Alaskan Legend and the Alaskan Explorer.

The four double-hulled tankers were built for $250 million each, and were delivered to Alaska Tanker from 2005 to 2006. Each carries 1.3 million barrels of crude.

Alaska Tanker expects no supply interruptions.