Tanker Traffic Off Southland Is ‘Moderate to Heavy’

The tanker that spilled oil off the coast of Huntington Beach on Wednesday night was one of as many as two dozen tankers that sail the waters off Southern California in any given 24-hour period, industry officials said.

“It’s a busy coast,” said Joseph Bradarich, manager of BP Oil Shipping, the company that chartered the tanker. “We’re not the only company chartering ships out the coast here, and I’d describe the traffic as moderate to heavy.”

As few as 10 and as many as 25 tankers per day make calls in Los Angeles, San Pedro, Long Beach and other Southern California destinations, officials said. One of the busiest terminals is Berth 121 in Long Beach, which is operated by Atlantic Richfield Co., Bradarich added.

Tankers can also make their way to offshore moorings several miles off the coast at Huntington Beach and El Segundo, where Chevron Corp. has a major refinery. At such moorings, tankers can tie up and pump their cargoes directly into a pipeline that runs under the sea back to shore. The offshore mooring at Huntington Beach was where the tanker was headed Wednesday night.

The tankers come from all over the world and from Alaska, where North Slope crude oil is loaded onto tankers for shipment to refineries up and down the West Coast. In addition, tankers may ferry finished products or intermediate feedstocks between refineries along the coast.

After delivering its load to Golden West, the American Trader was to have returned to Long Beach to discharge the rest, Bradarich said.

The volume of traffic does not normally present a hazard, Bradarich said.

But the prospect of an accident is enough to generate concern among residents, said Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), one of several congressmen who voted to require double hulls on oil tankers in a House session Wednesday.