Stiff Rules Focus on Port’s Many Risks : Hazards: Dangerous cargo moves into L.A. daily, but heightened awareness has brought new methods of keeping operations relatively safe, officials say.

From hazardous crude oil to blasting powder to chlorine that could generate a toxic cloud, much of the cargo that moves in and out of the busy Port of Los Angeles poses the potential for disaster.

But in the wake of a chemical leak that shut down the main channel of the nation’s second-busiest port throughout the day Friday, U.S. Coast Guard officials said stringent state and federal regulations, a detailed risk management plan and a heightened awareness since the 1976 explosion of the oil tanker Sansinena have kept operations relatively safe for more than a decade.

“It would be foolish for us to say that the commodities are not hazardous,” said Cmdr. Scott Porter, deputy chief of the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Division in Long Beach. “But we feel that the threat that they pose is minimal because of all the regulations.”

Port spokeswoman Julia Nagano added: “I don’t think you could ever say there is absolutely no risk, but I think we have the procedures in place to handle any kind of risk.”

Friday’s leak turned out to be less dangerous than authorities initially feared. Fire officials determined late Friday that the concentrations of leaking chemicals were unlikely to cause an explosion, and they were working Friday night to unload containers carrying the hazardous substances so they could reopen the channel. Authorities also discovered that a second chemical--flammable but not nearly as volatile as the first--was leaking in a different cargo container aboard the freighter and they were working late Friday to remove it.

The last major accident in the harbor was the Sansinena explosion, in which nine men died and damage totaled $21.6 million. The blast rattled windows as far away as Costa Mesa and shook dwellings in the Hollywood Hills with the intensity of an earthquake.

The explosion, which occurred while the ship was unloading, was caused by a petroleum vapor cloud that formed over the deck of the vessel as gases in its empty cargo tanks were displaced by ballast water. The accident prompted federal regulations that require tankers to install systems that pump their empty cargo holds with inert gases to prevent vapors from igniting.

Coast Guard and port officials say they know of no recent chemical spills or other incidents involving hazardous cargo that have resulted in any injuries, or even in a shutdown.

But, they add, occasional accidents do happen.

For example, last May, a forklift at the American President Lines terminal punctured a container carrying more than a dozen 55-gallon drums of methoxypropylamine, an emulsifier used in waxes and other coatings. Porter said one of the drums was damaged in the incident, causing the highly flammable gas to leak out.

More than 3,500 vessels move in and out of the Port of Los Angeles each year, and Capt. Edward Henry, chief of the port police, estimates that 95% of them carry some form of hazardous cargo.

“There are all kinds of chemicals that come through the port,” Henry said. “Quite a few of them are toxic and some are explosive.”

Essentially, there are two ways for hazardous cargo to come in and out of the port. It can be moved aboard tanker ships--the maritime industry calls this shipping in “bulk”--which pump their cargo into pipelines that run to terminals at the port.

According to figures provided by the port, 760 tankers--many carrying crude oil, petroleum products, chemicals or some other form of potentially hazardous liquid cargo--came through the port last year.

In addition, hazardous cargo can be packaged in small quantities and carried aboard a container ship, as was the case with the trifluoropropene gas and liquid trimethyl phosphite which leaked inside cargo containers aboard the freighter Ever Group on Friday.

More than 2,000 container vessels moved through the port last year.

According to Sid Robinson, port director of planning and research, the port is faced primarily with three types of potential crises from hazardous material: explosion, fire and leaks that may cause toxic contamination or injury to those who breathe dangerous fumes. In 1983, the port adopted a risk management plan that includes policies and methods that attempt to limit such dangers.

In addition, the port is planning within the next five years to relocate several terminals that handle hazardous cargo--primarily petroleum and petroleum products--to a landfill in the outer harbor, away from populated areas in Wilmington and San Pedro.

One of the primary candidates for relocation is Unocal’s 22nd Street tank farm in San Pedro, which abuts a residential area and has drawn repeated complaints from residents.