Do you know the largest port in the United States? Well, it’s not Portland, even though we are often visited by some fairly large ships on a regular basis. The largest is the Port of South Louisiana, followed by the Port of Houston and the Port of New York/New Jersey.
At only 13% of its total volume, the Port of Portland ranks number 29th in the country, only one spot behind the west coast Portland, which is kind of surprising.
These photos were recently taken while the SKS Satilla was in port. If you happen to recognize this ship, it is the same one that nearly sank off the coast of Galveston in 2009 almost 1 year ago today.
The vessel struck a submerged oil rig, took on water and began to list precipitously. It was in danger of sinking, but eventually was rescued in time.
At the time the SKS Satilla was carrying 40 million gallons of oil, but not were released into the ocean.
The oil rig that damaged the ship was the Ensco 74, which was reported lost after Hurricane Ike in September 2008.
The rig turned out to be 90 miles from where it was initially, and surprisingly only 9 meters below sea level.
Posted by: Michael Sosnowski