Offshore Supply Ship Reloated off Virgin Islands

The 223-foot offshore supply vessel Ocean Spirit I, which grounded off St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, was refloated in the afternoon of January 23.

The Trinidad and Tobago-flagged ship ran into trouble near Charlotte Amalie Harbor at around 5:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

Upon arriving on-scene, the New York-based salvage company Sea Tow assessed the situation and found that there were no breaches to the vessel’s hull. It was decided to wait until the next high tide, at around 12:50 p.m. local time, to move the vessel whose ballast was aground all the way to mid-ship.

At noon, six United States Coast Guard vessels and three Sea Tow vessels began to move the ship.

At the time of the incident, the ship was transporting USD 1 million worth of cargo from St. Thomas to hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico.

USCG earlier informed that there were no signs of distress or oil leaking from the vessel following the grounding.