Saipan port reopens; fuel spill contained

The Port of Saipan has since re-opened after the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday reported a fuel spill in thousands of gallons from a breached Mobil tank at their fuel farm near the port.

Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Stephen De Blasio—from their Incident Management Assistance Team—confirmed that the port has re-opened.

Blasio said “safety zones” restricting access to boats have been set around the port out of concerns that sparks could set off fire with the gasoline in the water.

“The gasoline that is on the water has been coated with a protective foam, an absorbent foam,” he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard, CNMI emergency responders, and Mobil’s technical team were working throughout Tuesday night to stabilize the site, according to special assistant for Homeland Security and Emergency Management Office Marvin Seman.

Further details of the oil spill were not made available as of press time.

De Blasio said they were “patching” the fuel tank that was leaking.

“We expect to have it repaired today,” he told reporters yesterday.

On Monday, the Coast Guard reported that a 120,000-gallon fuel storage tank at the Saipan port was breached by flying debris. The Coast Guard reported that thousands discharged into a containment area, and a separate spill was reported in which 500 gallons of diesel fuel entered the Port of Saipan.

Airports re-open
Meanwhile, the Saipan International Airport has reopened after the local ports authority shut it down Monday morning.

Flights are only operational from sunrise to sundown as Typhoon Soudelor has brought the airport’s navigational aids down.

The Commonwealth Ports Authority said yesterday morning that full operations would be announced once they and Federal Aviation Administration technician finished repairs.

Saipan Tribune tried but failed to contact CPA for updates near press time yesterday.

“The traveling public is advised to contact the individual airlines directly as to flight schedules, adjusted departure times, and revised arrival times due to he limited operations at [the Saipan airport],” CPA said in a statement.

When pressed for their flight schedule, Delta Air Lines Ryoko Matsumoto released this statement: “Delta’s operation has been impacted by Typhoon Soudelor mainly on its Tokyo-Narita and Saipan route since Aug. 2. Due to the weather and airport condition afterwards, Delta has so far cancelled 5 round trips (10 flights) between [Narita] and [Saipan] and adjusted schedule for some flights on Aug. 2, 3, and 4, and canceling two additional round trips tomorrow. Delta used bigger aircraft B747 today [Aug. 5] and planning to do so on Aug. 7 to accommodate impacted passengers.”

Asiana Airlines and Jeju Air have not yet provided details of their flights. But according to flightstats.com, the airlines were operational yesterday and arrived on Saipan.

It’s unclear right now how limited airport hours and the devastation caused by Typhoon Soudelor will strain the CNMI’s main industry—tourism.

Acting governor Ralph Torres said told reporters yesterday that he expects “a shortfall of tourists.”

Torres said he was set to meet with the Hotel Association of the Northern Marianas Islands at 2 pm yesterday for a briefing.