Tanker damage closes bridge up to one month
A bridge used daily by 14,000 vehicles to cross from Maine to New Hampshire will be closed for two to four weeks for repairs after a 470-foot oil tanker drifted into the structure late Monday.
The Portland Press Herald reported that initial inspections of the damage found four steel beams on the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge will have to be replaced or repaired.
The accident left the ship, which was loaded with tallow oil, with a crack about 18 inches long, but dive teams found that just a small amount of water was leaking into the ship's ballast tank.
New Hampshire transportation officials told the paper that repairs will be made to the bridge, which is jointly owned by Maine and New Hampshire, and then the states will seek reimbursement from the ship's owners.
The ship is owned by a German company, called Sechste Nordtank Hamburg GmbH. Another German company, Hamburg-based TB Marine Shipmanagement, is responsible for the ship's operation, logistics, maintenance and crew, the paper reported.
New Hampshire and Maine's attorney general's offices are working together to seek reimbursement from those companies.
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