The Merchant Shipping Directorate of the Malta Maritime Authority is investigating a minor spill involving the Malta-flagged vessel Jimilta II which occurred in the Mississippi River, USA, on Sunday.

The Jimilta II, anchored at No.135 buoy of the Mississippi River, west of New Orleans, sustained a fuel tank overflow during bunkering operations with consequent deck and river minor pollution.

The Master informed the owners, agents, P&I Club, the United States Coast Guard and the Flag State and acted immediately to initiate the required procedures to avoid further river contamination from the deck spillage.

The Coast Guard’s technical team, which investigated the incident, has concluded that the amount of spillage was about 10 barrels on deck and about five barrels in the river and thus considered of minor impact, the MMA said.

The vessel was fined by the USCG and was released after clean-up operations were completed.