More problems on BP tankers

BP PLC has reported more problems with its new fleet of 185,000 DWT oil tankers after a scramble to repair cracked rudders and faulty anchors. One of the bollards used to secure mooring and tug ropes sheered off on the ?Alaskan Navigator? in September as a tug pulled it toward the berth in Valdez. As a result, the ship’s operator, Alaska Tanker Co. of Beaverton, Oregon, used X-rays and other tests to check all bollards on the four tankers and it was found that dozens more on three of the ships were defective. Company officials said that the relevant bollards have now been replaced.

Other structural problems have been found in the fleet of the $250 million double-hull tankers, which started carrying North Slope crude oil to West Coast refineries in the summer of 2004. In spring 2005, cracks were discovered in the rudders of two of the ships and, in December, 16-ton anchors broke off two of the ships as they crossed the Gulf of Alaska with a full load of crude oil. Alaska Tanker Co., whose ships carry oil exclusively for BP, said the rudders and anchors have been repaired or replaced.

Anil Mathur, president of the tanker company, said the string of problems has been a disappointment, but he believes the ships are fundamentally safe. “If I did not, we would not be running them,” he said. The problems may have originated in the San Diego-based shipyard NASSCO that built the tankers since it would seem obvious that some of the materials used were substandard.