MAY 31, 2013 — The Coast Guard has been responding to a collision between two deep draft ships approximately 30 miles off the coast of Galveston today.

There has been no report of injury or pollution from either vessel; however, both vessels are reporting damage but are in stable condition.

USCG photograph shows damage sustained by Profit

At approximately 5:50 a.m. watchstanders at Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Texas City received a report of a collision between the 900-foot tank vessel Profit loaded with approximately 19 million gallons of crude oil and the 625-foot motor vessel Imperial Spirit loaded with grain.

According to the Equasis data base, the 156,643 dwt, Maltese registered Profit is owned by Profit Shipping Ltd. whose address is shown as in care of the ship manager, Geden Operations of London. The ISM manager is Genel Denizcilik Nakliyati AS, Istanbul.

The 53,446 dwt, Panamanian registered Imperial Spirit is owned by La Darien Navegacion SA of Hellerup, Denmark, while the ship manager and ISM manager is North Star Ship Management of Hong Kong.

The Coast Guard launched an Air Station Houston helicopter with a pollution incident responder to conduct an initial damage assessment.

Coast Guard Cutter Skipjack was also launched with a team of incident responders, marine inspectors, and marine casualty investigators to conduct a preliminary investigation and mitigate any possible further risk to the environment or the mariners aboard the two vessels.

The cause of the incident is under investigation