Jet fuel cargo mostly intact on Stena Immaculate after ship collision off UK, says ship owner

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) - Most of the jet fuel onboard the U.S.-flagged tanker Stena Immaculate that was hit by a container ship in a collision off Britain's coast remains contained and only two of the vessel's 18 fuel tanks have leaked, owner Stena Bulk said on Wednesday.

The Portuguese-flagged Solong container ship crashed into the tanker carrying jet fuel for the U.S. military, on Monday. British police have arrested Solong's captain on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

"(There's) no fire any longer" on the Stena Immaculate, Stena Bulk's Chief Executive Erik Hanell told Reuters.

"We will have a much clearer picture in the next 24-48 hours on the whole salvage operation."

The Stena Immaculate remains stationary at anchor and is being monitored by Stena Bulk representatives, government authorities and executives from U.S. logistics group Crowley, which manages the vessel, Stena Bulk said separately on Wednesday.

Hanell said two of the vessel's 18 fuel tanks had leaked, with an estimated 10% of the cargo.

"The total volume (of jet fuel) onboard is around 50,000 cubic metres, so I guess that's roughly the maximum amount ... hopefully less than that," he said.

Hanell had met with the vessel's 23 American crew members and they were in good health, he said.

Ernst Russ, the German company that owned the Portuguese-flagged Solong, confirmed on Wednesday that the captain was Russian. The rest of the 14-strong crew, one of whom is missing and presumed dead, were Russian and Filipino nationals.

Hanell said the fire onboard the Solong was somewhat under control based on his understanding of the situation, adding that the exact details of what happened were under investigation.

US MILITARY PROGRAMME

Gothenburg-headquartered Stena Bulk has around 18 active crude tankers and 40 oil products and chemical tankers.

The company has two other products tankers under management with Crowley that are part of the US Tanker Security Program (TSP), which can be used by the Department of Defense to transport fuel supplies for the U.S. military.

There are only 10 tankers in the TSP, so with the Stena Immaculate out of action, it is likely to cause logistics challenges for the U.S. military, shipping industry sources said.

Hanell said there had been no discussions yet in terms of any back up options in relation to the TSP programme.

"Commercial challenges will be discussed in the next week or so," he said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Gareth Jones, Bernadette Baum and Elaine Hardcastle)