A still undetermined volume of fuel oil had leaked from a German-flagged cargo vessel that was moored at the Global Marine New York Container Terminal on Thursday, March 28.
The incident occurred at around 14:00 local time as the Hapag-Lloyd-owned containership Dublin Express was unloading cargo shortly after arriving from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The ship had suffered a hole approximately 38 centimetres in diameter in one of its fuel tanks prior to arriving in New York.
The cause of the damage and the amount of fuel oil spilled have not been determined and remain under investigation.
The US Coast Guard and other local authorities have responded to the incident by deploying containment booms to prevent spreading of the oil and prohibiting unauthorised vessel traffic from passing through the Arthur Kill waterway where the leak was detected.
The Port of New York and New Jersey re-opened the waterway to traffic at 13:00 on Friday, March 29. However, the port authorities have cautioned vessels to sail through the area at low speed with no wake to prevent disrupting the containment and cleanup operations.
A total of 10 pollution response vessels have been deployed to the area of the incident under a Unified Command consisting of the coast guard, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and Gallagher Marine Systems.