On November 26, 2004, the M/T Athos I allided with an abandoned anchor in the Delaware River while attempting to dock in Paulsboro, New Jersey. The nine-ton anchor punctured the vessel’s hull, spilling 264,000 gallons of heavy crude oil into the Delaware River and nearby tributaries, traveling no fewer than 115 miles downriver into Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

The M/T Athos I, a 748-foot oil tanker, was owned by Frescati Shipping Company, Ltd. (Frescati). Frescati chartered the M/T Athos I to Star Tankers Inc., an operator of tanker vessels, which in turn entered into a subcharter agreement (charter party) with CITGO Asphalt Refining Company (CARCO), and it was CARCO that chose the berth at Paulsboro, New Jersey. Through its charter party with Star Tankers, CARCO contractually agreed to a “safe-berth clause” drawn nearly verbatim from a template agreement known as the ASBATANKVOY form.