Lang: Stowaway incident highlights need for Coast Guard presence
By Curt Brown

November 15, 2010 12:00 AM

NEW BEDFORD — Mayor Scott W. Lang said the capture of two Palestinian stowaways aboard a Liberian freighter on Saturday highlights the need for the Coast Guard to return to the city's port.

"This is just another reason why we want them back on the water," the mayor said late Sunday afternoon, explaining that he has been trying to get the Coast Guard to return to New Bedford since 2006.

"We're the number one fishing port in the country and one of the top working waterfronts. I would love to have the Coast Guard back here."

Coast Guard officials could not be reached for comment Sunday night.

Lang said he has expressed his preference for the Coast Guard to return to New Bedford many times to Capt. Verne B. Gifford, commander of Sector Southeastern New England, and will do so the next time he sees him.

The Coast Guard left New Bedford in September 2003 after fighting rum runners and drug smugglers, and protecting fishermen for more than a century from the port.

In the hopes of improving homeland security while expanding its more traditional missions, the Coast Guard relocated the Tahoma and the Campbell, two 270-foot cutters from New Bedford, to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

The Coast Guard said at the time that the move would allow it to expand its coastal security mission while continuing fisheries enforcement and search-and-rescue missions.

The two Palestinian stowaways were still yet to be identified Sunday, but were in the custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to Ross Feinstein, an ICE spokesman.

Federal officials said that the stowaways posed no threat to national security. Feinstein said they were trying to make their way to Canada and the investigation is continuing as a stowaway/human smuggling investigation.

Feinstein and Ted Woo, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, both declined Sunday to answer any other questions about the incident.

The 455-foot-long Liberian freighter, Prince of Sounds, bound for New Bedford with a cargo of citrus fruit, was searched by law enforcement agencies for explosives and weapons Saturday before it was allowed to enter the city's port following the discovery of the stowaways on Thursday in a forward crane pedestal by a boatswain's mate on the freighter.

The New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge was shut down for several hours Saturday afternoon for the operations.

The Coast Guard was not able to board the ship until Saturday because of bad weather.

Police swept the ship with bomb-sniffing dogs and a state police dive team checked the hull for any "abnormalities."

A security guard stationed behind a locked gate at Maritime Terminal prevented access except to authorized personnel Sunday afternoon to the terminal, where the freighter was docked.

Kristen Decas, executive director of the Harbor Development Commission, said Sunday that workers are off-loading 2,500 pallets of clementines from North Africa from Prince of Sounds.

She said that, weather permitting, the freighter is scheduled to leave New Bedford on Tuesday.

Lang said Prince of Sounds is one of about 35 ships that will use the city's harbor in the next few months to off-load cargo.

Decas said Sunday a ship has been off-loading cargo over the weekend at State Pier and is scheduled to leave today; two additional ships are waiting to come into the port.

"We have what we consider to be an active shipping week," she said.

Lang said each ship represents an "economic stimulus" for the city and the region, or about $250,000 between salaries, supplies and fees.

The arrival of so many cargo ships in the coming months is the reason Lang said he wants "a factual accounting" of the stowaway incident aboard Prince of Sounds.

He added the thorough handling of the stowaway incident sends a clear message that officials will be vigilant when cargo ships arrive in the port of New Bedford.

The mayor said he is certain city officials can find dock space if the Coast Guard is willing to return to New Bedford and could probably also find space at the Greater New Bedford Airport for its helicopter and jets.

"I have no doubt about that," he said.

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