The crew of the U.S.-flagged cargo ship SLNC York has been safely evacuated after the vessel began taking on water in the Pacific Ocean, operator Schuyler Line Navigation Company confirmed. The incident occurred August 18 while the ship was underway from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Naha, Japan. The source of the water ingress remains under investigation.

Crew and technical teams acted immediately to control the flooding, and the vessel remains stable. As a precaution, the entire crew was transferred to the nearby Pacific Yantai, which responded to assist. “All crew members remain safe, uninjured, and fully accounted for,” SLNC said. The company is coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard and emergency response partners, and a support vessel is expected to assist the SLNC York on its voyage to port.

Built in 2010, the SLNC York is a 141.6-meter multipurpose roll-on/roll-off and heavy-lift vessel with a deadweight of roughly 9,500 metric tons and two 350-metric-ton cranes. The ice-class ship is part of the U.S. Maritime Administration’s Maritime Security Program, a fleet of commercially operated, militarily useful U.S.-flag vessels available to support Department of Defense sealift requirements.

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