At 9:48 a.m. on March 10, a serious accident occurred near the coast of East Yorkshire, England. The US-flagged oil tanker Stena Immaculate was hit by the container ship Solong flying the Portugal flag while berthing. The collision caused the two ships to catch fire and the crew abandoned the ship to escape.

The cause of the collision is still under investigation. A senior White House official said the possibility of intentional action could not be ruled out. Although oil spills caused by global tanker accidents have dropped to less than ten per year and the probability of catastrophic incidents involving TSP ships is very low, the scarcity of U.S. oil tankers has made this incident highlight the vulnerability of the country's strategic maritime assets.