After Two Weeks Stranded and a $10,000 Fine, the Amur River Gas Tanker Finally Docks in San Juan

A federal judge authorized the Amur River tanker on Thursday, October 1, to enter San Juan Bay and unload liquefied natural gas at NFEnergia's terminal in Puerto Nuevo, ending nearly two weeks of legal conflict between the company and the San Juan Bay Pilots Association that kept the ship sidelined and forced GeneraPR to burn costlier diesel to keep power plants running ¹².

What happened

Judge Sylvia Carreno Coll, of the U.S. District Court, issued the order allowing the docking maneuver under specific conditions: winds of 10 knots or less including gusts, a preference for executing the maneuver during daylight, and the active authorization of the U.S. Coast Guard's Captain of the Port ¹. NFEnergia, a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy (NFE), voluntarily agreed to coordinate and pay for two support tugboats during transit through the navigation channel, an arrangement the court accepted without it constituting an admission that the vessel encroaches on the channel or that tugboats are necessary ¹. The company estimated the Amur River could dock this Friday, October 2, provided wind conditions cooperate ¹.

Where the dispute comes from

The root of the conflict lies in the ship's dimensions. The San Juan Bay Pilots Association alleged the Amur River has a beam of 44.24 meters, exceeding the 43.40-meter standard established in prior agreements for safe navigation of the channel ⁴. The ship had been stranded for more than a week as of September 26, when Judge Carreno Coll fined NFEnergia $10,000 for failing to provide required technical information about the vessel on time, and ordered the company to submit a docking-maneuver proposal from pilot Daniel Montes by noon the following Sunday ⁴. While the impasse played out in court, the Amur River had to sail to the Dominican Republic to resupply, with its return expected Tuesday, September 29 ⁴.

On September 19, the pilots had agreed to maneuver the ship under three conditions: a 10-knot speed limit, Captain of the Port authorization, and the use of support tugboats during the two-to-three-week docking period ³. The biggest friction point since then was who would pay for those tugboats: the pilots insisted NFEnergia should cover the cost because the company is the one creating the risky dock conditions ³. That dispute collapsed negotiations again Wednesday night, hours after both sides had assured the judge they had agreed on an operational framework, before it was finally resolved with NFE's commitment to pay for two tugboats ¹.

The key numbers

• $10,000: the fine imposed on NFEnergia on September 26 for failing to deliver technical information on time ⁴.
• 44.24 meters: the Amur River's beam, versus a 43.40-meter standard ⁴.
• 10 knots: the wind limit, including gusts, under which the maneuver is allowed ¹.
• Two tugboats that NFEnergia will pay for, down from the four the pilots demanded at one point ¹³.
• More than two weeks of delay in natural gas deliveries to Units 5 and 6 at the San Juan power plant and several units at Palo Seco ³.

What it means for you

While the Amur River sat stranded, GeneraPR relied on diesel to generate electricity at units that normally run on natural gas, a more expensive fuel that eventually shows up on the power bill through the fuel adjustment charge ². This is not an isolated event: it is the third time in a few weeks that a legal dispute between NFEnergia and the pilots has threatened to cut off the gas supply that feeds part of the island's electric generation. For consumers, that translates into the risk of a higher power bill if diesel replaces gas for extended periods, and it highlights the fragility of depending on a single ship and a single terminal for a critical share of the grid's fuel.

How to handle it / Checklist

1. Check your LUMA bill each month on the "fuel adjustment" line to see if it rose during September and October, when more diesel than usual was burned.
2. If you run a business or have equipment sensitive to outages, watch for GeneraPR and LUMA alerts on the status of San Juan Units 5 and 6 and the Palo Seco units.
3. Follow CoquiList's outage tracker at coquilist.com/apagones to see whether fuel-related interruptions pop up this week.
4. If you get energy-conservation alerts from LUMA or Genera, cut consumption during peak hours (typically 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.) while the gas supply normalizes.
5. If your business imports or exports cargo through the Port of San Juan, confirm with your shipping line whether the pilots-NFE dispute is causing additional channel congestion.

What's next

Judge Carreno Coll's order applies only to the Amur River and does not obligate NFEnergia to subsidize tugboats for other natural gas carriers arriving in the future, leaving the door open for the same conflict to repeat with the next vessel ¹. The court preserved all claims and defenses from both sides, so the underlying dispute over who should pay for tugboats and whether the ship actually encroaches on the channel could keep being litigated even after the Amur River unloads its cargo ¹. The docking operation is expected to take place this Friday if wind conditions allow ¹.