The Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) said there is no danger of its new research ship hitting underwater fuel lines containing very large quantities of heavy fuel oil and kerosene at Ferry Reach.

A concerned resident said last week that there were at least five fuel lines at the bottom of the Reach that could be hit by the deeper waterline of the .

?If it hits one, it would burst,? the resident said. ?Then the Reach would be full of diesel and jet fuel. Another one feeds Belco and goes across the pylons.?

But while a Bermuda Electric Light Company (Belco) spokeswoman said she did not know the exact quantity of fuel pumped through the Esso pipeline to the Serpentine Road power plant, she said it is a very large quantity of heavy fuel oil.

Shell Bermuda employee David Rose said 90,000 gallons of jet fuel ? or kerosene ? a week are pumped over to the Bermuda International Airport under Ferry Reach by one Shell pipe near Richardson?s Bay.

However, Mr. Rose said there is no risk at all that the could hit the underground fuel pipes.

?It is not an issue,? he said.

BBSR director Dr. Tony Knap also said he is not worried about the fuel lines.

?We had a complete survey done with the sonar of the Reach and sure, there are cables and pipes that go across to the Airport in trenches but these things are not necessarily in harm?s way.?

Dr. Knap said BBSR had done its due diligence and that it is ?damn inconvenient? and expensive to keep the in St. George?s where it was docked until it left last week on a research trip.

?Why spend $7 million if we did not think it would fit into the Reach safely?? he asked.

He said the captains of the new ship are well trained and the ship is ?not an iceberg? with very little equipment under the hull compared to the old ship ? which he said was currently on sale in Norfolk, Virginia with a price-tag of $1.5 million.