Cargo ship near California pipeline made strange movements: report

Cargo ship made a series of unusual movements while anchored near a Southern California oil pipeline that ruptured and sent crude washing up on beaches, according to a marine navigation service.

The Associated Press reviewed more than two weeks of data from MarineTraffic, a navigation service that tracks radio signals from transponders that broadcast the locations of ships and large boats every few minutes.

That data shows the Rotterdam Express, a German-flagged ship nearly 1,000 feet (305 meters) long, was assigned to anchorage SF-3, the closest to where the pipeline ruptured off Huntington Beach. The ship made three unusual movements over two days that appear to put it over the pipeline.