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Water Mixture News

18 Jan 2024

Diesel and Engine Oil Removed from Sunken Tug in California

(Photo: Levi Read / U.S. Coast Guard)

Petroleum product and hazardous material have been removed from a 1940s era military tugboat that sunk in California, the U.S. Coast Guard said.A Unified Command and its contractors completed lightering efforts from the tug Mazapeta, Wednesday.The Mazapeta sunk September 4, 2023, in Little Potato Slough within the San Joaquin Delta, northwest of Stockton, with approximately 1,600 gallons of diesel and engine oil reported to be onboard at the time of the incident.Quantification of recovered product is ongoing…

17 Jan 2023

Dredge Capsizes in the Mississippi River

The W.B. Wood capsized on the Mississippi River near Meraux, La. on January 16, 2023. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Sector New Orleans)

Responders are working to minimize environmental damages from a cutter suction dredge that capsized in the Mississippi River near Meraux, La. on Monday.The U.S. Coast Guard said its watchstanders at Sector New Orleans were notified at 12:50 a.m. that the dredging vessel W.B. Wood capsized in the vicinity of mile marker (MM) 85. The two people on board were rescued by the crew of a nearby towing vessel, Omaha.Coast Guard aerial observers confirmed sheening from the incident location down to MM 64, which is expected to dissipate naturally.

07 Dec 2021

Future Fuels: Alfa Laval Earns ABS AIP for Firing Boilers with Methanol

“Alfa Laval is looking at the full scope of methanol’s influence on board,” says Lars Skytte Jørgensen, Vice President Technology Development, Energy Systems, Alfa Laval Marine Division. Photo courtesy Alfa Laval

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) granted Alfa Laval the first marine approval for operating boilers on methanol.“Alfa Laval is looking at the full scope of methanol’s influence on board,” says Lars Skytte Jørgensen, Vice President Technology Development, Energy Systems, Alfa Laval Marine Division. “The most natural choice for boilers is to fire them with the vessel’s primary fuel, but methanol’s low-flashpoint nature and the differences in its energy density require a new approach to the burner and fuel supply systems.

27 Oct 2021

Final Section of Golden Ray Shipwreck Removed

The VB-10000 hoists the final section of the Golden Ray wreck out of St. Simons Sound. (Photo: St. Simons Sound Incident Response).

The largest shipwreck removal project in American history is drawing to a close.On Monday, salvage personnel removed the final section of the overturned car carrier Golden Ray, which capsized in the St. Simons Sound near Georgia's Port of Brunswick in September 2019.The ensuing salvage project—considered to be the largest and most complex in U.S. waters—required more than 3 million collective manhours as crews cut the 656-foot ship into eight sections for lifting and barge transport to a local facility for partial dismantling.

06 Apr 2021

Damen Expands Hopper Dredger Portfolio

(Image: Damen)

Shipbuilding group Damen said it has renewed and expanded its lineup of trailing suction hopper dredgers (TSHD), now offering a range covering hopper volumes from 650 m3 to 5,000 m3. The updated portfolio includes both hopper dredgers for port maintenance and multi-purpose dredgers.All designs have a number of core values in common. Damen said the starting point for the designs were that the dredger be both practical in operation and in maintenance, and have a sustainable future-proof design.

13 Dec 2019

Golden Ray: Lightering of Fuel Completed

A crew member with the St. Simons Sound Incident Unified Command assists with adjustments to fuel lines used to remove fuel from the Golden Ray in St. Simons Sound, Brunswick, Ga. Hot-tapping is an industry-standard method of safely pumping fuel from the vessel. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Paige Hause)

The a unified command team has completed the oil pumping of all accessible tanks from the M/V Golden Ray, a roll-on, roll-off car carrier that overturned near the Port of Brunswick in Georgia in September, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Salvage workers and divers gained access to 26 fuel tanks inside the Golden Ray, some of which were submerged and could only be reached by rappelling and conducting dive operations inside the wreck. Fuel was pumped from the tanks into a barge for proper disposal.

22 Dec 2017

Vessel Salvage Ops Continue in Puerto Rico

Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Lisa Ferdinando

The Hurricane Maria ESF-10 Puerto Rico response team continued Wednesday assessing and removing storm-ravaged vessels from targeted sites throughout the island. Crews conducted boater outreach in Isleta Maria, and surveys in Ponce and Cabo Rojo. Salvage crews also conducted dive assessments in Isleta Maria and crane-barge operations in Puerto Chico. Additionally, the team on Monday removed the last of five vessels targeted for removal in Las Croabas. Saturday, salvage crews used a crane barge to remove a sailboat that was previously  blocking the roadway in north Fajardo.

16 May 2016

Response Continues to Oil Spill off Louisiana

Two 210-foot and two 95-foot vessels conduct skimming operations, May 14, 2016, in response to a crude oil discharged from a segment of flow line at the Glider Field approximately 90 miles south of Timbalier Island, La. (U.S. Coast Guard photo: Marine Safety Unit Morgan City)

The joint effort between the U.S. Coast Guard and Shell continues in response to an oil discharge from a segment of flow line at the Glider Field located approximately 90 miles south of Timbalier Island, La., that occurred at approximately 11 a.m., Thursday. It is estimated that 88,200 gallons of crude oil has been discharged. Shell has shut-in production at the Glider Field. Five on-water recovery vessels have been mobilized and are searching for oil that can be safely recovered via skimming…

01 Apr 2016

Oil Spill at Port of Los Angeles

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating a report of an oil spill in the Los Angeles Harbor, Thursday morning. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach command center received a report at 10:48 a.m. of an unknown quantity of oily-water mixture coming from a holding tank residing on the Vopak Terminal. Coast Guard investigators from Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach are currently investigating the report. A majority of the oil released has been reported as being contained on the pier, however, some of the oil water mixture entered the water. Oil spill response organizations including the National Response Corporation, Ocean Blue, and Patriot Environmental are conducting clean-up operations using oil skimmers and absorbent pads.

01 Feb 2016

Driving the Inland Waterways

Propulsion evolves, improves and powers forward in the inland markets. And, Z-Drive propulsion is the future. In a white paper released late in 2014 by The Shearer Group, Ed Shearer and Greg Beers outlined The Next Generation of inland vessels, what will drive design changes and the advantages of azimuthing stern drives – or ‘Z-Drives,’ for short. The authors point out that, until recently, towboats on all the inland waterways and Gulf Coast have traditionally been built using main engines connected to reduction gearboxes connected to long drive shafts passing through the towboat hull. In a nutshell, according The Shearer Group, the advantages of using z-Drives on inland towboats include decreased installation time…

17 Dec 2015

Argo Response Completed

Unified Command responders perform salvage operations for the Lake Erie sunken tanker barge Argo, hot-tapping and pumping the barges tanks on November 29, 2015. (U.S. Coast Guard photo courtesy of Kurt Kollar, Ohio EPA)

The response effort to remove a hazardous cargo from the 104-year-old sunken tank barge Argo in Lake Erie officially ended Monday afternoon with the demobilization of all remaining equipment. Contracted by the U.S. Coast Guard as part of a Unified Command effort, salvors T&T Salvage recovered the highly toxic cargo from the 1911-built Argo, which sank in 1937 laden with a cargo of benzol that contained a high percentage of the carcinogen benzene. A total of 33,475 gallons of cargo and water mixture were removed from the vessel.

25 Mar 2014

Limited Traffic Authorized at Port of Houston

USCG photo

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has authorized limited marine traffic in the safety zone in the Port of Houston/Galveston for commercial ship traffic, Tuesday. Cleanup operations are still ongoing; however ships are being prioritized for transit by the Port Coordination Team. The USCG said barges are allowed to transit through the Houston Ship Channel and on the Intracoastal Waterway, after assessment teams deemed the channel clear. "The cleanup operations progress is to the point…

10 Dec 2013

Submerged Towboat Lifted in Iowa

U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Mariana O'Leary

Response crews commenced lifting operations of the 154-foot sunken towboat from the Mississippi River bank near LeClaire, Iowa, Monday. Stephen L. Colby salvage crews worked to cradle and dewater the vessel in an effort to remove extra weight while lifting the towboat. Crews dealt with below freezing conditions and long hours throughout response efforts and continue to conduct pollution mitigation through cleanup operations. Approximately 39,900 gallons of oily-water mixture has been recovered from the river, 89,000 gallons of oily-water mixture recovered from the Stephen L.

05 Aug 2013

USCG Detains 553-foot Vessel for Safety Violations

Great Success (Photo: Glenn Towler)

The Coast Guard detained the motor vessel Great Success, Tuesday,  requiring the vessel remain in Longview, Wash., until numerous safety violations are corrected by the ship’s crew. Port State Control officers from Coast Guard Sector Columbia River’s Marine Safety Unit in Portland, Ore., discovered the discrepancies during routine inspections of the 553-foot Hong Kong-flagged vessel in Kalama, Wash., Monday and Longview on Tuesday. Most safety discrepancies were related to fire danger and included excessive oil and oily water mixture in the bilges…

20 Mar 2013

Oceanex Is Building Innovation

Seated at his desk with a view of St. John’s harbour, Oceanex Executive Chairman Captain Sid Hynes is highlighting the innovation in the Oceanex Connaigra, Oceanex Inc.,’s 210-m custom-designed container/roll on roll off (Con/Ro) ice class 1A ship that is presently coming to life in the Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft mbH & Co. (FSG) shipyard in Flensburg, Germany. Following four years of study and research, the design stage was completed. First steel was cut in October 2012, and the keel was laid on February 11,  2013.

28 Feb 2013

Tugboat Allides with Inactive Wellhead, Triggers Discharge

Scene of the spill: Photo credit USCG

The Coast Guard is reponding to limit pollution of the sea in the area 9 miles SW of Port Sulphur (on W. bank of the Mississippi) Louisiana. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans watchstanders received a report Tuesday that the 42-foot crewboat Sea Raider, allided with a wellhead owned by Swift Energy, causing the platform to discharge an oily-water mixture. Swift Energy, the responsible party, has contracted a barge to secure the wellhead. Response crews have deployed 1,800-feet of boom to contain the discharged oily-water mixture from the wellhead.

01 Feb 2013

Coast Guard Response to Vicksburg Spill Continues

The unified command continues to respond to a crude oil spill in the lower Mississippi River near mile marker 436 in Vicksburg, Miss., Thursday. At 10:05 a.m. response crews removed fuel from the damaged barge MOC-12 after reconfiguring oil-pump equipment. Following completion of the oil removal operations the damaged barge will be inspected and prepared for transit to a maritime facility in nearby Vicksburg. The MOC-15 barge has been moved upriver from the MOC-12 oil removal operation and is waiting for transportation to a maritime facility.

01 Feb 2013

Vicksburg Oil Spill Causes 800 Vessel Queue

Vicksburg Oil Spill Incident: Photo credit USCG

Lower Mississippi vessel traffic queue management ongoing as Unified Command continue their response to damaged barge. Following completion of the oil removal operations the damaged barge will be inspected and prepared for transit to a maritime facility in nearby Vicksburg. The MOC-15 barge has been moved upriver from the MOC-12 oil removal operation and is waiting for transportation to a maritime facility. Response crews have deployed 5,300 feet of boom to contain any potential oil releases.

30 Jan 2013

Lower Mississippi Oil Spill Update

The unified command continues response to a crude oil spill near mile marker 436 in Vicksburg, Miss. The tow-barge that is on scene has started removing fuel from the damaged barge MOC-12, which will be inspected and prepared for transit to a maritime facility nearby Vicksburg after oil removal operations are complete. “Despite the response crew efforts to contain the seeping oil, an unspecified amount has broken through the containment boom due to the difficulties of working on a dynamic and powerful river current,” said Capt. William Drelling, Federal On Scene Commander for the Vicksburg oil spill. Response crews have deployed 2,800-feet of boom to contain further oil release. Skimming vessels have recovered approximately 3,900 gallons of oil-water mixture since the incident occurred.

29 Jan 2013

Lower Mississippi Closure Due to Oil Spill

Tugboat 'Endeavor': Photo courtesy of Nature's Way Marine

US Coast Guard's unified command is dealing with a crude oil spill from a damaged barge in Vicksburg, Miss. The barge had earlier been damaged through contact with a bridge support while in tow, and the Mississippi River remains closed to all traffic for a 16-mile distance between mile marker 425 and mile marker 441 near Vicksburg. Currently there are 21 northbound and 34 southbound vessels affected due to the river closure. A lightering and salvage plan has been approved by the unified command and multiple response crews have been dispatched to begin removing oil from the barge.

21 Feb 2011

Hamworthy Improves on Separator Performance

Hamworthy signed a contract with FPSO Owner OSX 1 Leasing B.V., a subsidiary of OSX Brasil S.A., for delivery of its newest generation Vessel Internal Electrostatic Coalescer (VIEC) technology to the FPSO OSX-1. Upon completion of customization works currently in progress in , the FPSO OSX-1 will be delivered by OSX to its customer OGX Petróleo e Gás Ltda. under charter arrangements, for deployment in the basin, offshore . OSX and OGX are controlled by the EBX Group, owned by Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista.

14 Jul 2010

Order to Trial EVTN Underwater Voraxial Separator

Enviro Voraxial Technology, Inc. has received a purchase order to deploy the underwater version of EVTN’s high volume Voraxial 4000 Separator. EVTN envisions its underwater design as the core technology for an advanced generation of skimmer vessels to facilitate the Gulf clean-up effort and to effectively protect the environment from future offshore oil spills. Other technologies that have been deployed in the Gulf followed a similar trial process. The new Underwater Voraxial oil recovery method allows the operator to separate oil from water in the ocean. By conducting the separation in the ocean, the vessels can skim oil for 10 times longer since the amount of water collected in the holding tanks is reduced by 90%.

02 Feb 2010

CG Final Update on Port Arthur Spill

Photo courtesy USCG

The unified response to the collision and oil spill from the tankship Eagle Otome continues. To date, more than 9,600 barrels of oil/water mixture has been recovered, evaporated or dispersed naturally of the 11,000 barrels spilled. Current response assets include 88 oil skimmers, 6 oil vacuum vehicles and 114,545 feet of containment boom. As the majority of the on-water oil has been recovered, the operation will begin to focus on shoreline clean-up and restoration. Vessel traffic and facility numbers have returned to pre-incident status. Vessel Traffic Service is managing traffic.