Chemical Spill News

The costs of a massive fire and chemical spill at a Houston petrochemical facility have begun trickling out, with a local official on Monday estimating emergency response costs at $800,000 for the first two weeks of the disaster alone.A blaze at Mitsui & Co Ltd's Intercontinental Terminals Co (ITC) petrochemical facility in Deer Park, Texas, last month released cancer-causing chemicals into the air and waterway that connects Houston to the Gulf of Mexico, disrupting shipping along the nation's busiest oil port.County employees devoted 16…

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Marine Department of Malaysia (MDM) conducted a joint chemical spill exercise at sea along the East Johor Strait to test the Joint Emergency Response Plan (ERP) for Chemical Spill Incidents in the East Johor Strait. 2Jointly developed by MPA, MDM, the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Johor Department of Environment (DOE), the objective of the joint ERP is to respond to and mitigate chemical accidents involving the seaborne transportation of hazardous chemicals along the East Johor Strait. The emergency response exercise is part of the bilateral cooperation programme under the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Committee on the Environment (MSJCE).

Twelve people, including one firefighter, sustained minor to mild injuries after a container ship leaked a hazardous material in the Port of Long Beach in Southern California, WSJ reported. A 6,000-gallon container on the ship began leaking the liquid Sunday morning, Officer Brian Fisk with the Long Beach Fire Department said. Workers who were exposed to the leaking chemical, identified as propyl acetate, experienced shortness of breath, said Davonte Marrow, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard. The leak was contained and a 1,000-foot perimeter was established as a precaution. A dispatcher for the Port of Long Beach said the ship with the leaky container was the Harbour Bridge. The Coast Guard identified the liquid as propyl acetate, primarily used as a solvent.

Later this year a major oil and chemical protection exercise dubbed SCOPE 2017 will be carried out in Norway. A joint project including major European and Scandinavian stakeholders, the simulated response to a combined oil and chemical spill aims to foster clearer communication and coordination of spill response across agencies and physical country boundaries. Stig Wahlstrøm, Project Manager SCOPE 2017, Norwegian Coastal Administration and Johan Marius Ly, Director, Department for Emergency Response, explain.

To test and demonstrate Singapore’s readiness to tackle oil and chemical spills, a multi-agency joint chemical spill exercise was conducted on Friday. Organized by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) the exercise took place at the conclusion of the 10th International Chemical and Oil Pollution Conference & Exhibition (ICOPCE), held in conjunction with the Singapore Maritime Week 2017. ChemSpill 2017 comprised a tabletop management exercise at MPA's Port Operations Control Centre Vista and a full scale chemical and oil spill response equipment deployment. A total of 150 personnel from 25 agencies participated in the table top exercise and seaward exercise, located along Raffles Reserved Anchorage.

The multi-agency joint oil spill exercise was conducted today as part of an on-going effort to ensure our ports remain safe, secure and clean for the international shipping community. Code-named JOSE 2016, the exercise was organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) as part of the closing programme for the 19th Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition (SIBCON) 2016. Close to 80 delegates from SIBCON 2016 observed the oil and chemical spill exercise today. The ground deployment exercise will test the use of a new modern and efficient system, ‘NeatSweep’ to contain the spilled oil. Over 250 personnel from 28 agencies participated in the table top and seaward exercise that took place around the vicinity of Raffles Reserved Anchorage.

A meeting to update South Asia’s regional plan for oil and chemical pollution preparedness and response is underway in Male, Maldives (22-25 August), informs  International Maritime Organization (IMO). Senior officials from Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are sharing their national experiences and consolidating updates to the plan with a view to finalizing it. The event includes a regional training workshop on hazardous and noxious substance (HNS) spills preparedness and response. Moving forward, the participants will also identify future training needs and develop a three-year training programme to enhance the region’s spill preparedness and response capacity.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Marine Department of Malaysia (MDM) conducted a joint chemical spill exercise at sea along the East Johor Straits to test the Joint Emergency Response Plan (ERP) for chemical spill incidents and the communication linkages between the Operation Liaison Officers (OLOs) and the Environment Liaison Officers (ELOs) in both countries. Jointly developed by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the Marine Department of Malaysia (MDM), the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Johor Department of Environment (DOE), the ERP seeks to tackle potential chemical accidents involving the seaborne transportation of hazardous chemicals along the Straits of Johor.

The United Nations shipping agency on Friday adopted stricter safety and environmental provisions for vessels operating in Arctic and Antarctic waters after years of negotiations. As ice melts, shipping traffic through the regions is set to increase. Under the Polar Code, which was adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), ships trading in the Polar regions will have to comply with strict safety and environmental provisions. These include prohibitions on oil or…

Did you participate in Science Fair(s) individually or in a team of up to three persons, or participate in experimental science or engineering projects in 2013 involving Marine Sciences? If so, why not enter the Education Committees of the American Salvage Association (ASA) and the North American Marine Environmental Protection Association (NAMEPA competition to win a cash prize. Your project will be evaluated by both associations for awards with one submission. Papers and abstracts will be accepted from August 1, 2013 - September 15, 2013. Winners will be notified on or before October 15, 2013. Competition will be divided into 2 groups for prizes, High School 9-12th grades and Undergraduate students.

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) reminds of its rapid-response service providing expert advice on chemicals in maritime emergencies. In close cooperation with the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) and the Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution (Cedre), EMSA created the MAR-ICE Network in 2008. It offers remote product and incident- specific information and advice within 1 hour of the request and more detailed information shortly thereafter. Information provided within one hour includes safety data sheets, and relevant data from international codes & 
regulations; shortly after it provides additional information on product properties from a knowlegeable chemical company (if necessary).

NOAA brings to bear centralized disaster planning, response expertise to the Gulf of Mexico region from its new Mobile, Alabama, office. NOAA's new Gulf of Mexico Disaster Response Center (DRC) promises to change the way people prepare for and respond to the many hard-hitting storms, spills, and other events that too often strike this fragile region. The new 15,200-square foot facility will serve as a central coordination point for federal, state and local emergency managers,…

ASA and NAMEPA announce marine sciences project awards competition for high schools, colleges, and academies. The Education Committees of the American Salvage Association (ASA) together with the North American Marine Environmental Protection Association (NAMEPA) announce a special awards competition for marine science projects conducted at the high school and undergraduate college levels. This initiative is intended to highlight the importance of preserving the marine environment through the use of sound environmental practices…

The Coast Guard, in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy's Supervisor of Salvage, is reviewing a plan submitted by the owners and contracted salvors of a sunken tug and a barge impeding vessel traffic in the Elk River in the Upper Chesapeake Bay. The tug and barge, which sank in the shipping channel following a collision with a freighter, have caused the adjacent C&D Canal to remain closed to all vessel traffic pending their safe removal. Four men remain missing following the incident. The salvage plan, submitted by Norfolk Dredging Marine, the sunken tug Swift's owners, and Ellsworth Salvage, the contractor, must adequately address a number of safety, environmental, and navigational considerations in order to receive the agencies' authorization to begin operations.

The Coast Guard is in Green Country for a series of exercises. Members of the Lower Mississippi Sector of the Guard trained Wednesday at the Port of Catoosa. The Coast Guard doesn't find itself in Oklahoma much, but the Port of Catoosa is a federal waterway, and the News On 6’s Chris Wright reports the Guard says it needs to become familiar with the area in case there is an emergency. If the Port is the target of a terrorist attack, if there is a chemical spill or other disaster, the Guard is responsible for handling it. Because of that responsibility, its members want to make sure they are familiar with the area. While they are here primarily for training purposes…

Operations & Standards. Communications for the world's leading ship registry, and will replace Captain John Deleonardis, who has retired. welcome this experienced mariner into a tough job. registry. register of our size. choose our registry. Coast Guard. vessels and ports in Maine and New Hampshire. chemical spill incidents, port contingency planning and exercises. to IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee. Oil Pollution Co-ordination Centre during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. the high standards that the Liberian Registry delivers. by retaining its position as the best-performing major ship register. policy. their performance over a three-year rolling period. significantly superior performance compared to registers of comparable size. State Regimes.

To obtain a better understanding of tanker safety, INTERTANKO records publicly reported tanker incidents. The number so far this year has followed the positive improvement trend of the last couple of years. The biggest accidental loss of oil occurred in Algeciras Bay shortly after the Prestige incident. A Spanish bunker barge sank with some 1,000 tons of fuel oil, but little pollution was reported on the beaches at the time. Mainly based on information from Informa, INTERTANKO has recorded 86 tanker incidents January-July 2003. Most of the incidents have been minor and pollution has been recorded in 7 cases, the biggest of which, beside the bunker barge spill mentioned, above, were a 125-tonne chemical spill and a 50-tonne diesel spill.

PSA Marine completed the acquisition of the marine business of Sembcorp Logistics Ltd. for $112.97 million. "The strategic acquisition complements PSA Marine's core business and extends its geographical reach to key overseas markets in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa," said PSA in a statement. The addition of salvage tugs and semi-submersible barges to its fleet would also widen PSA Marine's range of marine services to include international emergency response and ocean towage, it said. "We will consolidate our core activities and at the same time expand into new growth areas. There is potential in the offshore support business for the oil and gas industry and we are currently focusing on niche business opportunities," said PSA Marine managing director V. Sivarajan.

We all know OPA 1990 contained directions to EPA and the USCG concerning incident response planning and handling with respect to oil. Many of us forget the Act contained similar requirements for chemical incidents. The major difference between the two was oil pollution planning requirements were to be completed by EPA and the USCG within a specified time. There were no such time-directed response planning requirements concerning chemical incidents within the Act. Initially, in 1990, the USCG took the lead on oil spill response planning and EPA was to take the lead on chemical response planning. For some reason, EPA was unable to move forward and develop effective rules for chemical response plan incident planning.