Spilled Oil News

The United Nations said on Tuesday it had started the removal of more than 1 million barrels of oil from a decaying supertanker off Yemen's Red Sea coast in a complex operation it hopes will ward off a regional disaster.U.N. officials have been warning for years that the Red Sea and Yemen's coastline was at risk as the Safer tanker could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.A U.N. spokesperson said on Tuesday a spill could cost $20 billion to clean up.The war in Yemen caused the suspension in 2015 of maintenance operations on the Safer…

ABB announced it has secured a contract with Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku to supply an integrated power and propulsion package comprising two Azipod propulsion units and the Onboard DC Grid power system for two new, advanced multi-purpose patrol vessels of the Finnish Border Guard.Due for delivery in 2025 and 2026, the 98-meter ships will replace the outgoing Tursas and Uisko patrol vessels. Alongside the existing Turva, they will guard Finland’s borders, performing maritime rescue operations and helping mitigate environmental impacts.

Philippine authorities believe they have found the location of a tanker that sank off a central province last week, the environment ministry said on Monday, amid a race to assess the extent of an oil spill and contain further environmental damage.The tanker, the MT Princess Empress, is thought to be lying at about 1,200 feet (366 meters) below sea level, off Oriental Mindoro province, though the information still needed to be verified, the ministry said in a statement.A remotely operated vehicle would be deployed to help determine the exact location of the tanker…

A Chinese fishing vessel that ran aground and spilled oil off Mauritius has been refloated and detained, local officials said on Thursday. The Lurong Yuan Yu struck a reef facing Pointe-aux-Sables near Port-Louis on Sunday evening in poor weather conditions. A minor oil spill was contained, and the vessel's crew was evacuated by helicopter without reported injuries.Mauritian Minister for the Blue Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries and Shipping, Sudheer Maudhoo, said, “Mauritius’ coastal waters are some of our most important natural resources…

Japan has told Mauritius it would offer support on an "unprecedented scale", Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Monday, after a Japanese-owned ship struck a coral reef off the country's southeast coast in late July and spilled oil.Motegi was speaking to reporters after a phone call with Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth."A sense of gratitude was expressed over our offer of support on an unprecedented scale, including financial support," Motegi told reporters.Jugnauth said during the phone call that he did not believe Japan was responsible for the accident…

The bow section of the stricken bulk carrier Wakashio has been scuttled Monday after the Japanese-owned bulk carrier ran aground, spilled oil and broke apart atop a coral reef off Mauritius.Scuttling efforts commenced last week but progressed slowly due to rough sea conditions, authorities said. The front section of the ship is no longer visible as of 3:30 p.m. local time on Monday after salvors cut holes into the bulkheads of several cargo hatches to accelerate the sinking process…

Mauritius said on Thursday it had started to scuttle the Japanese-owned bulk carrier that ran aground off its shores and spilled oil over pristine waters and fragile coral reefs. The MV Wakashio hit a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island on July 25 and began spilling oil on August 6, prompting the government to announce a state of environmental emergency.Two of the ship's officers were arrested on Tuesday on charges of endangering safe navigation.The government's National Crisis Committee said in a statement the exercise had started at around 1200 GMT."The ...

The Japanese-owned bulk carrier that ran aground off Mauritius and spilled oil over pristine waters and fragile coral reefs diverted more than 100 kilometers from a regular shipping lane, data from a maritime analysis firm showed.The MV Wakashio, owned by Nagashiki Shipping and chartered by Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd, struck a coral reef on Mauritius's southeast coast on July 25 and later began leaking oil. Two of the ship's officers have since been arrested on charges of endangering…

Mauritius said on Wednesday it planned to scuttle the Japanese-owned bulk carrier that ran aground off its shores and spilled oil over pristine waters and fragile coral reefs.Earlier on Wednesday Nagashiki Shipping, owner of the MV Wakashio, apologized for the incident. Two of the ship's officers were arrested overnight on charges of endangering safe navigation.The MV Wakashio struck a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island on July 25 and began spilling oil on August 6, prompting…

Some corals have lived for centuries at the fringes of Mauritius. Now smothered for days in heavy fuel oil spilled from a wrecked Japanese ship nearby, parts of those reefs may be in trouble.The full impact of the toxic spill is still unfolding, scientists say. As the Indian Ocean island's residents scramble to mop up the oil slicks and clumps, they are seeing dead eels and fish floating in the water, as fuel-soaked seabirds limp onto shore.Satellite images also show the 1,000…

A 5,593-gross-ton containership Ocean Abundance allided with a dock in Manila, causing significant damage to the vessel's hull and the pier.The Philippine-flagged feeder box ship, owned by Oceanic Container Lines Incorporated, rammed and damaged approximately five to 10 meters of Pier 2, North Harbor, Manila at around 3:10 a.m. on Monday, according to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).The ship's crew told the PCG that the incident was caused by an engine problem that reportedly prevented the 124-meter-long ship from being able to move in reverse.PCG said it is monitoring the situation…

A Japanese bulk carrier that ran aground off Mauritius and has leaked at least an estimated 1,000 tonnes of oil, passed the latest annual inspection in March with no problems, Japan's ClassNK inspection body said on Tuesday.The ship, MV Wakashio, is owned by Nagashiki Shipping and operated by Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd.Mitsui OSK said earlier on Tuesday it had set up a task force and was cooperating with the authorities in Japan and Mauritius.The company said it was preparing to dispatch personnel to the site."We will do our utmost towards resolving the situation quickly," the company said in a stat

Fuel spilling from a Japanese bulk carrier that ran aground on a reef in Mauritius two weeks ago is creating an ecological disaster, endangering corals, fish and other marine life around the Indian Ocean island, officials and environmentalists say.The MV Wakashio, owned by the Nagashiki Shipping Company, struck the reef on Mauritius' southeast coast on July 25.On Thursday, the government said fuel was leaking from a crack in the vessel's hull and Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth declared a state of environmental emergency…

An oil slick washed up over the weekend on the coastline of Venezuela's western Falcon state, known for pristine beaches and nature preserves, two opposition lawmakers said on Monday, though there was no official comment on the spill's provenance.Maria Hernandez, who chairs the opposition-held National Assembly's environmental committee, said she was concerned about the effect of pollution on marine life as well as water supplies onshore.A satellite image posted on Twitter by…

April 20, 2020, marks the tenth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, the offshore oil industry's biggest environmental disaster.Eleven people died, 17 others were injured, Transocean's drilling rig sank, and an incident caused more than four million barrels of oil to spill into the U.S. Gulf of Mexico from the BP-operated Macondo well which spewed oil into the ocean for 87 days before it was finally capped.In a review paper published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment…

Clean-up crews were working to contain an oil spill at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System's (TAPS) Valdez Marine Terminal, officials said on Wednesday, but the volume spilled was not preventing tankers from loading at the site.A sump overflow spilled oil into the water at the terminal on Sunday night. By Wednesday, clean-up crews had recovered 574 barrels (24,108 gallons) of an oil-water mix, authorities said.A team composed of system operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Co, the U.S.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) conducted a multi-agency Joint Oil Spill Exercise (JOSE) yesterday (Friday) to test its abilities to respond to oil spills at sea. A mock collision and oil spill was staged in Singapore waters near Pulau Semakau in a response exercise.More than 250 personnel from 26 agencies participated in JOSE 2018 (please see Annex A for list of agencies), which comprised a table-top exercise at the MPA’s Port Operations Control Centre. During the exercise, agencies deliberated on operational and policy measures to deal with a major oil spill in Singapore waters, and a seaward deployment exercise scenario near Raffles reserved anchorage.The seaward deployment exercise scenario involved a simulated collision between two tanker vessels…

No two oil spill response operations are the same. Each can present new and even tougher challenges for spill responders as they detect, contain and recover spilled oil. Diverse aspects affecting oil spill response operations can be the physical environment, spill monitoring, use of chemical dispersants, and the availability of proper technology for the situation.Some challenges have been met through research and technology development of techniques for dealing with spills. However…

A coal ship that dropped anchor off the coast of the Indonesian port city of Balikpapan on Borneo island was likely to blame for an oil spill, after dragging a pipeline more than 100 metres and causing it to crack, an energy ministry official said. Indonesia declared a state of emergency this week after the spill and fire killed five fishermen. The environment ministry said the oil covered an area of nearly 13,000 hectares and had polluted 60 km of coastal ecosystems, including mangrove wetlands and marine mammal habitats. "We suspect the pipe was dragged by the ship that caught fire," Oil and Gas Director General Djoko Siswanto told reporters on Thursday.

There are a number of federal and state statutes that intentionally and justifiably impose strict criminal liability. Persons who manufacture hazardous explosives and those who keep dangerous animals create serious risks to public safety. Clearly placing the burden of potential criminal liability, even in the absence of criminal negligence or intent, on those persons and entities is appropriate. There are other statutes, though, that fail to disclose whether the authors intended for the criminal penalties included for noncompliance to be strictly applied or whether criminal liability requires proof of criminal negligence or specific intent. Two such statutes of interest to the maritime community are the Refuse Act of 1899 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA).

Rescue boats resumed their search in choppy waters of the East China Sea on Thursday for any survivors from the stricken Iranian oil tanker that collided with a freight ship and burst into flames at the weekend, the Chinese government said. The ship remains at risk of exploding and sinking due to spilled oil as the fire raged for a fifth day, the Ministry of Transportation said in a statement on Thursday. Rescue crews were forced to retreat on Wednesday after a blast on the tanker. "Spilled oil covering the ship body and its surrounding water is still burning, which leaves Sanchi at risk of exploding and sinking," said the MOT in the statement. The ministry has sent 12 rescue ships to search for the 31 remaining tanker crew members and to extinguish the fire.

The pace and quality of oil spill research in the United States typically ebbs and flows as a function of two, if not three important variables. First, after the 1989 Exxon Valdez grounding, there was a flurry of activity to ramp up oil spill research because it had been dormant for so long. The need was recognized, with plenty of money made available. Primarily, this research centered on conventional spill remediation techniques – for example, a tanker or barge spilling oil – and not much else. Predictably, when memory of the spill faded, so did interest in research and funding followed.

Coast Guard R&D Center’s JMTF is a big part of the nation’s environmental research efforts. In 1972, the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center (RDC) established the Fire and Safety Test Detachment (FSTD), which later became the Joint Maritime Test Facility (JMTF), at Coast Guard Sector Mobile in Mobile, Alabama. As part of the unit’s establishment, test facilities were also built on nearby Little Sand Island in Mobile Bay. Since its inception, multiple retired commercial vessels were used as test platforms ending with the State of Maine, which was removed in 2010.