Hazardous Chemicals News

A U.S. Coast Guard boat crew rescued 12 people, Wednesday morning, after they were forced to abandon the Bonnie G vessel that was taking on water and ran aground just south of the airport in St. Thomas.All 12 people aboard the Bonnie G, a 195-foot Vanuatu-flagged “ro-ro” cargo vessel, are safe, and no injuries have been reported to the Coast Guard. Coast Guard watchstanders in Sector San Juan received VHF marine radio communication from the Bonnie G at 3:41 a.m., Wednesday, reporting…

Firefighters in Bangladesh brought a blaze at a container depot under control on Tuesday, three days after fiery explosions killed at least 43 people at a facility that a senior fire service official suspected had not followed safety guidelines.Drone footage showed smoke and rows of burnt-out containers from the fire that began late on Saturday, triggering blasts and blazes at Sitakunda, 40 km (25 miles) from the southeastern port city of Chittagong. Authorities have not determined…

Shipbreaking is among the most dangerous jobs in the world, according to the International Labor Organization. This is the process of breaking up huge old ships into spare parts. It almost always happens in developing countries and comes with an unacceptably high level of fatalities, injuries and work-related diseases.In November 2016, 17 people were killed in a series of explosions on an oil tanker at a shipbreaking yard in Gadani, Pakistan. In 2019 alone, it was reported that 26 shipbreakers died in Bangladesh.

MSC has started cleaning up Dutch sea waters, 10 days after it lost nearly 300 containers from one of its largest cargo vessels in a storm."The clean up will likely take months," Dutch water authorities spokesman Edwin de Feijter said. "The largest part of the debris has been located, but there are still parts missing."291 containers, some holding hazardous chemicals, fell off one of the world's largest container ships, the MSC Zoe, on Jan. 2 in German waters near the island of Borkum during a North Sea storm.Two salvage ships left the harbor at IJmuiden…

Clean-up efforts after a container ship spill off the Dutch coast are being hampered by rough weather although progress is being made, the Swiss based vessel's owner MSC said on Wednesday.In one of the worst incidents off the coast of the Netherlands, more than 250 containers - some holding hazardous chemicals - fell off the MSC Zoe, one of the world's largest container ships, during a North Sea storm on Jan. 2."This week, a storm is impacting the area being cleaned and unfortunately this will interrupt some operations," MSC said on Wednesday.

APM Terminals Inland Services' integrated Inland Container Depot (ICD) and supply chain solutions facility at Chakan, Pune has achieved a significant first after being awarded an environmental clearance certificate by the Indian government.The certification authorises the facility to store, handle, transport, and deliver hazardous chemicals in any form – a critical requirement for all industries dealing with chemicals in domestic and international trade and a key safeguard for the environment.The achievement marks a significant milestone for our operations as it is the first time it has been awarded to an ICD in India.“The certification…

Dutch authorities will hold Swiss shipping line MSC liable for the cost of cleaning up debris from more than 270 cargo containers that fell off one of its vessels and washed up on shore, officials said on Friday.The Dutch coastguard said a criminal investigation had been launched by prosecutors into the incident, one of the largest of its kind off the coast of the Netherlands.The containers, some holding hazardous chemicals, fell off one of the world's largest container ships…

A load of dangerous chemicals that fell off one of the world's largest container ships into the North Sea washed up on a Dutch beach on Thursday, and more debris was expected to land overnight, officials said.The Dutch Defence Ministry said the loss of 270 containers from the freighter MSC Zoe on Wednesday, some of them thought to contain hazardous chemicals, was one of the biggest incidents of its kind, they said.It was unclear how many of the containers sank to the sea bottom…

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).

Vopak Rotterdam Botlek is investing in 63.000 cbm state-of-the-art stainless steel capacity (15 tanks) for the storage of Styrene and other hazardous chemicals. Styrene is a vital product used in manufacturing of a wide variety of consumer goods serving markets such as packaging, construction (for example isolation) and automotive. The new infrastructure will be fully insulated to allow for product temperature control and is designed to prevent any emissions to the environment. The new storage capacity connects seaborne trade flows via barges, block-trains and trucks to the European hinterland. Royal Vopak is the world’s leading independent tank storage company.

Sometimes being an industry supplier offers interesting insights – your business is touched by the ups and downs of the charter market, but you are never so involved in it that you lose sight of the big picture. Some of our clients have been hit hard by the market’s general downturn; one client I visited last month began 2008 with 41 maritime software licenses for their vessels – just seven remain today. “We just sold another ship yesterday,” he said, and then after a pause: “Please spare me the update costs for this one, it won’t receive any.” Of course, I nodded.

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.

Q88 LLC introduced a global support program that coordinates quick response and expert consultation for chemical spills/incidents and medical emergencies occurring onboard vessels at sea. Known as Q88 Response Center, the new program leverages the resources of Spill Center, a leading provider of emergency response communication and incident management services, including environmental, technical and legal expertise. At the Q88 Response Center, trained personnel monitor telephone calls, dedicated email and web site requests for assistance on a 24/7 basis to gather the details, determine the issues and dispatch the right resources. In cases of major spills…

For domestic and international shippers, now is the time to satisfy GHS freight label compliance. The “Globally Harmonized System” (GHS) was established by the United Nations to create a unified system for identifying and communicating hazardous chemicals. In the U.S., OSHA set a June 2015 deadline for chemical manufacturers to use GHS compliant labels, followed by a December 2015 deadline for distributors, and June 2016 deadline for end users. Despite the harsh environments, extreme temperatures and rugged handling that freight is subjected to when shipped by land…

Shipowners seeking to combat the harmful effects of lime scale, bacteria, algae and biofouling inside their vessels’ various water systems needn’t look any further than Hydropath Marine, a chemical-free technology for onboard water treatment. The patented Hydropath technology, which uses electrical signals to kill algae and bacteria, was initially developed in the early ’90s to treat lime scale within the home, but has since been developed for a dozen different product ranges for both land-based and marine applications…

China's port authorities will strengthen supervision of dangerous goods shipments following devastating explosions at Tianjin port last week, the Ministry of Transport said on Wednesday. Port authorities from provinces including Zhejiang, Liaoning and Guangdong have asked shipping firms involved in relevant activities to conduct self-inspections to check safety standards, and pledged to crack down on any illegal activities, according to a report posted on the ministry's website. Over a hundred people have been killed by the blasts at a warehouse which stored hazardous chemicals at Tianjin Port. The Chinese owner of the warehouse did not a license to handle hazardous goods until two months before the disaster, according to its government-registered company records.

IRClass, a leading Classification Society and member of IACS, has recently completed the survey and certification of ‘Greatship Ramya’, during its conversion from an Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) to a Well Stimulation Vessel for Schlumberger under its Single Class. The vessel is now deployed with an Indian Oil Major in the offshore sector. Well Stimulation Vessels are one of the most critical ship types in offshore segment with respect to complexity of processes and equipment reliability as they handle hazardous chemicals under very high pressures (close to 20,000 Psi) and supply/receive these fluids to& from offshore Oil Wells. The Classification for such vessels…

Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services (CPS) have successfully opened the doors to their testing laboratories in Hamburg and Schwerin on the 9th and 10th July. The event, which was themed around new chemical requirements for consumer products, attracted over 100 clients coming not only from Germany, but also from France, Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Brazil, Austria and the United Kingdom. The event was the opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Schwerin laboratory, one of the most modern laboratories within the Bureau Veritas network. At this location, around 150 employees are specialised in chemical testing of virtually all types of consumer products.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh have signed a landmark agreement to work together to improve safety and environmental standards in the country’s ship-recycling industry. A Memorandum of Understanding formalizing the cooperation between the two was signed by Nicolaos Charalambous, Director, Technical Cooperation Division, IMO and Md. Ashadul Islam, Additional Secretary, Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Bangladesh, on April 10 2014.

Safe water management onboard any ship is a challenge, a challenge magnified exponentially onboard the world’s largest cruise ships with thousands of passengers and crew in close quarters. Just last month it again made global headlines as Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of Seas was forced to cut its 10-day cruise short due to an estimated 700 passengers dropping ill with a with a gastrointestinal illness. Keeping quality water flowing, passengers and crew healthy is a priority for the cruise lines…

A fire-damaged tankship, 'Maritime Maisie' loaded with hazardous chemicals has become a maritime football in the north Pacific, with Japan and South Korea unwilling to give it refuge even though they risk a wider environmental disaster if it sinks, reports Reuters.The 44,000 dwt tanker, collided with another ship 9 nautical miles off Busan, South Korea, on December 29, 2013, Ying Jinghua, fleet director of MSI Ship Management, which manages the tanker's day-to-day operation informed Reuters. The accident caused a fire when a cargo tank holding the chemical acrylonitrile ruptured. The ship, owned by Aurora Tankers, part of Singapore's IMC Group…

AER Supply, an international distributor of marine products, is featuring a cost-effective MEPC-compliant onboard sewage treatment system for the U.S. commercial marine market at the 2013 WorkBoat Show. AER was named earlier this year as the distributor for Severn Trent De Nora marine wastewater disinfection systems for the Gulf Coast and other regions of the United States. The Severn Trent De Nora MARINER OMNIPURE Series 55 marine sewage treatment systems are designed specifically to provide cost-effective treatment of gray and black water on small vessels, workboats and yachts. They use proprietary electrolytic disinfection technology that eliminates purchasing, storage and handling of hazardous chemicals normally required with other treatment technologies. They are approved by the U.S.

The United States Naval Ship (USNS) Watson is one of the large, medium-speed, roll-on, roll-off (LMSR) ships that have significantly expanded the nation’s sealift capacity. The Watson has a considerable amount of machinery including main engines, generators and cranes that need oil tested on a regular basis to detect potential problems and eliminate the possibility of a catastrophic failure. The test kits used in the past were time-consuming and their accuracy was questionable. The (USNS) Watson is operated by Ocean Shipholdings, Inc. (OSI) under contract to Military Sealift Command.