Marine Pollution Control News

It is often difficult to push through the federal government morass to focus on the issues that actually matter to the inland operator. While 2020 inevitably will be a contentious year in American politics, it is critical to stay focused on the items that will have direct impact on the U.S. maritime industry. From a potential new Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill to potential Jones Act challenges, 2020 will be an important year for inland operators to stay politically engaged.Work on WRDAJanuary marked the beginning of Congress’ work in earnest toward introducing a new WRDA bill.

The hard-fought passage of VIDA promises a simpler, more unified and logical set of environmental standards related to the discharge of myriad vessel streams. Industry wanted it, and now it is here. Will it deliver, and if so, when? That depends on who you talk to.As most commercial maritime operators know, US ballast water regulations made a sharp turn last December. That’s when President Trump signed the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018.That legislation contained Title IX – the “Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA)…

Abadan, Arvandankar and Choabdeh ports experienced an increase of 56% in 2018, says Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO).Abadan ports and maritime management announced that the export of goods from the three ports of Abadan in the past year has shown a  growing trend.According to the information system, the exports from these ports increased by 39.471 tons in the same period last year which shows a growth of 56.3% in exports, it said.Agricultural products, meat and meat products, household appliances and light products, machinery and vehicles, raw materials and chemical compounds, construction materials, petrochemical, parts and accessories…

On December 4, President Trump signed into law the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018 (S. 140). Title IX of the legislation is the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2018 (VIDA). VIDA will largely cut through a morass of conflicting and confusing requirements that have developed over a number of years relating to discharges into US waters. This purpose of this new legislation is to: (1) provide for the establishment of uniform and environmentally sound standards and requirements for the management of discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel…

Researchers tackle the tough problems despite a lack of funding and official incentives to move forward. Progress, in particular for Arctic spill response equipment and techniques, is being made. Even in the messy but now seemingly distant wake of such environmental disasters such as the Exxon Valdez grounding and the Deepwater Horizon accident, domestic oil spill response requirements still provide little or no incentive for responders in the U.S. to develop and deploy new equipment. Elsewhere, other countries (especially Norway) have better options for testing and approving systems using an intentional spill. Here at home, this approach has been recommended especially for the Arctic by many stakeholders, to no apparent avail.

Last month Maritime Reporter had the good fortune to receive insights from a trio of maritime salvage leaders – Paul Hankins, Tim Beaver & Jim Elliott – garnering insights on one of the most challenging and ever-changing sectors of the maritime market. It was recently written “salvors have become more closely tied to Oil Spill Response Organizations (OSROs).” Why? Hankins The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90) defines how all stakeholders will respond to potential or actual oil spill responses.

Dr. Manik S. Sardessai has been promoted to Senior Vice President. Dr. Sardessai, who earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Wayne State University, has worked for MPC since 1995in a variety of positions and will continue in his leadership role for technical and regulatory matters. He has distinguished himself internationally as an authority on the handling of hazardous materials. Walter J. Putman, Jr., has been promoted to Vice President and General Manager. Putman, who has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix…

The U.S. Coast Guard has contained all spilled diesel fuel from the Tuesday discharge that occurred while Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw was taking on fuel in the vicinity of the Ambassador Bridge in the Detroit River. The deployed sorbent boom recovered all but a residual amount of diesel before the boom became frozen in the ice. Coast Guard Sector Detroit and Marine Pollution Control contracted personnel are continuing to monitor the situation and plan to recover the boom, along with the residual fuel that remains in the ice, as soon as weather permits and it is safe to do so.

Long awaited, much hyped, the new rules require compliance in January. Will industry and more importantly, the response community, be ready? In September, the U.S. Coast Guard published the long awaited Non-tank Vessel Response Plan (NTVRP) and Other Response Plan regulations. The U.S. Coast Guard cites “Improved preparedness and reaction to an incident, including a worst case discharge, and improved effectiveness of shore-side and onboard response activities” as the primary benefits of the new rule. For all affected vessels, a mandatory compliance date of January 30, 2014 looms large the porthole. The regulations impact self-propelled non-tank vessels of 400 gross tons or greater that operate in navigable waters of the United States and carry any kind of oil as fuel for main propulsion.

Samina Mahmood, former commercial manager for TITAN Salvage, has been appointed manager for Marine Response Alliance, an association of U.S. emergency responders providing OPA 90 Salvage Marine Firefighting (SMFF). MRA, founded in 1994, combines experts in all facets of emergency response with salvage, firefighting and lightering equipment in all Captain of the Port Zones. Alliance members include TITAN, Crowley, Marine Pollution Control and McAllister Towing & Transportation.

Marine Response Alliance (MRA), an association of U.S. emergency responders providing OPA 90 Salvage Marine Firefighting (SMFF), has relocated from Pompano, Fla., to Houston to be situated with international salvage partner TITAN Salvage. Conveniently located near George Bush International airport, the new office boasts a 102,500 square-foot maintenance and warehousing facility with 4.61 acres of outside storage. Built to suit, the facility includes a state-of-the-art Emergency Response Center manned 24/7, the only one of its kind in the United States.

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) recently presented Crowley Maritime subsidiary Houston-based TITAN Salvage with its Hurricane Sandy Award for exhibiting “unprecedented support” immediately following the storm that devastated much of the Northeastern coast in late October 2012. The award was presented during the Business Alliance Awards ceremony in Fort Belvoir, VA. During the ceremony, Vice Adm. Mark D. Harnitchek, director, DLA, presented TITAN’s Samina Mahmood, U.S. commercial manager…

The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) has announced that it will be working with the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) to develop a Bunkering code of practice for the supply of fuel from offshore barges. Offshore bunkering is currently banned in South Africa, but SAMSA is taking steps to open the market to offshore providers. SAMSA has granted provisional permission to Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc to deliver intermediate fuel oil (IFO) in Algoa Bay OPL area. The agreement is subject to Aegean Marine meeting the terms of Act 6 Section 21 (1) (b) of the Marine Pollution (Control and Civil Liability Act 1981).

This new offering  'Marine Services in China' from Research and Markets covers the scope, size, disposition and growth of the industry including the key sensitivities and success factors. The Marine Services industry in China comprises establishments that provide a wide range of specialized marine and offshore services, including marine management, marine evaluation, marine and polar expeditions, marine weather forecasting, marine pollution control and other marine services. Marine scientific research is not included in this industry. Also included are five year industry forecasts, growth rates and an analysis of the industry key players and their market shares. CNOOC-OTIS Well Completion Service Ltd. Neptune Offshore Engineering Development Co., Ltd. Shanye Marine Services Co., Ltd.

Babcock delivers final Integrated Waste Management System (IWMS) component for UK’s new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. The Babcock-designed IWMS handles the various fluid and solid waste streams generated onboard the aircraft carriers and processes these until the products are benign and compatible with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) requirements for overboard discharge, or can be stored efficiently until landed. It integrates the oily water system, black (sewage) and grey (from showers…

Culminating a three-year effort, Marine Pollution Control, in conjunction with the Coast Guard’s Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) program, will participate in an Oil-in-Ice Exercise in St. Ignace, MI, the week of February 18. The exercise is designed to demonstrate the use of a variety of technologies—from skimmers to fire boom to sonar—and techniques like ice “herding” to help clean up oil in arctic conditions. Additional participants and observers will include personnel from a number of Coast Guard jurisdictions (including the arctic region), other government agencies, and the spill response industry. The 2013 exercise is similar to last year’s successful demonstration…

Crowley Maritime Corp. & subsidiary TITAN Salvage look back on their comprehensive work in response to Hurricane 'Sandy'. The storm devastated the U.S. Northeastern coast in late October 2012, and the companies were fully involved in support of relief organizations working in the areas hardest hit by 'Sandy'. The combined response efforts provided by Crowley and TITAN were extensive. Shortly after the storm, the S.S. Wright, a Crowley-managed, Maritime Administration (MARAD) Ready Reserve Force ship…

The first of four Crowley Maritime Corporation ocean class tugboats, Ocean Wave, completed its inaugural project earlier this month by removing a grounded containership from the northern coast of Cuba. The job is additionally significant because it utilized many of Crowley’s unique capabilities, equipment and established relationships with Cuban entities and government to complete the job quickly despite many challenges. The project’s success hinged on a coordinated and timely response from Antilliana De Salvemento, the Cuban salvage company which subcontracted Titan Salvage, Crowley’s Pompano, Fla.-based emergency response, marine salvage and wreck removal company, and Houston-based T&T Marine Salvage, to assist with the removal of the stricken containership.

The directors of Marine Response Alliance LLC (MRA or Alliance) announced that McAllister Towing and Transportation Co., Inc. (McAllister) has joined the MRA as a full and equal member. McAllister is now united with the other MRA member companies—Crowley Marine Services, Inc. (Crowley), Marine Pollution Control Corporation (MPC), Titan Maritime LLC (Titan) and Marine Hazard Response (MHR)  (a joint venture of Wild Well Control, Inc. and Williams Fire and Hazard Control, Inc.) to provide OPA-90 Salvage and Marine Firefighting services to the maritime community.

the World: Evaluating and Addressing Potential Underwater Threats” (WOW) II” on Monday, June 6 and Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) in the Washington, DC area (Linthicum Heights, MD) USA. The conference will explore the problem of potentially polluting wrecks and recent incidents around the world that have caused government agencies and responsible parties to look proactively at preventing catastrophic oil and other chemical releases from these long-submerged shipwrecks which may contain as much as 20 million tons of oil and other hazardous materials. Sporadic or continuous leakages or potential sudden massive spillages from these wrecks pose a continual risk across the globe.

Delegates and speakers from around the globe will converge on the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) in the Washington, DC area Linthicum Heights, MD) US to participate in the second Wrecks of the World conference being held June 6-7, 2011. This is a unique opportunity to meet with global experts to explore potentially polluting wrecks and recent incidents around the world. These wrecks have caused government agencies and responsible parties to look…

SKIMOIL, Inc.’s new diesel FUEL FILTER ALERT and alarm system, developed specifically for the commercial marine industry, provides an accurate real-time indication of fuel filter status. The system is especially valuable for vessels that don't have constant filter monitoring by dedicated on-board engineers, such as harbor tugs and other workboats running with a small crew. "All it takes is a load of bad diesel fuel to get a workboat in serious trouble fast, and it's always when least expected…

China’s booming marine economy spurs growth in pollution control projects says a recent market research report. In the five years to 2012, industry revenue is expected to increase at an average annualized rate of 11.1% to total $238.2 million. Marine services firms will continue to thrive due to growing investment in marine engineering construction and marine pollution control programs in coming years, according to an IBISWorld market research report. The marine sector accounts for about 10% of the entire Chinese economy, and as its importance grows, so too will the Marine Services industry forecasts the report. Increasing investment in pollution control projects by China's central and local governments has led to strong growth for the Marine Services industry in China .