Oil Spill News

A training event on oil spill preparedness and response for countries in eastern Africa, was held in Dar Es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania (6-9 November).The  relevant government agency representatives with responsibilities in spill response in the countries like Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Somalia, United Republic of Tanzania, and Uganda have participated in the training."In the event of a marine oil spill, relevant government agencies in the affected region need to manage and coordinate a response…

Myanmar is the latest country to benefit from International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s work to enhance marine oil spill preparedness and response in the ASEAN region.A press note from the UN agency informed that a training course for senior officials and members of the national oil spill management team is taking place in Yangon, Myanmar (12-14 November).The training is focused on the effective response to oil spills, including on both managing risks from shipping and incident management.

Boys are coaxed into cleanliness at bath time playing with boats. But it was never a game for Joseph Farrell, III, instinctively realizing he was ballasting and salvaging ships, unlike the typical Mr. Bubbles kid. The scion of Resolve Marine Group may have been born to lead the global emergency response company founded by his father with a single tug 38 years ago, but he’s never taken dangerous wreck removal lightly.Before turning 15, Joey had two close calls on and around ships that guide him today, at 34.

A U.S. Navy led team has removed 229,000 gallons of oil from a sunken World War II era German heavy cruiser that has been resting on the seafloor near the Marshall Islands for more than 70 years.After being transferred to the U.S. as a war prize, the cruiser Prinz Eugen was loaded with oil and cargo and used to assess survivability of warships during the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests in the Pacific. The ship survived two atomic blasts before being towed to Kwajalein Atoll…

The SAFIR consortium, a group of 13 public and private organisations, has been selected by Single European Sky ATM Research Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU) to demonstrate integrated Drone Traffic Management for a broad range of drone operations in Belgium.Antwerp Port Authority said in a press release that  the goal of the SAFIR project is to contribute to the EU regulatory process for drones and drive forward the deployment of interoperable, harmonised and standardised drone services…

Rutter Inc. has released the latest update to the Rutter sigma S6 product line, version 9.2.0. This new version is being released for general availability this week. It is also available as an upgrade on existing systems for qualifying customers.Rutter’s proprietary radar data processing system interprets data from both conventional marine navigational and coastal surveillance radars, providing enhanced radar imagery and state of the art detection, tracking, and measurement capabilities.

The Buckeye Terminal in the Arthur Kill Waterway near Port Reading, N.J. was reopened Thursday, following last week's diesel oil spill.The terminal has resumed full operations with the opening of the south dock Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard said.The Unified Command that had been established in response to the September 6 spill is now stood down as the Coast Guard continues to work with NJ/NY State agencies and the EPA to monitor continuing cleanup efforts.As of Thursday morning, an estimated 56,000 gallons of oily product has been recovered.

The Coast Guard has developed two separate mitigation system prototypes specifically designed for inland and offshore environments and tested them in the Kalamazoo River and Lake Huron.Whenever there is a need for oil, there will always be a risk of oil spills. This is no less true for bituminous sands, commonly known as oil sands or tar sands. Oil sands are mostly found in Alberta, Canada, and comprised of bitumen, sand, clay and water. They are typically viscous, with a texture similar to peanut butter.

Tunisian roll-on/roll-off ferry Ulysse has separated from the Cyprus flagged containership CSL Virginia on Thursday following a collision earlier this week in the Mediterranean Sea.CSL Virginia was at anchor approximately 17 miles off the island of Corsica when it was struck broadside by cargo and passenger ferry Ulysse early Sunday morning. The ferry's bow penetrated the hull of the containership, causing the two vessels to become stuck together and resulting in a major oil spill.No deaths or injuries were reported…

The Clean Arctic Alliance welcomes the joint statement by  Russian President Vladimir Putin and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto on the need to move to cleaner ships’ fuels such as LNG in the Arctic.Speaking on behalf of the Clean Arctic Alliance, Alexey Knizhnikov of WWF Russia said that “the risks of using heavy fuel oil in the Arctic are too high, and we welcome President Putin and President Niinisto’s vision and leadership in seeking to move to cleaner fuels for Arctic shipping.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority is to replace a section of the slopes stretching over more than 9 kilometres that have been contaminated by the Bow Jubail oil spill.The Port Authority announced earlier that the damage resulting from the oil spill is estimated at around 80 million euros. The Port Authority will recover this damage from Odfjell, owner of the leaking Bow Jubail.“We will do everything in our power to recover these damages. Society here cannot be left to pay for this…

Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine said it has received an order to deliver a battery-powered energy system for two offshore vessels (PSVs) operated by Norway-based Golden Energy Offshore.The delivery includes the SAVe Energy system, which was launched by Rolls-Royce earlier this month. In addition, the two vessels will receive an upgrade of the existing Rolls-Royce ship design engineering package to match the new features. This includes an upgrade of the Dynamic Positioning (DP) system…

Maxum Petroleum has taken delivery of its newest tank ship, the Global Provider. The newbuild will deliver fuel and lube oil to ship operators in the Pacific Northwest.The vessel, the first in its design and size for Maxum Petroleum, was designed by Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) of Seattle and built by Jesse Engineering of Tacoma, Wash.Global Provider is a self-propelled bunker ship measuring 126'-2" in length, with a 32 ' beam, 10' draft and 13' depth to main deck. The vessel has a carrying capacity of 151…

A harbor tug is aground, partially submerged and taking on water on the Upper Mississippi River near Cairo, Ill.The U.S. Coast Guard said it received a report at 2 p.m. Tuesday stating that the vessel, Totem Kole II, was taking on water at mile marker 59.7. The vessel is grounded at a nearby embankment on the left descending bank of the river.All crewmembers were able to safely disembark the vessel.Coast Guard crews are responding to the incident and an oil spill response organization has deployed containment boom around the vessel to prevent the spread of pollution after an unknown amount of product is reported to have gone into the water.

Greece-based DryShips announced that it has entered into an agreement with an unaffiliated buyer for the sale of one of its 2001-built Panamax drybulk carrier.The vessel is scheduled for delivery to its buyer no later than the end of this month.The diversified owner and operator of ocean going cargo vessels expects to realize a gain on vessels sales compared to the book value of this asset.DryShips operates worldwide. As of August 15, 2018, and not giving effect to any pending vessel transactions…

The greening of America’s energy signature will not come without the usual discussions, regulatory oversight – and opposition from a raft of special interests.Amidst an atmosphere of possible resurgence in the domestic offshore oil energy, maritime stakeholders are also reminded that there is more than one kind of energy available for development off the four collective coasts of the United States. That process is underway in the Great Lakes; it has already happened off of New England.

Clean up efforts are underway after a vessel collision caused an oil spill near Port Arthur, Texas.The U.S. Coast Guard said an estimated 13,272 gallons of marine diesel fuel was discharged after an accident involving the towing vessel Savage Pathfinder and the motor vessel Endurance on Wednesday evening. No injuries were reported.Containment boom was placed around the vessel, and the source of the leak has been secured, the Coast Guard said.Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Port Arthur and Texas General Land Office personnel are involved in the investigation and response efforts."We are working with TGLO, the responsible party and all maritime stakeholders to minimize impact as quickly as possible," said Capt.

The U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center (RDC) conducted a successful test burn of oil using the purpose-built burn pan on Little Sand Island in Mobile Bay, Ala. during the week of September 17, 2018.Controlled, pre-planned burns conducted using the Joint Maritime Test Facility allow researchers to gather critical data to help oil spill responders determine best practices for operational use of in-situ burning, develop new equipment with procedures, and to refine training…

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…

The Ulysse, ro-ro-cargo ship operated by the Tunisian operator CTN, struck the Cyprus-based  container ship CLS Virgina near the French Mediterranean island of Corsica early Sunday, causing no injuries but causing a 4-kilometer (2.4 mile) fuel spill in the Mediterranean Sea.According to a statement from the regional French maritime authority the collision smashed a hole of several meters (yards) long in the hull of one of the ships, causing the spill.AP reported that the spill created a trail of pollution nearly 2 and a half miles long and several hundred yards wide…

Issued at the National Quality Steering Committee (NQSC) meeting on July 31, 2018, the American Waterway Operators (AWO) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) issued their annual report that benchmarks and further serves as the annual safety report card for the domestic towing industry. This year, it comes at a particularly timely moment, just on the heels of the deadline for the so-called ‘subchapter M’ towboat rules.The NQSC uses three measures to track overall trends in safety and environmental protection.

The International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC) have provided help in 150 oil spill incidents since its inception in 1978. Denmark has been a member of these crucial organisations since the beginning.According to a release from Danish Maritime Authority (DMA), IOPC-funds began with the Torrey Canyon oil spill disaster in 1967, which clearly demonstrated the need for an effective international regime to pay for the massive damage caused by major oil spills.Director, Maritime Regulation and Legal Affairs in the DMA…

Drug interdiction. Crew transport in hostile waters. Law enforcement. Rescue operations. Passenger vessels. Today’s MultiMission Vessels (MMVs) are a diverse collection of workboats characterized by adaptable platforms, customized with standard accessories.A larger budget for electronics and multiple, smart, navigational screens and MDTs challenge the interior configuration of already crowded MMVs, increasingly built with matching FEMA port security grant funds for joint venture operations.More monohull patrol vessels monitor illegal fishing…