Tag: oil spill prevention

MPA Singapore was alerted to a distress call from a tanker on 12 January, reporting that it was taking in water.

Five crewmembers were rescued from the Mississippi River after their vessel collided with a bulker on 29 December.

Egyptian authorities are scrambling to salvage the VSG Glory, a cargo ship that began sinking on Monday near the coral reefs off Quseir in the Red Sea Governorate after being stranded for 10 days, maritime sources told Reuters. The vessel, carrying 21 crew, 4,000 metric tons of bran, 70 tons of fuel oil and 50 tons of diesel, sustained a 60-centimeter (23.6 inch) hull breach, allowing seawater to flood its engine room. Its crew has since been rescued. Efforts to stabilize the ship have been hampered by deteriorating weather, causing the vessel to tilt further. Emergency teams have deployed additional pumps in a bid to extract the rising water. Salvage operations led by the Red Sea Governorate and the Ministry of Environment have so far extracted 250 tons of contaminated water and fuel, but the sources say some fuel remains on board, posing a grave risk to the region's delicate coral reef ecosystem This marks the second maritime disaster in the Red Sea in less than a month. On Nov. 25, a tourist boat capsized near Marsa Alam, south of Quseir, leaving at least four dead and seven missing, with 33 passengers rescued, Reuters informs. 

The transfer of 150,000 tons of crude oil (approximately 1,000,000 barrels) from the Greek-owned tanker Sounion to the tanker Delta Blue was successfully completed at an anchorage near Suez.

The IMO has informed that it is currently conducting a feasibility study to explore whether Ukraine can accede to the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation 1990 (OPRC). This Convention provides the legal framework for international cooperation to address major oil pollution incidents.

The 16th Joint Oil Spill Exercise (JOSE) took place this morning alongside the 23rd Singapore International Bunkering Conference, organized by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

On 2nd September, the European Union's mission in the Red Sea, Aspides, announced that the salvage operation for the oil tanker MV Sounion, which was recently targeted by Houthi militants aligned with Iran, is set to commence.

Yemen's Houthi group has agreed to allow rescue operations for a Greek-flagged oil tanker, the Sounion, which was damaged in a recent attack.

According to Reuters, on July 16th that the Liberia-flagged oil tanker Chios Lion was evaluating damage and examining a possible oil leak following an assault by Yemen's Houthis in the Red Sea.

According to Reuters, efforts are underway at full throttle to prevent a potential environmental disaster along South Africa's western coastline following the grounding of the Panama-flagged vessel "Ultra Galaxy."