Tag: oil spill

The "List of national operational contact points responsible for the receipt, transmission and processing of urgent reports on incidents involving harmful substances, including oil from ships to coastal States" contained in IMO circular has been updated as of September 30th, 2014 including the following States: FAROES,DENMARK GEORGIA GUATEMALA ITALY PALAU PERU POLAND SAINT LUCIA SOLOMON ISLANDS SUDAN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES VENEZUELA (BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF)   This information is provided by IMO to enable compliance with Regulation 37 of MARPOL Annex I which, inter alia, requires that the Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP) shall contain a list of authorities or persons to be contacted in the event of a pollution incident involving such substances. Requirements for oil pollution emergency plans and relevant oil pollution reporting procedures are contained in Articles 3 and 4 of the 1990 OPRC Convention. This information is also provided to enable compliance with Regulation 17 of MARPOL Annex II which, inter alia, requires that the shipboard marine pollution emergency plans for oil and/or noxious liquid substances shall contain a list of authorities or persons to be contacted in the event of a pollution incident involving such substances. In this context, requirements for emergency plans and reporting for hazardous and noxious substances are also contained in Article 3 of ...

On 13th September, ITOPF travelled to the wilds of Alaska to participate in a large-scale, Tier 3, oil spill exercise organised by SeaRiver Maritime Inc., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. The event drew together over 430 people from a wide range of organisations including; Aleyska Pipeline Service Company, Alaska Maritime Prevention and Response Network, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, US Coastguard, US National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Prince William Sound's Regional Citizen's Advisory Council, native tribal representatives and ExxonMobil's response teams. The exercise scenario imagined a release of some 200,000 barrels of crude oil from a tank vessel in the middle of Prince William Sound following a collision with a fish processing vessel. Following notification of an incident, oil spill response resources were dispatched rapidly to the spill site and a command centre set up in Valdez. Operations continued around the clock for the next 60 hours. "It is 25 years since the EXXON VALDEZ oil spill" noted ITOPF's Dr Mark Whittington, "and the development of oil spill response capability in Prince William Sound since then has been impressive. The professionalism and enthusiasm that all the exercise's participants - industry, government agencies and the local ...

​HELCOM's international aerial surveillance operation over the Northern Baltic Sea ended on September 10, 2014, despite thick fog at night time, 27 hours after the start. This year's Coordinated Extended Pollution Control Operation (CEPCO North) was organized by the Estonian Police and Border Guard and no oil spills or other discharges from ships were detected. "The operation involved four specially equipped aircraft from four countries - Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Sweden. More support was provided by three participating vessels as well as through satellite surveillance from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The weather conditions had a major effect to the operation due to unpredictable fog, but nevertheless the overall cooperation went smoothly", says Priit Pajusaar, CEPCO North 2014 coordinator and Police Captain from Estonian Police and Border Guard Board. Such high-intensity operations supplement the regular aerial control operations in the region which aim at creating a realistic picture of the level of compliance to the anti-pollution regulations in the Baltic area. The purpose is also to gather evidence of infringements and, if possible, to catch polluters red handed. "Pollution surveillance has a substantial preventive effect on the illegal oil discharges. All HELCOM states should ensure sufficient support and funds ...

As the Arctic warms and sea ice retreats, oil and gas exploration is underway in Canada's Beaufort Sea, with all the benefits and risks this development entails. To better understand these risks, particularly those of proposed shipping and exploration, WWF has taken a milestone step in answering these big questions by leading groundbreaking research to map possible oil spills in the Beaufort Sea. This study looks at four types of oil spills under different conditions, resulting in 22 different scenarios. Explore some of the key findings by clicking at the WWF's interactive map below , which WWF is making available to help advance discussions about balancing conservation and development in the Canadian Arctic. The results from the study give northern residents and decision-makers scientific evidence they need to make choices about the risks they face. The project involved the analysis of multiple types of oil spill scenarios that could occur in the Beaufort Sea. The goal was to assess the transport, fates, and effects of oil on nearby surface water and shorelines from potential crude, heavy fuel, and light fuel oil spills. Modelling investigated both surface and subsea releases. Four different generalized "spill analyses" were evaluated for this study: a shipping spill analysis in ...

A helper from Chris Reddy's WHOI lab collected oil samples from a Gulf coast beach The 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the largest accidental release of oil into the ocean, with approximately 210 million gallons gushing from the blown out well. In an attempt to prevent vast quantities of oil from fouling beaches and marshes, BP applied 1.84 million gallons of chemical dispersant to oil to oil released in the subsurface and to oil slicks at the sea surface. The dispersant was thought to rapidly degrade in the environment. A new study by scientists at Haverford College and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has found that the dispersant compound DOSS, which decreases the size of oil droplets and hampers the formation of large oil slicks, remains associated with oil and can persist in the environment for up to four years. The study was recently published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. The study examined samples collected from deep-sea corals and surrounding sediments collected in Dec. 2010 as well as oil-soaked sand patties found on coastal beaches since July 2010 to the present. "We found DOSS persisted in variable quantities in deep-sea coral communities 6 months ...

The OSPAR Commission adopted a landmark Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter along with measures to protect 16 vulnerable species and habitats. The Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter will enable OSPAR countries to substantially reduce marine litter in North-East Atlantic. The Plan will address litter from both land and sea based sources and will result in a reduction in marine litter on coasts and beaches. The Plan supports the global effort to achieve significant reductions in marine debris by 2025 as agreed by Heads of States at Rio+20. It provides a regional contribution to the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The plan also invites international organisations, the private sector and the non-governmental organisations to cooperate in its implementation. The meeting also agreed on measures to protect and conserve 11 species and 5 habitats identified by OSPAR as being particularly vulnerable within the North-East Atlantic. These include cod, European eel, 5 species of shark and 2 species of ray along with 5 important marine habitats including seagrass meadows and deep sea hydrothermal vents. A biologically diverse North-East Atlantic is vital for the proper functioning of marine ecosystems as well as supporting human health and the millions of livelihoods that ...

The first inland waterway vessel refitted with a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) drive system was officially delivered 19 June in Rotterdam. For 8 weeks the push-tow combination was at Koedood Diesel Service in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht where the engines have been replaced by dual-fuel LNG engines from Wärtsilä. This makes the Eiger-Nordwand the first barge in the world that has been converted to LNG propulsion. The conversion to LNG gives the Eiger-Nordwand great advantages in emissions reduction and savings in fuel costs compared to diesel. The emission of pollutants is greatly reduced: 20% less CO2, 85% less nitrogen and 99% less particulate matter. The official program started with speeches by Siebe Riedstra, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and Sophie Cabanis, policy officer at DG Move from the European Commission. In the presence of 400 relations, a panel discussion was held under the leadership of Paul van Liempt, during which the benefits of LNG as fuel, the development of LNG infrastructure and Danser Groups long-term vision on sustainability of the inland container transport per barge where discussed. After the official part was finished a spectacular trampoline act took place on board of the barge. The Maas between Erasmus- and ...

Proposals to protect the world's oceans have been welcomed by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the principal trade association for merchant shipowners. ICS recommends that the Global Ocean Commission's (GOC) ideas should be taken seriously. The GOC wishes to see a greater level of environmental protection, especially with respect to areas of economic activity, other than shipping, that currently may not be adequately regulated. Issues addressed in its inquiry report, launched in New York last night, include preserving global fishing stocks, preventing ongoing damage to ecosystems caused by land based industry and agriculture, and preventing the acidification of the sea. ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe said: "The shipping industry is very fortunate in already having an established framework of global Conventions and rules that have been developed by the United Nations International Maritime Organization. For the most part these IMO rules are fully implemented and enforced worldwide and have directly contributed to the improvement of shipping's environmental performance. However, shipowners are global citizens who will share the GOC's concern about the vacuum that still exists with respect to wider governance and protection of the oceans." Ideas set out by the Global Ocean Commission include the establishment of a stand-alone ...

The UK P&I Club has published a new pocket guide for ship owners and operators on how to prevent improper discharges of oily water from their vessels. Such discharges - which are sometimes undertaken by crew members believing they are acting in their employer's best interests - can prove economically disastrous. The publication follows two high-profile prosecutions against ship operators in the US last year for pumping out oily bilge water, resulting in criminal convictions and fines of US$11.5 million. Both cases were brought under the US Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), which implements the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). Annex I of MARPOL requires machinery space bilge water to be processed through a functioning oily water separator before it is discharged, with an oil content meter sampling the effluent to ensure there is no more than 15 parts per million of oil. Under APPS it is a crime in US waters to bypass or trick the oily water separator or oil content meter, or to maintain an inaccurate oil record book. In the recent US cases, which involved a total of five ships, the oily water separators and oil content meters had ...

The Aktea tanker has been recontracted by EMSA as an oil spill response vessel for the Aegean Sea, following a tender held in 2013. The vessel is now back in operation since 1 April. The vessel is based in Piraeus and provides a contracted storage capacity of 3,000m3 which is distributed over ten cargo tanks. The oil spill response equipment assigned for this contract covers a full set of sweeping arms and booms, as well as a high capacity skimmer and oil slick detection system. Source: EMSAIn the onset, I was forthright with you propecia before and after has changed my subsistence. It has become much more fun, and now I have to run. Just as it is improbable to sit.