Tag: pollution prevention

  A federal grand jury in Mobile, Alabama, has returned a seven-count indictment charging Det Stavangerske ampskibsselskab AS (DSD Shipping) and four employees with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), conspiracy, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown for the Southern District of Alabama. DSD Shipping is a Norwegian-based shipping company that operates the oil tanker M/T Stavanger Blossom, a vessel engaged in the international transportation of crude oil.  Also indicted were four engineering officers employed by DSD Shipping to work aboard the vessel, Daniel Paul Dancu, 51, of Romania, Bo Gao, 49, of China, Xiaobing Chen, 34, of China, and Xin Zhong, 28, of China. According to the indictment, in 2014, DSD Shipping and its employees conspired to bypass pollution prevention equipment aboard the M/T Stavanger Blossom and to conceal the direct discharge of waste oil and oil-contaminated waste water from the vessel into the sea.  The operation of marine vessels, like the M/T Stavanger Blossom, generates large quantities of waste oil and oil-contaminated waste water.  International and U.S. law requires that these vessels use ...

  A single oil spill can release 30,000 tonnes of oil into the ocean if two vessels collide. In grounding the high weight can lead to oil disaster, in the Baltic Sea up to 120 000 tonnes. This estimate does not include the new giant tankers. The Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea is the riskiest of waterways in the world's oceans due to the high frequency of crossing vessels between Helsinki and Tallinn. Oil tanker traffic to Russia in particular has continued to increase despite a bleak financial outlook.The Gulf of Finland is famously difficult for maritime traffic as it is shallow and narrow and requires navigation around the many islands along the Finnish coast.In winter, darkness and ice make navigation even more challenging. "The likelihood of an oil spill on the Gulf of Finland is higher than average.It is practically a miracle that we haven't seen major accidents yet", says researcher Annukka Lehikoinen from the University of Helsinki's Department of Environmental Sciences. Lehikoinen is a member of the cross-disciplinary research group at the Kotka Maritime Research Centre.The group has studied the likelihood of different frequencies of hypothetical tanker collisions occurring on the Gulf of Finland and how often ...

An aerial view of the submerged USS Arizona at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickham, Hawaii, shows the release of oil from the battleship’s corroding hull. (Image Credit: National Park Service)   A tank barge that sank amid rough seas on January 24, 1936, in Long Island Sound carried 500,000 gallons of heating oil. To officials at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the submerged vessel, known as Cities Service Number 4, poses a serious risk of contaminating the tidal estuary should corrosion of the barge structure cause an oil leak. The hull and rivet structure of Cities Service No. 4 is similar to the Navy battleship USS Arizona, now a hallowed tomb for 1,177 men who died when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Oil still trickles from her damaged hull, which makes the vessel an ideal subject for corrosion rate analysis. In February, the National Park Service transferred hull and rivet pieces from the USS Arizona to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy for analysis by team of marine and environmental science majors. Three senior-level cadets are working to find parallels between the USS Arizona’s propensity for corrosion in the Pacific Rim and several wrecked vessels on the northeast ...

  The Seafarers’ International Union of Canada (SIU), in conjunction with the Canadian Maritime & Supply Chain Coalition (CMSCC), representing the majority of Seafarers & Maritime Logistics Unions across Canada, is calling on the Government of Canada to reverse the Maritime provisions outlined in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). They are calling on the Canadian Government to strengthen Canada’s Cabotage laws in order prevent another environmental catastrophe like Vancouver's oil spill this week. Within CETA’s Maritime provisions, exploited and overworked foreign crew, unfamiliar with Canada’s fragile ecosystem, would be allowed to operate between two Canadian Ports, trade previously reserved for Canadian flagged and crewed vessels. This week’s spill was from the vessel MARATHASSA, a bulk carrier sailing under the Cyprus flag with foreign crew manning the vessel. Precisely the kind of vessel CETA would allow into trade in Canada permanently. “The SIU of Canada is outraged that the Conservative Government is risking the St. Lawrence River’s and Great Lakes’ fragile ecosystem in the name of trade,” said James Given, President, Seafarers’ International Union of Canada and Chair of the CMSCC. “The SIU has long advocated that it would only take one accident to cause irreversible damage to the ...

  One of the first experimental investigations to simulate the high-pressure formation of oil droplets during deepwater blowouts has attracted the attention of the prestigious journal Chemical Engineering Science. The researchers, from The University of Western Australia and the University of Miami, hope their results will inform clean-up and remediation efforts after disastrous coastal and deepwater oil spills and gas leaks. Dr Zachary Aman, from UWA's School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, said given the significant offshore developments in WA, this laboratory accomplishment would be good news for our State. Published this week, the researchers' article - "High-pressure Visual Experimental Studies of Oil-in-Water Dispersion Droplet Size" - details a model used to predict droplet size for Deepwater Horizon conditions. Deepwater Horizon, on 20 April 2010, was the biggest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Eleven people died on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico - less than a year after one of Australia's worst oil disasters when petroleum fluids from the Montara field in the Timor Sea leaked off the north-west coast of WA for 74 days. The formation of oil-in-water dispersions is a critical step during the blowout of oil and ...

  EMSA issued a poster highlighting the network of EMSA contracted vessels which protects European seas against oil pollution. When an oil spill occurs, the affected coastal state may request assistance from EMSA through the European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre. EMSA puts together an offer including up-to-date information about the availability of vessels in the area and their mobilisation time. Based on this information, the requesting party decides which EMSA contracted vessel and equipment to mobilise. Once the offer is accepted, the vessel(s) is fitted with the latest oil slick detection, containment and recovery equipment and is mobilised within 24 hours. It is then placed under the control of the requesting party. In the event of an oil spill: 18 vessels in total can be mobilised at any one time 3.500 m3 average recovered oil storage capacity per vessel 60.000 m3 total storage capacity if all vessels are mobilised 24 hours timeline for mobilisation Specialised equipment available: sweeping arms ocean-going booms offshore skimmers & hybrid recovery systems slick detection radars dispersant spraying (on some vessels) Network of EMSA contracted vessels You can view the poster by clicking here. Source and Image Credit: EMSAIn the onset, I was open with you propecia before and after has ...

The IMO Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response held its 2nd Session from Monday 19 through Friday 23 January 2015 under the Chairmanship of Mr Sveinung Oftedal (NORWAY) and his Vice Chair, Dr Flavio Fernandes (BRAZIL) both of whom were subsequently re-elected for 2016. It will be recalled that this Sub-Committee with the acronym PP2 is now responsible for matters formerly dealt with by the BLG (Bulk Liquids and Gases) Sub-Committee resulting from last year’s re-organisation of IMO’s sub-committee structure. Three Working Groups (WG) and one Drafting Group (DG) were formed and chaired as follows: WG1 Evaluation of Safety and Pollution hazards of liquid chemicals, Dr D MacRae (UK) WG2 Prevention of air pollution from ships, Mr W Lundy (USA) WG3 Recycling of ships, Mrs Kristine Gilson (USA) DG1 OPRC related manuals, guidelines and guidance, Mr S Lundgren (USA) co-chairing with Mr F Merlin (FRANCE)   In addition, the Correspondence Group (CG) established at MEPC 67 and tasked with conducting a review of the Guidelines for Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems (G8) convened and conducted its work in the margins of PPR2, during lunch-breaks and on completion of Plenary. Statements by delegations GREECE and ITALY, relating to the SAR ...

IMO Secretary-General Sekimizu has opened the Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR), 2nd session (19-23 January), which is being chaired by Mr Sveinung Oftedal (Norway). Items on the agenda include technical work related to MARPOL Annex VI and the NOX Technical Code;  development of the "Ballast Water Management – How to do it" manual; revision of the Inventory of Hazardous Materials, to support the Ship Recycling Convention; finalization of the draft Guidelines on international offers of assistance intended to provide guidance to States requesting and receiving emergency assistance during spill incidents; and developing a recommendation for a single definition of black carbon in relation to emissions from international shipping. ​​  Source: IMOIn the start, I was frank 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 incredible to sit.