MV River Princess, a grounded merchant vessel in the year 2000, that remains as an environmental hazard to Goa coast is finally getting ready to be removed from March 05, 2011.

Some information available on MV River Princess are:

• MV River Princess, 240 metre long ore carrier of M/s Salgaocar Mining Industries Ltd ran aground off the Candolim-Sinquerim coast of Goa on June 06, 2000 due to rough weather.
• The vessel in addition to being an environmental hazard, has also become a transit point for drugs.
• Due to prolonged public protest, on September 08, 2010 the high court of Bombay at Goa, directed the state government to commence work on removal of MV River Princess, within two months from that date.
• Arihant Ship Breakers of Bhavnagar, Gujarat are now getting ready to cut and remove MV River Princess.

View some photographs from Flickr: mv river princess – Goa

View also a video clip from You Tube: River Princess-GOA

Read more from The Times of India: River Princess cutting will begin March 5

The oil spill off Mumbai noticed on the morning of January 21 from ONGC pipeline is under control. Indian Coast Guard has commented that the oil spill caused due to ONGC pipeline burst poses no threat or damage to Maharashtra coastline due to prevailing north-westerly sea currents.

Here is the press release dated January 21, 2011 from ONGC:

A leakage has been detected at ONGC’s Mumbai Uran Trunk (MUT) oil pipeline at 0845 hours this morning. The leakage was observed 2 Kms from BPB platform (Bassein oil and gas field) in western offshore, 80 kms from Mumbai coast.

The Regional Contingency Plan (which is the existing emergency response measure) has been activated immediately on detection of the leak.

FODAG (Flag Officer Defence Advisory Group) and Coast Guard have been informed. National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan is also being activated by Coast Guard to ensure minimum damage to environment.

ONGC has mobilised the pipeline repair vessel including three Multi Support Vessels to the site to ascertain the extent of leakage for containment and repair. The initial assessment of extent of oil spill is about one mile long.

The oil and gas production from Mumbai High is being diverted to the ICP-Heera Uran Trunk (HUT) pipeline. Connected oil and gas wells are being closed for safety reasons. The production loss may last for about three hours only. Due to these interim measures, a loss of 25,000 barrels is anticipated. The MUT currently pumps 2,12,000 bopd.

View some video clips from You Tube:

• Mum oil spill poses no threat to coastline – Indian Coast Guard
• ECO disaster: Oil spill of Mumbai, ship burst

Fire in crude oil and gas development well in Montara, in the Timor Sea has been put off successfully. Montara development well is owned by PTTEP Australasia (PTTEP AA), a subsidiary of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP). The well is located in the Southern Timor Sea, approximately 690 kilometres west of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Up to 400 barrels of oil a day was leaking from this well since August 21.

Information available regarding the oil spill and fire are:

• On August 21, 2009:
  • Crude oil and gas was emanating from the well.
  • PTTEP with the approval from the Australian authorities tried to control the leakage by drilling a relief well to intercept the leaking well and pump heavy mud to stop the leakage.
• November 01, 2009:
  • At 0930 hours local time Darwin, the relief well had reached the target point of interception and heavy mud was pumped into the relief well.
  • During this process, a fire broke out on the contractor’s West Atlas drilling rig and the Montara Wellhead Platform.
  • The company initiated the process of controlling the fire and also started investigating the cause of the fire.
  • All personnel were reported to be safe with no injury.
• November 03, 2009:
  • At 1715 hours Darwin time, the fire was extinguished by injecting heavy mud successfully into the leaking well.
  • Further monitoring is going on and experts are ready to assess the damages and to make plans for future work.
  • The company has insurance coverage of 270 million US dollars and is in the process of claiming it.

Here is a photograph with caption released by PTTEP AA, about the fire in the Montara well as on November 02, afternoon.

The Montara well head platform (left) on fire – as taken from the firefighting vessel Nor Captain during a run to within 200 metres from the burning structures to allow ALERT Well Control experts onboard to better assess the situation status. The cantilever structure – which previously sat over the well head platform – can be seen buckled over and down on to the helideck of the well head platform. Flames from the burning well head are being blown on to the upper superstructure the West Atlas rig (right).

View some amazing video clips of oil spill and fire from Al Jazeera:

• Leaking Timor sea oil rig catches fire – 02 Nov 09
• Al Jazeera interviews WWF on Timor oil spill – 24 Oct 09

ABC News, Australia reports that oil leak impact may last 7 years.

For updates, log on to PTTEP Australasia.

Posts in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

Puri Beach Welcomes U.S. Presidential Candidates to White House

Bangladesh Reacts to Myanmar Oil Exploration in Disputed Waters of Bay of Bengal

Mississippi River flows through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana before joining into the Gulf of Mexico. Industrial pollution in this 3,779 km long river is increasing.

View a video clip from Al Jazeera: Fertilisers threaten Mississippi river

View a satellite imagery from NASA – Earth Observatory: Mississippi River Sediment Plume.

Posts in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

Weekend Report: Avoid Injury at Work Place

Port and Ship International India: First Edition Inaugurated at Mumbai

National Geographic News has published amazing photographs of ocean trash from Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch taken in August 2009.
Click the image below to view the photographs.

Post in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

Weekend Cleanup: Indian Coast Guard Transforms Chennai Marina Beach to Green Marina

American Salvage Association (ASA) is preparing to sponsor a conference, “Wrecks of the World: Hidden Risks of the Deep (WOW)”.

Some interesting features of this conference are:

• To be held on September 9, 2009.
• At: Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) in the Washington, DC area (Linthicum Heights, MD) USA.
• To be supported by
  • Association of Diving Contractors International (ADCI)
  • International Salvage Union (ISU)
  • Marine Technology Society (MTS)
  • Maritime Law Association (MLA)
  • North American Marine Environmental Protection Association (NAMEPA)
  • Spill Control Association of America (SCAA)
  • Maritime Technology Alliance (MTA)
  • World Ocean Council (WOC)
• Part of the ASA-supported Wreck Oil Removal Program (WORP) from more than 8,500 sunken vessels in the world that may contain around 20 million tons of oil and other hazardous materials.

• Topics to be discussed are:
  • Public Awareness of Oil Pollution Issues
  • Magnitude of Potentially-Polluting Wreck Problem (Presentations)
  • Oil Removal from Leaking Wrecks (Presentations)
  • Repercussions of a Reactive Strategy and Need for Pro-Active Strategy
  • Assessing Presence of Oil and Probability of Leakage (Presentation)
  • Applying Spill Impact Modeling to Wreck Risk Assessment (Presentation)
  • Cost-Benefit Analyses of Wreck Oil Removal Projects (Presentation)
  • Prioritization of Wrecks for Oil/Chemical Removal (Presentation)
  • Salvage Technological Advances and Challenges
  • Legal and Insurance Liability Issues
  • Funding Issues
  • Next Steps, How Do We Move Forward? (Panel Discussion)
• MITAGS Training Simulator demonstration

For more details, log on to American Salvage Association.

Post in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

Olympic Sailors Praise Virtual Sailing Simulator

MV Pacific Adventurer caught in powerful tropical cyclone Hamish, spilled toxic mix of fuel and fertiliser and the Queensland Coast of Australia has become the victim of oil spill. This oil spill is reported to be Queensland’s largest oil spill in more than 30 years. It is further reported that the ship owners could be fined up to A$1.5 million ($1.92 million) and ships crew could be hit with fines of up to A$500,000. Sampling of the vessel’s tanks on March 13, in conjunction with the authorities confirms the amount of oil spilled was a maximum of 42.5 cubic metres (equivalent to approx 42.5 tonnes). Most of the Queensland beaches are closed for clean up and marine tourism is likely to be affected.

Some of the disturbing features of oil spill by MV Pacific Adventurer are:

• On the night of March 09 local time, Tropical Cyclone Hamish with sustained winds of 125 mph was about 270 miles to the north-northeast of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
• The vessel with 15 crew, that left Newcastle on March 10 was bound for Brisbane. The vessel was caught in tropical cyclone Hamish and on the early hours of March 11, 31 containers of ammonium nitrate from the deck of MV Pacific Adventurer fell into the sea.
• Due to rough weather, the containers with 620 tonnes of ammonium nitrate hit the vessel and punctured the hull. Subsequently fuel oil was spilled and the amount of oil spilled into the sea was a maximum of 42.5 cu metres (equivalent to approx 42.5 tonnes). Previous estimate was 30 tonnes.
• The toxic mix of fuel and fertiliser creating a slick of 10 miles long, 2 miles wide has reached the shores of Moreton Island and on beaches along the Sunshine Coast.
• Moreton Bay on Moreton Island is a marine sanctuary for wide range of sea birds including turtles, dolphins and pelicans.
• Also about one tonne of ammonium nitrate was covering the ship’s deck but the chances of an explosion were low.
• MV Pacific Adventurer is operated by Swire Shipping, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The China Navigation Company Ltd.

• Action by Swire Shipping, to clean up the oil spill.
  • regrets the extent of the environmental pollution caused by spills of heavy fuel oil from the ship and the company is offering all possible assistance to Queensland government officials to minimise beach pollution and environmental impact.
  • the company and its insurers will meet all their responsibilities.
  • has chartered a helicopter to survey the extent of the oil slick and to try to locate the containers.
  • an oil spill clean up expert from Dubai is now working with the government task force that is coordinating the clean up, and Swire has decided to fly in specialist equipment in the event that it can be of use.
  • press release from Swire Shipping is here and here.
  • more details of MV Pacific Adventurer are here as pdf.
• Some photographs of oil spill are at Xinhua News.
• Beaches on Moreton Island, Bribie Island and southern parts of the Sunshine Coast affected by oil spill have been declared as disaster zones.
• Major Oil Spills in Australia from 1903 with vessel name, location and amount of oil spill are listed at Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

Here are video clips on oil spill by MV Pacific Adventurer :

• Overboard Chemical Containers Spark Algae Fears in Australia
• Senator Bob Brown’s comments on the oil spill affecting the coast of Queensland

For more information, photograph, video clip, log on to The Courier-Mail.

Post in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

How to Identify Ship’s Pipelines

Update: March 13

View a slide show of photographs on oil spill from The Courier-Mail.

Also Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has detained MV Adventurer for further investigations. Read more from The Courier-Mail.

Update: March 16

The quantity of oil spilled is now reported to be around 250 tonnes. The ship owner Swire Shipping also agrees that the oil spilled is greater than earlier reported quantity of 42.5 cubic metres. Shipping containers also could not be located by aircrafts. The Navy may be called for locating the containers, reported to be sunk at a depth of 250 metres. Read more from The Courier-Mail.

Update: March 20

The mine hunter HMAS Yarra has identified 21 objects with her sonar, 270 metres southeast of where the containers fell from MV Pacific Adventurer. They resemble to the 31 shipping containers of ammonium nitrate lost overboard from the ship in cyclone-whipped seas last week. Read more from The Courier-Mail.

More video clips are here to watch:

• Pelicans rescued from oil spill
• TEN News: Oil disaster Brisbane 2009

Update: March 26

The Royal Australian Navy’s mine hunters HMAS Yarra and HMAS Norman have identified the location of 24 of 31 containers lost by MV Pacific Adventurer. The ships have located the containers by deploying Mine Disposal Vehicle on the seabed.  Read more from DOD, Australia and also view here images.

Update: April 04

MV Pacific Adventurer’s skipper, Captain Bernardino Santos is from Philippines. He has been charged with discharging 270 tonnes of oil during cyclonic seas off southern Queensland under the Transport Operations Marine Pollution Act. The maximum penalty is $350,000 fine.

His bail conditions were widened to permit him to leave Australia. Read more from The Courier-Mail.

Also view amazing photographs of cyclone damaged MV Pacific Adventurer, from The Courier-Mail.

Update: April 05

HMAS  Ships Yarra and Norman have located the remaining seven containers also. Now both the warships have completed their mission to search, locate and mark the position of all the 31 containers that were lost overboard from MV Pacific Adventurer during cyclone Hamish. Read more from DOD, Australia.

Update: April 17

MV Pacific Adventurer is now seaworthy after extensive repairs.The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has released the vessel. Read more from The Courier-Mail.

There are many ports to get ISO 9001 certification for Quality and there are few ports to get ISO 14001 certification for Environment.

But, Port of Houston Authority (PHA) is the first port authority in the world to receive ISO 28000:2007 certification for Port Police and the perimeter security operations. Further PHA, with Orsus’ Situator – a User-Friendly Situation Management System is in the process of integrating hundreds of cameras and access points, plus other devices in port authority’s public terminals to enhance the capabilities in security operations.

With Orsus’ Situator, the PHA can integrate incident reporting, simulate security-related events for training purposes and integrate system analysis tools to provide a comprehensive security approach. Also, it enables the port authority to improve risk management, minimize vulnerability and comply with security regulations governing port facilities.

It is interesting to note that PHA became the

• first U.S. port in 2002 to have Environmental Management System to meet ISO 14001 standards for environmental excellence.
• first U.S. port in 2004 to attain ISO 14001:2004 standards for its Environmental Management System.

Some interesting features of ISO 28000 series standards are:

• full fledged International Standards for supply chain security management systems, to reduce risks to people and cargo within the supply chain.
• address potential security issues at all stages of the supply process, thus targeting threats such as terrorism, fraud and piracy.
• can be applied by organizations of all sizes involved in manufacturing, service, storage or transportation by air, rail, road and sea at any stage of the production or supply process.
• assist in implementing governmental and international customs agency security initiatives, including the World Customs Organization’s Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade, the EU Authorized Economic Operators Programme, the US Customs Trade Partnership against Terrorism, and the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) International Ship and Port Facility Security Code.
• More information on ISO 28000 series are here at ISO News.

Here is the press release on Orsus’ Situator – a User-Friendly Situation Management System for PHA.

Here is the Port Report as pdf document from PHA on getting ISO 28000:2007 certification.

Here are interesting video clips:

• The ISO 9001 Family – Global Management Standards
• ISO 14001 — the world’s EMS standard

Post in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

First Commercial Jet-of Australia Lands in Icy Antarctica

Ilulissat Glacier in Greenland is melting at an alarming pace due to global warming. You can view the present status of Ilulissat Glacier through the webcam set up by Sermitsiaq. 110,000 years old ice cap now moves at a speed of 22 metres per day and the size of the ice disintegrating is to the extent of 1000 metres in height and several hundred metres wide.

You can watch the images of ice cap and also video clips from Sermitsiaq.

Click the image below to view Ilulissat glacier.

At night, as there is no light images will be dark.

This morning Chennai Marina was giving a festive look. As part of International Coastal Cleanup 2008, this weekend Indian Coast Guard took the initiative to cleanup Chennai beaches. Hundreds of college students, government and private agencies participated in the event from early morning with the rising sun watching the events from Bay of Bengal. The collected trash was assessed and the best team was given prize. A coast guard helicopter also demonstrated Search and Rescue (SAR) on the Marina beach. Light refreshments were provided to the participants.

Inspector General, Surinder Pal Singh Basra, Commander, Coast Guard Region (East) thanked all the participants and the event finished around 1030 hours.

Here are some photographs of the cleanup operation:

Students on trash collection drive, a dead dog on the beach

dead dog being collected for disposal

coast guard team on cleanup action

Chennai Port Trust and students on cleanup drive

Corporation of Chennai on standby for safe disposal of trash

collected trash being assessed by coast guard

college students with their banner and coast guard on SAR display

Commander, Coast Guard Region (East) thanking the team

students waiting to know the best team, trash collected for disposal

prize winning teams

Also more photographs can be viewed at Flickr.

Update: September 21

News coverage of the International Coastal Cleanup at Chennai on September 20 is available. Read The Hindu, ExpressBuzz, Radio and Music.

Further, cleanup operations of beaches in other parts of Tamilnadu is here at The Hindu.

Oil spills at sea are on the rise. The oil spill spreads depending on wind direction and sea currents. As oil spill is a threat to marine environment, it is necessary to track the movement of oil spills to take remedial actions. So far oil spills are monitored effectively by aerial survey using aircrafts and satellites. Here is another way of tracking oil spills on real time by Spilled Oil Tracking Autonomous Buoy 1 (SOTAB 1) under development in Japan.

Here are some interesting features of SOTAB 1:

• designed by Naomi Kato, professor of submersible robotic engineering in the Department of Naval Architecture at Osaka University, Japan.
• weighs around 110 kilogram.
• Global Positioning System (GPS) enabled robot.
• has height of 2.72 metres and diameter of 27 centimetres.
• SOTAB 1 has sensors to spot floating globs of oil and viscosity of oil.
• in addition it has got sensors to detect depth, water temperature, wind speed and direction.
• while floating in water, it can vary its buoyancy to dive underwater up to 10 metres and it can steer with its four fins to track oil spills.
• it can also take water samples to determine the quantity of oil.
• while tracking oil spills it can send real-time data about its location, meteorological and oceanographic data around.
• now efforts are being made to reduce the weight of SOTAB 1 below 30 kilograms and to increase the battery life to 3-4 weeks.
• SOTAB 1 project was started in 2006.

It is being planned to supply adequate number of SOTABs to oil tankers so that in case of oil spill, the tankers can drop these SOTABs over oil spills. There after continuous monitoring of oil spills can be done by SOTAB. Also these SOTABs can be air dropped over oil spills to keep continuous track.

Here is a photograph of SOTAB 1 from Primidi.

Here is a sketch showing the concept of Spilled Oil Chasing Autonomous Buoy System from Osaka University.

For more information read Japan Today.

Here is a disturbing news report from ‘The Local’ dated July 16, 12:31 CET which says

• two barges collided in the Elbe River near Altengamme and 400 tonnes of diesel fuel oil spilled into the river
• four of eight fuel tanks of 82 metre barge Undine are severely damaged
• floating oil barriers are laid to contain the 10 km long oil slick
• investigations are going on with both the captains
• environmental damages are to be assessed

Read more from The Local.

Update: July 19

Here is the reason for the spill – The anchor of the 95-metre river freighter, the Aldebaran, ripped open four fuel tanks of the barge Undine when the vessels tried to pass on the busy waterway. Read more from Sustainable Shipping.

Here are some related posts on pollution response:

• How super absorbent Imbiber beads contain oil and chemical spills at sea
• Vessel of opportunity skimming system for pollution response
• Nanowire membranes of MIT to absorb and recover oil from oil spills at sea

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have found an easy way to tackle recurring oil spills at sea. MIT has developed a nanowire miracle membrane to absorb oil from water.

Here are the interesting features of their findings:

• a membrane of nanowires that is as thin as a paper can absorb up to 20 times its weight in oil.
• the membrane is made of potassium manganese oxide and is stable at high temperatures.
• the oil itself can be recovered from the loaded membrane by heating above the boiling point of oil.
• can be recycled many times for future use.
• can also be used for filtering and water purification.
• inexpensive as mass production is possible using nanomaterials.
• working principle of nanowire membrane
  • the nanowire membrane has many tiny pores that make for good capillarity, or the ability to absorb liquids.
  • a water-repelling coating on the membrane keeps water from penetrating into the membrane.
  • oil is not repelled and easily seeps into the membrane
• in water it remains dry as long as there is no oil in the water.

The nanowire membrane will be having advantages over super absorbing Imbiber Beads in terms of cost, recycling, oil recovery.

Here is a photo that demonstrates removal of a layer of gasoline (dyed blue) from a vial of water by nanowire membrane.

Image courtesy: Francesco Stellacci, MIT and Nature Nanotechnology.

For more information,images and video clip visit mit news.

On the night of June 03rd, two ships collided about 12 miles (20 km) from the port of Montevideo that caused an oil spill. Some of the disturbing features of the oil spill incident are:

• The Maltese-registered tanker Sea Bird was anchored on the La Plata River about 20 kilometres off the port Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital.
• Greek oil tanker Syros, collided with Sea Bird while trying to avoid a collision with a third vessel.
• At the time of collision Greek ship Syros was in ballast with no cargo on board and a bunker tank on the double bottom port side of the vessel was ripped open.
• About 14,000 cubic meters of fuel oil was spilled and further leakage has been stopped.
• Due to winds approximately 40 kilometer long oil spill is spreading towards Buenos Aires in Argentina.
• No one is injured in the collision.
• Argentina and Uruguay are monitoring the oil spill and are working to dissolve the fuel oil into the water.

Here is a photograph:

Photo: times of malta

More photographs are here at montevideo and a video clip is here at bbc.

Source: times of malta here and here

Update: June 09

The oil spill has killed at least 60 penguins and many more are covered in oil off Uruguay coast. Read more from nzherald.

Update: June 15

Here is a video clip showing damage to marine life from national geographic.

Image source:Earthrace

Earthrace presently on setting a speed world record to circumnavigate the Earth,

• has sighted plastic soup in the Pacific Ocean to the size of texas before reaching Hawaii.
• the plastic soup is the result of Pacific Ocean Gyre

Here are the photos of Plastic ocean rubbish and Pacific Ocean gyre from powerboat-world.

For more information on Pacific Ocean rubbish dump, read powerboat-world.

Here is an interesting video clip on Plastic Soup.

The 20th Triennial International Oil Spill Conference (IOSC) on Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Restoration is ready to begin. Over 2,000 people from 50 countries are expected to attend the technical sessions and view more than 250 exhibits. The Conference theme for 2008 is: “Creating a Culture of Preparedness”

The interesting part of IOSC:

• to showcase on-water demonstrations of state of the art spill response technologies on Monday May 5th at the Convention Center’s riverfront.
• demonstrations are scheduled to showcase aerial, on-water, dockside, and static displays from the US Coast Guard, US Navy, and local, regional, as well as national response companies.
• an exciting opportunity to see real response crews and equipment in use on the Savannah River.

When ?

May 04 – 08, 2008

Where ?

At Savannah International Trade & Convention Center, Savannah, Georgia, USA

The IOSC Conference schedule is available here. More details are here at iosc.

Oceans can no longer be exploited and neglected. Marine debris kills more than one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and turtles each year. Ocean Conservancy is on a global mission to save the oceans for more than thirty years. Ocean Conservancy envisions a future in which no place on earth is ignored in the fight against debris. The International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) is a fundamental aspect of this vision.

On September 15, 2007 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) was undertaken worldwide. The Cleanup saw an increase in international representation in 2007, with 76 countries holding a cleanup event compared to the 66 who participated in 2006. This year’s cleanup will be held on September 20, 2008.

The interesting features of ICC 2007 are:

• more than 378,192 volunteers participated in the cleanup operation
• volunteers were from 76 Countries and 45 States
• removed 6,075,698.4 pounds of debris from over 33,426.45 miles of shoreline
• approximately 182 pounds of trash collected per mile of shoreline
• removed an average of 16 pounds of trash per person
• volunteers removed nearly 2 million cigarettes. An average of 5 cigarettes per volunteer.
• 81 birds, 63 fish, 49 invertebrates, 30 mammals, 11 reptiles, and one amphibian were found entangled in debris during the cleanup
• 8,321 divers took part in underwater cleanup efforts and cleaned up 161,513 pounds of debris over 1,000 miles of underwater terrain. An average of 20 pounds of trash collected per diver.
• 247,099 debris items related to derelict fishing gear were removed during the cleanup. This includes crab/lobster/fish traps, fishing line, fishing lures/light sticks, fishing nets and rope

Most of the common type of debris collected during ICC 2007

How do the Oceans get trashed ?

• Shoreline and Recreational Activities: The majority of marine debris comes from land-based activities such as fast food consumption, beachgoers, picnics, sports and recreation, festivals, as well as litter washed from streets, parking lots and storm drains.
• Ocean/Waterway Activities: Recreational fishing and boating,commercial fishing, cargo/military/cruise ship operations and offshore industries such as oil drilling can produce marine debris.
• Smoking-Related Activities: Improper disposal of cigarette filters,cigar tips and tobacco product packaging is common on both land and sea.
• Dumping Activities: Legal and illegal dumping of building materials or large household items can result in debris.
• Medical/Personal Hygiene: This debris can result from people improperly disposing of waste in toilets and city streets. Since medical and personal hygiene debris often enters the waste stream through sewer systems, its presence on the beach can indicate the presence of other, unseen pollutants.

Here are some photographs of ICC 2007

Some video clips of ICC 2007 are available here and here.

Source:oceanconservancy

The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), is a global body of more than 100 environmental Non Governmental Organizations. Since 1978, ASOC has been working to protect the environment of Antarctic continent including the surrounding islands and the Southern Ocean.

As the shipping traffic is increasing in the Antarctic continent, the environmental hazards are also increasing. Some of the accidents reported during the last two years in the region are:

• the sinking of M/S Explorer, a commercial tourism vessel, in November 2007
• the grounding of commercial tourism vessel M/V Nordkapp in January 2007
• the grounding of M/V Lybov Orlova in November 2006
• the drifting of M/S Fram on December 30, 2007
• trawler Argos Georgia which lost power on December 23, 2007
• serious accident in Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru in February 2007

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has already designated the Southern Ocean as a special area in 1990. Now considering the increased environmental hazards taking place due to increased shipping traffic, ASOC is approaching the IMO to issue specific guidelines with respect to the following in the region:

• vessel ice-strengthening standards
• banning use of heavier grade fuel oils
• discharges of oily substances, sewage, gray water and waste
• introduction of alien species through ballast water, hull fouling and other pathways
• establishment of a vessel traffic monitoring and information system for vessels operating in the Southern Ocean

Now IMO currently on its 57th session from March 31st to April 4th is expected to address the above issue also.

Click here for more details.

Click here to view a video clip of Antarctica.

Update: April 10

Click here to read IMO’s press briefing no 13, dated April 09, 2008 on ‘Protecting the Antarctic Area from shipping’.

Marine oil pollutions are showing a rising trend. Whenever there is an oil spill, various governmental and non governmental agencies rush up to contain the spill and to minimize environmental damage. Lot of time and manpower is spent to fight the oil pollution in addition to the damage that takes place. Legal actions are initiated against the shipowners and compensation is paid by the shipowners.

Recent cases are San Francisco Bay oil spill by Cosco Busan and South Korean oil spill by Hebei Spirit. In both the cases legal actions are going on and compensation is being sought. In most of the cases the compensation actually paid by the shipowners are lesser than the compensation claimed in the court of law. Who pays the deficit amount ?

Here comes the London based International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds). IOPC Funds pay the deficit amount to that affected State who is a member of that fund. IOPC Funds are independent from IMO, though the guidelines are from IMO. Also IOPC Funds are independent from United Nations agencies. IOPC Funds are managed by intergovernmental organisations who are members in that funds.

Types of IOPC Funds

There are three types of funds managed by IOPC Funds.

• the 1971 Fund (which is wound up)
• the 1992 Fund
• the Supplementary Fund

How contribution comes to the IOPC Funds ?

• Basis for levy of contributions: Any member state who receives more than 150 000 tonnes of crude oil or heavy fuel oil transported through sea in a calender year has to pay.
• Supplementary Fund: Any member state who receives at least one million tonnes of crude oil or heavy fuel oil transported through sea in a calender year has to pay.

How many Members are there in IOPC Funds ?

Number of Member States as on 2006

How much is the contribution from Member States ?

Contribution by Member States to 1992 Fund as on 2005

Contribution by Member States to Supplementary Fund as on 2005

Claims paid by IOPC Funds from 1971 Fund and 1992 Fund up to 2006

Claims situations as on 2006

Click here to read the full 2006 report of IOPC Funds.

So far the environmentalists created a global awareness that plastics are a threat to environment. Even the oceans are not spared. Marine mammals and sea birds are the worst affected by plastics pollution. Tons of plastics are floating in the oceans.

When the countries started banning plastic bags, now different views are coming. It is now reported that environmental threat due to plastic bags is exaggerated and there is no scientific evidence to prove this. If plastic bags are not a threat to environment, then plastics used in day to day life in the form of bottles, pouches, containers, cups, trays, cartons, food wraps, straws, tubes, boxes also can not be a threat to environment.

Here is an image, that proves that plastic bottle caps were found in the carcass of layson albatross in the North Pacific region.

Indian cows eat plastic bags also. But then, which is correct ?

• Plastics are a threat or no threat to environment ?
• Plastic bags are to be banned or not to be banned ?

What are your views ?

Update: March 14

Here is a report that proves plastic bags kill Queensland turtles.

Update: March 27

Here is report from BBC which says plastic waste in the oceans poses a long-term toxic threat.

Update: June 22

Sea of trash in Alaskan shores. Read more from The New York Times.

Update: June 29

Oceanographers have found that between 60 and 95 percent of marine debris is made of plastic. Read more from The Indian Express.

Update: September 15

The Prince of Wales has spoken of his deep concern for the threat posed to marine wildlife by Britain’s “throwaway culture” that is dumping plastic bags and other litter at sea. Read more from Telegraph.

Update: November 04

In Australia, a crocodile has died after eating too many plastic bags. Some 25 plastic shopping and garbage bags were found inside the animal, along with a plastic wine cooler bag and a rubber float. Read more from The China Post.

Vessel of Opportunity Skimming System, a product of JBF Environmental Technology is a portable, easy to handle, oil recovery unit which can be used from any type of vessel in the polluted area. To provide fast and immediate pollution response, the US Coast Guard has 19 of these systems located nationwide.

JBF DIP500 Skimming System features

• easily converts an existing vessel of opportunity into an advancing oil recovery vessel.
• the system can be easily air lifted in case of an emergency or can be prepositioned in different pollution prone locations.
• uses independent flotation so that skimmer can operate in waves independent of the vessel of opportunity.
• sweep width can be increased by using JBF’s extended sweep system or by an additional containment boom from a second tow vessel.
• the skimming module operates positive displacement screw pumps for transfer of recovered water free oil to storage tanks or to barges or storage bladders in tow.
• can efficiently operate at skimming speed of 1-5 knots.
• can be towed by the vessel while deployed in transit at 7-8 knots.
• can collect oil at the encounter rate during a spill and the maximum oil recovery capacity is 150 tons/hour.
• is designed to operate at high efficiencies even in adverse weather conditions such as waves, wind.

Method of oil recovery

Oil recovery is done by Dynamic Inclined Plane method. The oil and water layer is streamed down the moving inclined plane assembly to the collection well. In the collection well as the oil is lighter than water rises to the surface. The deep layer of separated oil is then pumped to storage.

The oil recovery module consists of a moving inclined plane assembly and collection well that funnels the separated oil and smaller solids to the suction of either a single or two transfer pumps. The waterline of the DIP500 VOSS is designed to flood the intake to the transfer pumps so that heavy viscous oils can be easily transferred to storage tanks.

Here are some photographs of VOSS

Source:slickbar

Here is a video clip of VOSS under test by USCG

Automobiles are complying to stricter emission standards since 1990s. Now automobiles are getting ready to meet the latest EURO V and EURO VI limits for road transport in 2009 and 2010.

Now inland water transports are also getting ready to meet these emission standards.

Motor tank vessel ‘Victoria’ is the world’s cleanest ship with low-emissions, high fuel efficiency and environment friendly. The barge is chartered by BP Marine Lubricants on long term basis and is operating in the Port of Rotterdam and Antwerp areas.

The emission reduction techniques used in the vessel are

• Tempomaat: Advising Tempomaat (ATM)
• Clean fuel: low sulphur fuel
• Catalyser: Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR)
• PM filter: particulate matter filters.

Click here to know more including the emission reduction results.

We are able to appreciate the harmful effects of Air Pollution and Noise Pollution in the land. All countries are trying their best to minimise Air and Noise Pollution.

What about Oil Pollution and Underwater Noise Pollution in the Oceans ?

Yes, all countries are trying their best to minimise Oil Pollution. Same efforts are not seen to minimise Underwater Noise Pollution in the Oceans. Underwater Noise Pollution is as harmful as Oil Pollution to marine life. In fact, Ocean Mammal Institute has lot of fact sheets on Underwater Noise Pollution.

Last month, a deep diving dolphin was found dead on the beach of the US Navy’s San Nicolas Island. Similar deaths of other marine species are often reported from different parts of the world. It is reported that the U.S. Navy plans to deploy Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFA) to detect quiet submarines, throughout 80% of the world’s oceans. This implies that US Navy is planning to aid Underwater Noise Pollution in 80% of the world’s oceans and preparing to lay death traps to marine mammals.

Sonar can be used as a very useful marine equipment. It is high time for all nations to chalk out plans to use Sonar without disturbing marine mammals.

Update: June 13

The reported death of 26 dolphins off the Cornish coast on June 11- is it mass suicide of dolphins or due to use of sonar by the Royal Navy ships in the area. Read Daily Mail here and here.

Update: July 11

The US Navy is leading the United States in funding research to determine the effects of sound on marine mammals. Read more from US Navy.

Update: July 14

Sonar triggers whales beaching. Read more from SeaFlow.

Update: August 05

Whales subjected to military sonar will neither dive nor feed, according to an unpublished 2007 report from the UK military. Read more from Nature News.

Update: September 16

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) says undersea noise blocks animals’ communication and disrupts feeding. Also underwater noise pollution is becoming a threat to whales, dolphins and other marine mammals. Read more from BBC News.

Update: October 03

Scientists of Canary Islands carried out post mortem on dead beaked whales, to find out the cause of death.  What they found in the micro-vasculature (capillary blood vessels) was that gas bubbles and fat that were working there as foreign bodies, blocking the cardiovascular system. Also these foreign bodies were blocking the small vessels, breaking them and inducing haemorrhage in the beaked whales. Further, the same signs were noticed in the liver, kidney, spleen, lungs, pancreas and lymph nodes of the whales examined.

Environmental groups said it proved that military sonar used during the exercise was driving the animals to their death. Read more, view photographs and video clip from BBC News.

Update: October 10

The Supreme Court heard Oral Argument on October 08, regarding the Navy’s use of active sonar during major training exercises in Southern California. The Navy’s position is that the lower court’s decision is legally erroneous and conflicts with the judgment of Congress, the President and the nation’s top naval officers. The preliminary injunction prevents Navy strike groups from conducting realistic training with mid-frequency active (MFA) sonar off the coast of Southern California. Read more from U.S.Navy.

Update: November 15

On November 12,  the Supreme Court supported by a majority of the Justices, ruled for the Navy on the challenge to Navy’s use of sonar for the 14 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) combat certification training exercises off the coast of Southern California (SOCAL). The U.S Navy is very pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision. Read more from U.S Navy.

Here is a video clip on lethal sounds by sonar.

]]> http://www.marinebuzz.com/2008/02/24/in-the-oceans-underwater-noise-pollution-is-as-harmful-as-oil-pollution/feed/ 2 http://www.marinebuzz.com/2008/02/12/investigation-report-of-oil-spill-by-statfjord-a-platform-in-the-north-sea-in-december-2007/ http://www.marinebuzz.com/2008/02/12/investigation-report-of-oil-spill-by-statfjord-a-platform-in-the-north-sea-in-december-2007/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:05:31 +0000 OldSailor http://www.marinebuzz.com/2008/02/12/investigation-report-of-oil-spill-by-statfjord-a-platform-in-the-north-sea-in-december-2007/

During oil offloading from the Statfjord A platform in the North Sea, about 4400 cubic metres of crude oil was spilled into the sea on the morning of December 12, 2007. The oil spill was due to rupture of loading hose.

An investigation team appointed by StatoilHydro’s management to identify the causes of the oil spill has submitted their report. The report highlights:

• Root cause: is due to inadequate use of process and risk analysis in connection with modifications and change of loading hose.
• Reasons for the loading hose rupture: Rupture in the hydraulic hose of the vessel Navion Britannia caused the vessel’s coupler valve to close quicker than expected. This resulted in a strong pressure surge in the loading hose and ruptured the loading hose.
• Inadequate knowledge of personnel: The resumption of the loading operation after the rupture of the hydraulic hose to the coupler valve was mainly due to inadequate knowledge by the involved personnel of its consequences.
• Inadequate oil flow measurement on board the tanker: The failure to discover the oil spill before approx. 4400 m3 had been spilled was mainly due to inadequate oil flow measurement on board the tanker.
• a similar incident on the Gullfaks field in 2004 has not been adequately followed up.

The investigation team has recommended a number of actions to be taken pertaining to technical, organisational and managerial nature

• within StatoilHydro
• the shipowner Teekay
• the system supplier APL

Failures or accidents do happen by mistakes and we need to learn from mistakes. OldSailor hopes that this report helps to avoid similar incidents in future.

Reports on marine accidents such as collisions, allisions, grounding and sinking are increasing day by day. The reasons for these accidents may be many such as adverse weather, incompetent ships crew, non compliance of weather forecasts, malfunctioning of navigational equipment, engine failure.

Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) reports two such incidents on January 15:

Refloating of grounded Car Carrier:

• The 9576 tons, grounded Car carrier City Of Sunderland with 642 cars on board was successfully refloated with the assistance of two tugs; the Svitzer Trimley from Harwich and the Grey Test from Felixstowe.
• Engines were successfully restarted after refloating and the vessel is now en route to its original destination of Tees Port.
• The vessel had been en route to Tees Port from Zeebrugge when it ran aground in the early hours of Monday morning (January 14), at the south edge of Happisburgh Sands, 8 miles off the coast between Cromer and Great Yarmouth Norfolk.
• The operation to refloat the City of Sunderland was carried out meticulously.
• During the refloating operation Rescue Helicopter 128 remained on immediate readiness and Caister Volunteer Lifeboat and Cromer RNLI All Weather Lifeboat remained in close safety standby to provide assistance should there be a need.

Ice Prince Sinks:

Image Source:sky , thesun

• The general cargo vessel Ice Prince sank in very rough weather due to listing approximately 26 miles south south east of the Portland Bill (50 09.9N 002 02.08W).
• The 100 m long, 6,395 tons Ice Prince, sent out an emergency call on the previous day.
• An MCA counter pollution aerial surveillance aircraft will be making an over flight to see the extent of the debris on the surface of the water from the 5258 metric tons of sawn timber which the vessel carried. Over 2000 tons were being carried on the deck.
• The vessel also carries 313 metric tons of intermediate fuel oil in addition to other lubricating oils in the engine room.
• The Agencys counter pollution team will also be urgently reviewing contingency plans at first light, and bringing forward any counter pollution stockpiles that may be needed to help disperse any oil that surfaces, if any are released from her bunkers. Wave energy in such very rough seas may also help disperse such released oil.
• Police forces and local authorities in both Devon and Dorset have also been made aware of the sinking although any impact on the shoreline may be some days away given the distance of the foundering from the coast.